Diana Leigh Avera, 22 and a mother of two, was involuntarily committed to Searcy Hospital in Mount Vernon, Alabama, after an arrest for disorderly conduct on May 21, 1982. Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, she received electroconvulsive treatments and other therapies; visiting family described her as barely able to walk or speak, a dramatic change from the vibrant woman they remembered.

In August 1982 Diana vanished from the hospital; it is believed she escaped on foot. At the time she was described as a white female with blonde hair and hazel eyes, between 5 feet 0 inches and 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighing 100 to 120 pounds, with a scar on her right thigh. The family was initially told hospital and police were investigating, but no official missing-person report was filed in 1982.

Diana was not entered into national missing-person databases until August 2020, leaving a nearly forty-year gap in active records and a cold trail about where she might have gone or what happened after she left Searcy Hospital. Does anyone have memories of Diana or information about her whereabouts after August 1982?