Full Name: Anthonette Christine Cayedito

Alternative Name: Squirrel, Antoinette.

Case Status: Missing

Record ID#: 0147

*The names “Jane Doe”  and “John Doe” are English names used when the person’s true name is not known. If used above, the name refers to a person of unknown identity.

Date of Birth*: December 25, 1976
Birthplace: New Mexico
Age at the Time: 9
Age Group: Child (6 to 9 Years Old)
Biological Sex: Female
Hair: Brunette
Eyes: Brown
Skin Complexion:
Shoe Size:
Ethnicity: Caucasian or White, Native American
Nationality: United States
Languages Spoken:

*If the date says January 1, this is often just a placeholder for an unknown specific date. It usually means “sometime that year”.

Physical Build:

Height:

Weight

Distinguishing Marks:

• Beauty Mark or Mole, Eyeglasses, Freckles, Pierced Ears, Scar

Medical Condition:
Physical Abnormality:
Dental Condition:
Scars & Other Marks: Scar on her knee. Scar on her lip. Moles on her back, right cheek, nose, left and right hands, right ankle.
Piercings: Ears
Tattoos:

Other Descriptors: Cayedito is of Navajo and Italian descent.

Clothing

Pink Nightgown

Possessions:

She was known to wear a silver chain with a small turquoise cross pendant

Date of the Disappearance*: April 6, 1986

Description: Anthonette Christine Cayedito, nicknamed “Squirrel,” was born on December 25, 1976, in New Mexico. She was a 9-year-old girl of mixed Navajo and Italian heritage, standing 4 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 55 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Distinguishing features included freckles, pierced ears, a scar on her knee, a scar on her lip, and moles on her back, right cheek, nose, both hands, and right ankle. She wore glasses and was often seen with a silver chain featuring a small turquoise cross. Anthonette lived with her mother and two younger sisters in a modest apartment in the 200 block of Arnold Street off Route 66 in Gallup, New Mexico—a community of roughly 18,000 at the edge of the Navajo Reservation.

Described as bright, sweet, and unusually responsible, she often took a parental role with her sisters, Wendy (age 5) and Sadie (age 7), making sure they were fed, clothed, and cared for when their mother was away. Her parents, Penny Cayedito (a waitress) and Anthony (sometimes reported as Larry Estrada), were separated. Penny worked nights and frequently went to local bars, leaving Anthonette to babysit or with a sitter amid persistent reports of poverty, addiction, and neglect in the household—struggles consistent with intergenerational challenges seen in parts of the region.

On the evening of April 5, 1986, Penny left the girls with a babysitter while she went to a bar. She returned around midnight with friends, and the group continued socializing. Among the visitors that night was Emiliano “Emo” Gardella, introduced to Penny by her friend Ronald (“Ron”) Perry. Emo had previously brought Anthonette flowers and gifts, sometimes having her sit on his lap—behavior later interpreted as grooming. That night he reportedly gave her roses and a necklace, which made her uncomfortable.

Sadie later recalled that Penny and Anthonette stayed up late playing cards while the younger girls went to bed, and that at some point the three sisters ended up sleeping in Penny’s room, contrary to some early reports. There was allegedly an initial knock at the door sometime before 3:00 a.m. that Penny instructed the children to ignore.

What happened between roughly 3:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 6, 1986, remains the most disputed window in the case. Five years later, when she was 10, Wendy told authorities there was a second knock around 3:00 a.m., and that when Anthonette asked who it was, the man at the door claimed to be “Uncle Joe” (a relative or family acquaintance). According to Wendy, two men grabbed Anthonette as soon as she opened the door, forced her into a brown van, and drove off while she screamed for help. Sadie later denied witnessing a second knock or an abduction, stating the sisters were asleep in their mother’s room.

Around 3:30 a.m., another man named Ron Perry (sometimes reported as Roger) knocked, saying he was checking on Penny after an argument at the bar; his account was later corroborated, and he did not see Anthonette during his brief visit.

In a 1994 interview with the FBI, Penny herself offered a different version: she said she heard a knock between 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., told Anthonette to answer it, then waited about 30 minutes before checking and finding her gone—adding that it was “just getting light” outside. This conflicts with dawn conditions in Gallup in early April, when civil twilight begins around 6:00 a.m. and sunrise is approximately 6:25 a.m.; if it was getting light, the events would have been closer to dawn than her stated 3:30–4:30 a.m. window, and also contrasts with her original account of discovering the disappearance at 7:00 a.m., by which time it is fully daylight.

Additional neighborhood observations further complicate the timeline. A neighbor reported seeing an older-model brown truck with New Mexico plates parked outside the Cayedito residence between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m. on April 6. The neighbor saw a man get out and walk toward the house, but could not provide a detailed description of the man or the truck.

Penny has said she awoke around 7:00 a.m. to get the girls ready for Bible school and then realized Anthonette was missing. She searched the area until approximately 11:00 a.m. before contacting the police; according to Penny, officers told her she would need to wait eight hours before filing an official missing-person report, which delayed the formal response.

When the search did begin, the Gallup Police Department and state and federal authorities mobilized quickly, interviewing family and neighbors and canvassing the area over three days with vehicles, horses, motorcycles, and search dogs. No signs of forced entry or a struggle were found at the front door, and Anthonette’s clothing and belongings appeared undisturbed, though investigators learned that a number of people had been in and out of the apartment that night.

