Four-year-old Pamela Gilmore disappeared from her family home in the 2200 block of North Campbell Avenue in Chicago in early March 1979. Reports differ on the last sighting date: a neighbor and maternal aunt recalled seeing Pamela on March 6, while other accounts place her last seen between March 6 and March 9. Pamela’s mother, Theresa Gilmore Gates, did not report her missing until March 10 and initially said she’d last seen the child on the evening of March 9; she later acknowledged leaving Pamela alone for as long as fourteen hours.

Just days before Pamela vanished, on March 1, 1979, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services had returned her to her mother after Pamela had been made a ward of the state in 1975 amid accusations that her mother had beaten her. After the disappearance, Pamela’s mother and stepfather, Raymond Gates, were charged with child neglect and endangering the life of a child; additional cruelty to a child charges were later filed. Pamela was described as having brown hair and brown eyes and wearing a dark blue jacket with orange stripes, red pants, and blue boots when last seen.

No one has heard from Pamela since she disappeared and she has never been located. Anyone who remembers Pamela, the Campbell Avenue neighborhood in March 1979, or who has information that could help is asked to come forward.