Case of missing Cape Girardeau girl reclassified to kidnapping

EDITOR'S NOTE: The year of Elizabeth Gill's disappearance has been corrected.

A Cape Girardeau missing person case area law enforcement began investigating again around five years ago was reclassified last week by the FBI as a kidnapping.

The case of Elizabeth Ann Gill, who disappeared from the front yard of her home on Lorimier Street in 1965, is officially an active investigation, Rebecca Wu, public affairs specialist for the FBI's St. Louis Division, said Wednesday.

"We are conducting the investigation now as if she was abducted," Wu said. "We'll actively work through the case, go through leads and see what happens now."

Gill, who was the youngest of 10 siblings, went missing at age 2.

Police and family members followed small leads after she disappeared, but the leads dwindled and it became a cold case. Five years ago, family members learned about Gill's case being discussed on the Internet and they resumed their search by listing their sister on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Since that time, leads have surfaced but didn't turn up any results for investigators.

Martha Hamilton, Gill's sister, said until the day their father died he was pushing the FBI to investigate the case as a kidnapping. He even sent letters to the White House, she said, hoping it would influence the FBI to change its mind on the case.

In the 1960s, though, Hamilton said, the law didn't allow the FBI to be immediately involved in missing person case.

"You had to either prove a child was taken out of state by an eyewitness or you had to have a ransom note or a demand for ransom," Hamilton said.

At a memorial event in June marking 45 years since Gill's disappearance, Hamilton revealed investigators were pursuing a lead out of the northeast part of the United States. Now she says the FBI and local law enforcement are setting up interviews.

Detective Jim Smith of the Cape Girardeau Police Department said he was encouraged to hear about the case being reclassified.

"It'll open doors for our investigation," he said. "I'm starting to work on it right now with a local agent, and we're preparing to do a couple things."

Wu said the reclassification wasn't necessarily due to new evidence surfacing in the case and wouldn't comment on current leads.

ehevern@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent address:

Lorimier Street, Cape Girardeau, MO