Left: Tammy circa, 1979
Right: Age Progressed to age 58
Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: August 11, 1979
Missing From: St. Charles, St. Charles County, Missouri
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: November 8, 1966
Age: 12 years old
Height and Weight: 5’10” and 130 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian Female, Blonde hair, Blue eyes
NCMEC Number: 1457947
Details of Disappearance
Tammy was last seen in St. Charles, Missouri on August 11th 1979. She was staying at the Youth in Need shelter located in the 500 block of Jefferson Street at the time of her disappearance. The shelter was described as a large white house located a few blocks away from a college. Tammy had been at the facility for two days before she checked out of the facility on August 10th and left. She didn’t return before curfew and was declared missing by the facility the next day.
According to reports, Tammy called the facility that same day and told staff members that she was with friends in the Powell Terrace neighborhood. She told them she was fine before ending the call. Tammy was also reported to be in the Cabool, Missouri which is east of Springfield after she disappeared from St. Charles.
Her family was initially unconcerned by her disappearance. Tammy was a chronic runaway and had left on her own accord at least several times prior to her 1979 disappearance. The family had moved from their home on Jackson Street to Leonard Drive, a move that deeply upset Tammy.
According to them, she began hanging out with older teenagers who drank alcohol and did substances after she moved to the area in 1977. However, despite her habitual runaway behavior, Tammy would always return home. after a period of time and would keep in contact with her loved ones. There were several occasions where it was thought she might’ve been located.
In 1980, Alton police picked up a runaway girl who refused to identify herself. Her description was said to match that of Tammy but the girl turned out not to be her. In the mid-1980s, police in Texas contacted Missouri police because an unidentified body belonging to a murdered teenage girl had been found in and matched her description. However, the body did not belong to Tammy.
Tammy’s sister put an ad in the newspapers which asked Tammy to contact her family. She never did and she never answered the ad. She also put in ads wishing her missing sister happy birthday in 1979, 1980, and 1981. She continues to search for her sister and hopes she is alive.
Tammy’s family no longer believe she left on her own and fear she met with foul play. She was said to be close to her father at the time of her disappearance. He passed away in 1988. In an attempt to establish contact, her sister put in another ad asking Tammy to attend the funeral but she never came to the funeral or answered the ad.
Investigators suspect that Tammy was the victim of a homicide. Her family said she was overly trusting and would likely get into anyone’s vehicle. The primary suspect in Tammy’s case is Nathan D. Williams, a convicted child rapist. In 1975 Nathan killed Laura Michelle Dinwiddie, a volunteer social worker. He was charged with killing her in December of 1996 but the charge was later dropped due to lack of evidence. He is still incarcerated for forcible rape and sodomy.
In 1998, Williams was implicated and charged with the abduction and murder of Gina Brooks who vanished in 1989. Her body was never found and the charges were later dropped. Another man named Timothy Bellew was also charged with killing Gina but the charges against him were also dropped. He was, however, convicted of lying to investigators about the location of Gina’s body after giving them false information about its whereabouts.
Two witnesses later came forward and claimed that Nathan admitted to abducting and killing a twelve year old girl from St. Charles, Missouri in 1979. He stated that he abducted the girl from Jefferson Street near a college. Afterwards, he raped and stabbed the girl to death. Nathan claimed her remains were buried in a rural area of St. Charles County. The girl he described is presumed to be Tammy because she was the only girl with that description to disappear from the area in the late 1970s.
Youth in Need was just four blocks away from Linwood College on Jefferson Street. This would corroborate his claim about snatching the girl near a college. To date, Nathan has not been charged with anything related Tammy and her body has never been located. Her disappearance remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
St. Charles Police Department 636-949-3300
Source Information
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
River Front Times – St. Louis Metro News
The Belleville News-Democrat 03/03/1997