Dennise Jeannette Sullivan was 15 when she disappeared from Moab, Utah, on July 4, 1961, while vacationing with her mother, Jeannette Sullivan, and her mother’s fiancé, Charles Boothroyd. During the day the group met a heavyset man with a dark complexion who spent time with them and later reappeared claiming car trouble. He forced the trio to stop, produced a rifle, demanded money, shot Jeannette in the head and wounded Boothroyd. Dennise tried to flee in Boothroyd’s car but the man chased her, forced her into his vehicle and abducted her.

Investigators identified Abel Benny Aragon, a former Marine, as the primary suspect. The FBI questioned him but he died by suicide before he could provide conclusive information. Authorities later recovered his rifle and found footprints that matched both his and Dennise’s shoes, suggesting she may have been with him after the abduction. Despite an extensive search, Dennise has never been found and the case remains unsolved.

Anyone who knew Dennise, the group’s movements that day, or who has information about Abel Benny Aragon’s whereabouts in early July 1961 is asked to come forward.