On January 11, 1963, five-year-old Phyllis Lorain Powell disappeared from Ashe Street in Woodland, North Carolina. That morning she had been at a neighbor’s house watching television and was last seen skipping down Ashe Street, reportedly heading to another friend’s home. At the time she was wearing a brown coat, pants, and had a white diaper wrapped around her head like a scarf.

A large community search, which grew to more than 200 people and included a helicopter, turned up only one clue: a set of small footprints near a ditch that matched Phyllis’s shoes. The formal search was called off after two days and authorities began to suspect foul play. Accounts differ slightly about whether she had been with an older sister doing laundry before going outside, and no known photographs of Phyllis exist, so investigators have relied on composite sketches.

The case remains open and unresolved, and the passage of time has complicated efforts to find witnesses. If anyone knew Phyllis, her family, or lived on Ashe Street in 1963, please share what might help bring answers.