Sylvia Ann Lee was 17 when she vanished from Campbell, California, on October 31, 1995. She was last seen that afternoon by her boyfriend as she boarded a bus near the Campbell Police Department intending to take a light-rail train to her grandmother’s home in San Jose; she never arrived. Sylvia was described as about 4 feet 11 inches to 5 feet 0 inches, 110–125 pounds, with brown hair (sometimes dyed blonde or black), hazel eyes, and a tattoo of her nickname Shorty on her left hand. She was wearing a black sweatshirt and black pants.

Sixteen years after the disappearance, Wilbur Wade Atcherley, already serving a long sentence for another crime, confessed to abducting, sexually assaulting and killing Sylvia. He said he met her at the light-rail station, took her by taxi to a remote area in New Almaden and left her body by a creek. Investigators confirmed taxi records that matched part of his account, but searches of the creek area turned up no remains; it is believed her body may have been washed away over time. Atcherley’s confession resulted in an extra 15 years being added to his sentence, yet Sylvia’s body has never been found and the case remains open as a presumed homicide.

Does anyone have memories of Sylvia, know where she spent time in late October 1995, or have information that could still help investigators?