Avis Beatrice Harris Mooney, 33, disappeared from her home in Mabank, Texas, on September 1, 1961, under suspicious circumstances. Her husband said he returned that day to find a note claiming she had left him; family members at first accepted it because the marriage had been tumultuous and sometimes violent.

Family members later grew doubtful after Avis’s mother received a letter purportedly from her daughter that the mother believed had actually been written by the husband. There have been no confirmed sightings since 1961, though an unverified report placed her in Hughes Springs, Texas, in the early 1970s. Avis had a dark brown birthmark on her hip and scars from previous surgeries, and she may have had an undiagnosed mental health condition, possibly bipolar disorder. Foul play has not been ruled out and the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department continues to investigate.

Did anyone in Mabank or Hughes Springs remember Avis or have information about her movements around September 1961?