Sharon was abducted as she was in an alley behind her home in the 500 block of Virginia Avenue in Alamogordo, New Mexico just before 3:00 p.m. on July 21, 1960.
Two children who were with her, stated a man and a woman drove up in a “dirty old green car”, possibly a dark green 1951 or 1952 Dodge or Plymouth. They offered to buy Sharon candy and clothing if she would get in the car with them. When she refused, they dragged her into the vehicle and fled, turning west onto Fifth Street and disappearing.
The abduction was reported immediately and within about an hour police set up roadblocks to try and catch the green car at the Texas/New Mexico state border, but their efforts were fruitless. Sharon has never been heard from again.
The male abductor is described as a fair and thin Caucasian man with a long nose and straight sandy-coloured hair. The female is described as short and overweight with dirty blonde hair and eyeglasses; she was in her thirties. Witnesses reported that a woman matching the description of Sharon’s female abductor had been seen in the neighbourhood, asking questions about Sharon, her mother and their home.
Authorities believe the couple had been stalking Sharon for at least a week prior to her abduction. They had been seen after church the Sunday prior to her disappearance, accompanied by two young children, a boy with freckles and a girl. The woman knocked on a neighbour’s door to ask about Sharon’s mother, Lupe Gallegos. She inquired where Lupe lived and what her financial situation was, and whether she had a little girl and whether she had a lot of children. The woman said she wanted to offer Lupe a job.
It’s possible that the strange couple had tried to abduct Sharon before her disappearance on July 21. Sharon’s mother stated Sharon suddenly stopped wanting to go to the grocery store around the corner; previously, she had enjoyed doing this. She also got upset when she saw a green car, and asked to be picked up and carried past it.
At the time of her disappearance, Sharon lived with her mother, her grandmother, her aunt and uncle, and six siblings and cousins. Her father, a soldier, had left the family when she was a baby and she had no contact with him. The family was not rich; Lupe supported them by working as a motel maid. They had no telephone at the home and no one ever contacted them with a ransom demand.
Sharon’s abductors have never been identified and her case remains unsolved.
Information courtesy of The Charley Project.
