Carmella Maria Gutierrez was 47 when she disappeared after relocating from Brookfield, Connecticut, to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Her last contact is listed as June 1, 1990. Family members say she had told her son Dan Hodgman in 1990 that she planned to leave her husband; several months of silence prompted Dan, then living in Connecticut, to file a missing persons report with the Chattanooga Police Department.

Descriptions place Carmella as a Caucasian female with red or auburn hair, hazel eyes, pierced ears and a scar on her right knee. The husband told police they had traveled to Riverdale, Georgia, and that on June 1 she left their Hometown Inn with a female companion and was never seen again; that claim has not been verified. Neighbors reported seeing Carmella’s cat wandering near the home soon after the couple left, and family members and a former neighbor find the husband’s account difficult to believe. He moved out of state shortly after her disappearance and had a history of abusive behavior and a Georgia armed robbery charge around that time.

The investigation remains open and no concrete evidence resolving Carmella’s disappearance has been reported. Anyone who knew Carmella, the couple’s movements in late May or June 1990, or who has information about the Riverdale, Georgia, account is asked to come forward.