On the evening of May 10, 1941, 36-year-old Lelia Lewis Bryan and her four-year-old daughter Mary Rachel left their home on Raleigh Avenue in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, in a black 1935 Ford Model A coupe and never returned. Lelia’s husband, Edis Clarence E.C. Bryan, said she was going to a store a few blocks away to buy groceries or possibly a new brassiere; Mary Rachel reportedly begged to go along at the last minute. The car also disappeared.

Family members noted several of Lelia’s favorite rings were left at the house, a detail that relatives said seemed inconsistent with a planned departure. Searches included dragging the Cape Fear River and nearby waterways, aerial patrols and ground searches, but no trace of the women or the vehicle was found. Investigators considered runaway, suicide, and foul play; there was no evidence of suicide. Lelia and Mary Rachel were declared legally dead in 1948. E.C. Bryan was considered a prime suspect by some but was never charged; he died in 1976. A 2009 excavation of part of the former home’s foundation found nothing.

Does anyone remember family stories or local leads about Lelia and Mary Rachel Bryan that could shed light on what happened the night they vanished?