Tilwanda Denise Cheatham was eight years old when she disappeared from Aiken, South Carolina, in the late summer of 1989. On August 11, 1989, after being sent home from a relative’s house, she took some spare change and left; neighbors saw her around 5:30 p.m. that evening at a nearby Quik Stop convenience store and she was never seen again. She was an honor roll student at North Aiken Elementary School and lived with her parents on Jack Jones Street in the Balltown area.

Tilwanda was described as 4 feet 1 inch tall, about 70 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Clothing reports vary: either a white shirt with red flower-print shorts and white sneakers, or a red t-shirt with Tom on the back in white letters and white pants or shorts with sneakers. A dark skin discoloration on her left arm or leg was noted.

Investigators looked into runaway leads and relatives but did not locate her. Two weeks into the inquiry Tilwanda’s grandmother was arrested on an obstruction charge; police said she was not a suspect but had lied to them several times. The case remains unsolved. Does anyone who lived in Aiken in 1989 remember Tilwanda or that evening near Jack Jones Street or the Quik Stop?