Tammy Rose Surdam was 13 when she disappeared from St. Charles, Missouri, in the summer of 1979. She had been at the Youth in Need shelter on Jefferson Street for only two days and was last seen there. Tammy had a history of running away and had been mixing with an older crowd involved with alcohol and drugs, so her family initially expected her to return. A detective later said Tammy called the shelter the day after she left, saying she was with friends in the Powell Terrace neighborhood and was safe.

Concern grew when Tammy failed to make contact over the years; her family believed she would have reached out after her father’s death in 1988. Investigators say she may have been in the Cabool area at some point after leaving St. Charles. A convicted rapist, Nathan D. Danny Williams, has been identified as a person of interest after allegedly telling witnesses he abducted, assaulted and buried a 12-year-old girl in rural St. Charles County in the late 1970s — a description that fits Tammy’s disappearance — but no physical evidence has linked him to the case and the investigation remains open.

If anyone knew Tammy, saw her in St. Charles in 1979, or has information about her whereabouts, please come forward.