Shirley Joann Banning was 36 and a mother of three when she disappeared from the Tulsa/Broken Arrow area in late May 1975. She was last seen physically at a beauty parlor at 31st and Mingo in Tulsa around 12:30 p.m. on May 23. On May 26 she called her sister and said she was going to Arkansas with her ex-husband and current boyfriend, Alex Ace Banning, Sr; the sister reported Shirley’s speech sounded slurred and that Shirley mentioned staying at some inn. That was the family’s last contact with her.

Shirley is described as a Caucasian female, 5 feet 8 to 5 feet 9 inches, about 160 pounds, with frosted auburn hair, hazel or grey eyes and cat-eye glasses. Her yellow 1967 Opel Kadette was found abandoned in a Hilton Inn parking lot with personal items inside, including shoes, undergarments and flowers she intended for graves on Memorial Day. Investigators focused on Alex Banning, who had a history of abuse toward Shirley; he was never charged and died in 1993 while serving time on an unrelated rape conviction. Tips over the years led to a search of family property in Etna, Arkansas in April 2013 but no remains were recovered. The Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office lists the case as open.

Did anyone in the Tulsa or Etna area know Shirley’s routine or remember seeing her car or those flowers around late May 1975?