Nine-year-old Anthonette Cayedito disappeared on April 6, 1986. When her mother, Penny, awoke that morning, she was surprised to find out that Anthonette was not in the house. She started to panic after checking with every single person in the neighborhood and nobody saw her. The police and her neighbors searched around the surrounding foothills and found no trace of her. Authorities were almost certain she was kidnapped at the middle of the night. Police were capable of offering little to bolster her parents' hope of Anthonette being found alive.
After a year passed, a dramatic call for help came into the Gallup Police Station. A feminine voice on the phone claimed to be Anthonette, stating that she was in Albuquerque. Before she could tell the dispatcher exactly where she was, an unidentified male said to her, "Who said you could use the phone?". The girl screamed and the call ended.
When the police played a recording of the call to Penny, she was certain that the voice was Anthonette's. She said she was especially certain based on the way the girl said her name. However, she did not recognize the man's voice. The police tried to trace the call but were unsuccessful. The call gave her family hope that she may still be alive.
Five years later, after age-progressed photographs of Anthonette were released, a waitress came forward, believing that she saw her at her restaurant. She recalled serving a table with a male, a female, and a girl around the age of fourteen or fifteen. She noted that they had rather unkempt appearances, possibly from struggling with her.
The girl apparently dropped her utensils on the floor intentionally, and when the waitress would try to pick them up for her, she grabbed her hand. However, she thought nothing of it and went about her business. The male, female, and girl left the restaurant. As the waitress cleared the table, she noticed a napkin under the girl's plate with the message, "Please help me, call the police."
This sighting also brought some hope to Anthonette's family. One month later, investigators decided to reinterview witnesses involved in the case. They spoke to her sister, Wendy, who was five at the time. Now ten, she told investigators that she had actually witnessed Anthonette's abduction.
Wendy said that at around 3am, there was a knock at the door. When Anthonette went to answer it, the person said that it was "Uncle Joe". Two men then grabbed her. When asked why she hadn't come forward sooner, Wendy said that she was scared and afraid that she would get in trouble.
Investigators cleared "Uncle Joe" who was married to Penny's sister at the time. This, however, leads them to believe that the abductors knew the family.
In 1992, Penny went to a Navajo medicine woman, in hopes of learning more about Anthonette's whereabouts. She did a special ceremony that is done in hopes of contacting the spirit of a missing person. According to her, Anthonette is still alive and may have a child. She is being held against her will, somewhere in the Southwest United States.
Investigators and Anthonette's family are still searching for her and hope that she is still alive