Five-year-old Melissa Lee Brannen vanished from a Christmas party at the Woodside Apartments clubhouse in Lorton, Virginia, on the evening of December 3, 1989. She had gone back into the clubhouse to get potato chips as her mother, Tammy, prepared to leave and was never seen again. An immediate search with more than 300 volunteers turned up no sign of the little girl.

Attention quickly focused on 25-year-old groundskeeper Caleb Daniel Hughes, who had attended the party. Witnesses said he paid unusual attention to children and made inappropriate advances toward several women. Forensic analysis of Hughes’s vehicle identified fibers matching Melissa’s navy blue JC Penney sweater with a yellow Big Bird appliqué and her red and blue plaid skirt, plus hairs consistent with rabbit fur from her mother’s coat. Prosecutors said those findings indicated Melissa had been inside the car and charged Hughes with abduction with intent to defile.

On March 8, 1991, a jury found Hughes guilty and he received a 50-year sentence. Melissa’s body has never been found, and the disappearance is officially treated as an unsolved homicide. If anyone remembers that night at Woodside Apartments or has information about Melissa, please share what is known.