Account
Jan 18, 2017
Oct 24, 2019
Catherine
Davidson
57
6
46 inches
70 lbs
Black / African American
Female
On a Labor Day weekend in 1973, six-year-old Catherine "Cathy" Davidson, a young female from Chicago, Illinois, was reported missing. The official account given by her father, Robert Davidson, and stepmother, Anna Young, was that the family had traveled to Warren Dunes State Park in Sawyer, Michigan, for a picnic on September 1, 1973. They stated that soon after arriving, Cathy and her five older siblings went to play near a creek that flowed into Lake Michigan while the adults unpacked the car. A short time later, the other children returned, but Catherine was not with them. At the time of her disappearance, she was described as being 3'10" tall and weighing 70 pounds, with black hair braided in tight rows and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a white blouse, blue shorts, and white sandals. An extensive, multi-day search of the park, including the woods, the creek, and the lake, was launched by the Michigan State Police. The only potential piece of evidence recovered was a pair of green panties, though it was never confirmed if they belonged to Catherine. From the beginning, law enforcement was reportedly skeptical of the parents' demeanor, noting they seemed oddly detached and were seen laughing and drinking with friends just days after their daughter vanished. However, with the other children corroborating their story and a lack of physical evidence, the investigation eventually went cold, leaving Catherine's fate a painful mystery for decades. Decades later, a disturbing new narrative emerged that shattered the original story of a family picnic gone wrong. A younger sister of Catherine's, born after her disappearance, came forward to law enforcement with a chilling account she had heard from another sibling. According to this new information, the trip to Warren Dunes State Park was a fabrication designed to conceal a much darker truth: Catherine had died in the family's Chicago home before the trip ever took place. The sibling alleged that their stepmother, Anna, had bound and gagged Catherine and locked her in a closet. The other children reportedly heard scratching from inside the closet throughout the night until the sounds ceased. When the closet was later opened, Catherine was found unresponsive. This information pointed to a long-held secret within the family and redirected the focus of the investigation to Anna Young, who was later convicted of murdering two other children in connection to a religious cult she had started. Anna Young died in prison in 2021, and with the deaths of other individuals who may have had knowledge of the events, the full truth of what happened to Catherine and the location of her remains are still unknown.
Sep 01, 1973
Sawyer
Michigan
Berrien County
49125
31831
Michigan State Police - Niles Post
Niles
Michigan
Berrien County
49120
Doug Kill
D/Sgt.
1600 Silverbrook Avenue, Michigan
2696834411
State
Law Enforcement
54-1696-73
Michigan State Police - Niles Post
Black
Brown
Brown
No
05/26/2026