From the outset, investigators encountered inconsistencies. Penny failed an early polygraph exam, and her narrative changed on key points, including her 1994 statement that she told Anthonette to answer a late-night knock. She also did not mention Emo’s presence that night until relatives prompted her four days later. Reports emerged of Penny making unusual purchases shortly after the disappearance amid unconfirmed allegations of drug involvement. Both Emo and Ron were reportedly polygraphed, with results described as failed or inconclusive, though some records were later missing from the case file. Neither man contacted Penny after the incident; Ron stopped visiting altogether. Investigators questioned the real “Uncle Joe” (Penny’s sister’s ex-husband), who had a solid alibi and was cleared. In 1994, during an FBI interview, Penny asked, “What if me and Emo did this—would we both go to prison?” and described a prior plan involving Emo and a third, unnamed man taking Anthonette to an unknown location. She suggested the motive might have been related to drugs or, as she phrased it, to give her daughter a “better life,” calling Anthonette “a problem.” This confession was not shared with Gallup Police at the time, which foreclosed potential local charges. Years later, a Gallup detective confronted Penny with allegations that she had sold her daughter for drugs; Penny denied it.

Crucial tips arrived after the abduction but could not be conclusively linked to Anthonette.

Despite broad public attention—including a December 16, 1992 broadcast of “Unsolved Mysteries,” which generated more than a hundred tips—no confirmed leads emerged. Penny Cayedito died on April 18, 1999, at age 46, from liver cirrhosis and cardiac issues; rumors that she had been murdered in Mexico were denied by relatives, who confirmed her death. Anthonette’s father, Anthony, died in 2012. In the years that followed, Wendy and Sadie spoke publicly about the trauma that followed their sister’s disappearance. Wendy described years of drug addiction, alcoholism, and gang involvement before entering rehab around 2007 and rebuilding her life; she maintains she will not accept that Anthonette is dead without proof. Sadie, interviewed in 2022, addressed her sister directly, saying she was loved and that the family had not given up. In 2015, law enforcement distributed age-progressed images in targeted areas of the Southwest. On the 34th and 35th anniversaries (2020 and 2021), the FBI renewed appeals for information, releasing outreach materials in both Navajo and English, including a video and audio poster.

As of October 2025, Anthonette’s case remains unsolved. Investigators believe foul play occurred and many suspect she is deceased, though some family members still hope she is alive. There have been no verified sightings since the early 1990s and no arrests. If alive today, Anthonette would be 48 years old. Anyone with information can contact the FBI Albuquerque Field Office at 505-889-1300, submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov, or call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.

Multiple Victims?: No

Rumored Sightings: On April 12, 1987—about a year after she vanished—the Gallup Police Department received a 40-second recorded call from a girl who identified herself as Anthonette and said she was in Albuquerque. An angry adult male voice can be heard shouting, “Who said you could use the phone?” followed by a scuffle and a scream, before the line goes dead. The call was too brief to trace. Penny listened to the tape repeatedly and insisted the voice belonged to her daughter based on the pronunciation of their surname and the sound of her scream.

In November 1991, a waitress in Carson City, Nevada, reported serving a teenage girl dining with an unkempt couple; the girl repeatedly dropped her fork and squeezed the waitress’s hand each time it was returned. After they left, staff found a note under the plate that read, “Help me! Call police.” The girl was never identified, and the sighting could not be confirmed as Anthonette.

Other unverified reports between 1986 and 1989 included a girl in a pink dress on a roadside in San Antonio with a blonde woman; a child’s voice crying “Help me!” from a brown truck at a Gallup gas station; and a pink-dress sighting in an El Paso bus depot involving two Hispanic men and a girl with a cheek mark similar to Anthonette’s.

*If the date says January 1, this is often just a placeholder for an unknown specific date. It usually means “sometime that year”.

Date the Body was Recovered:

Description: Unknown

Time of Death:

Cause of Death:

Recovered Remains (if partial):

Suspected Homicide?:

Multiple Victims?: No

DNA Tested (No Match):

• Bernalillo County Jane Doe (1996)
• Isle of Wight County Jane Doe (2001)
• Webbers Falls Jane Doe (2006)

*If the date says January 1, this is often just a placeholder for an unknown specific date. It usually means “sometime that year”.

Description: Older model brown truck

License Plate: New Mexico license plate

Description: Several individuals emerged as persons of interest in Anthonette Cayedito’s disappearance.

Penny Cayedito, her mother, drew suspicion due to inconsistent accounts, a failed polygraph, and later FBI statements suggesting she may have arranged Anthonette’s removal, possibly connected to drugs or neglect.

Emeliano “Emo” Gardella, a man introduced by Penny’s friend, was noted for giving Anthonette gifts and reportedly making her uncomfortable; he, too, failed a polygraph.

Ronald (Ron) Perry, Penny’s close friend, often accompanied Emo, introduced him to the family, and was present the night of the disappearance, later avoiding contact after the incident. Other figures, such as “Uncle Joe,” were cleared through alibis. Despite scrutiny of these central individuals, no charges were ever filed, and the case remains unsolved.