Kathy Shea (Missing Person)

Thursday March 18th 1965 was a dismal day in the town of Tyrone, Pennsylvannia.
Shortly after midday, six year old Kathy Shea left her home for the short walk to her elementary school. Although spring was just around the corner, slushy snow lined the streets as the Kindergartner hurried along on her way. Several people saw Kathy enroute but she never made it to her lessons that afternoon. A bloodhound tracked Kathy's scent to a spot within eyesight of the school. The only conclusion was that the little girl had been abducted by person or persons unknown. Since that day there has been no sign of Kathy.

Sources for the episode can be found here

Transcript

Kathy Shea

Hi it's John here, before the episode starts I wanted to say a big thank you for listening to the podcast over the last year. Can I take this opportunity to cheekily ask if you enjoy the podcast to do a quick review on your podcast app. It would be an early Christmas present for me!

Just to let you know I will be taking a little break over the Christmas period and the next episode will be coming out on January 20th.

Christmas time can be wonderful and difficult in equal measures. I hope you find peace whatever your situation.

Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda. Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Just a note, the episode concerns a missing child. Please exercise self care if and when you choose to listen.

It was Thursday March 18th 1965. A little after midday James R Shea Jr returned to his split level home on West 14th Street in Tyrone, Blair County, Pennsylvania. It was a fairly new house with a swing and picnic table in the garden, everything a young family could wish for. Tyrone itself was a pleasant little town nestled in a mountainous area with a population of 7100. It had an upper middle class feel with a strong community ethos. It felt like a safe and pleasant place to live and raise a family.

James had had a busy morning in his role as a supervisor at the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company and was looking forward to having lunch and catching up with his wife Mary Alice and their three small children. The married couple had two boys, the youngest aged 18 months and another who was four. Their eldest child was a daughter, 6 year old Kathleen Ann, or Kathy, as she was affectionately called. The diminutive Kathy had light brown hair with a fair complexion and stood at 3ft 11/119 cm, weighing 47 lbs/21kg. Described as fun and funny as well as quiet and thoughtful, Kathy was the apple of her parents’ eye.

Not long after James arrived home it was time for Kathy to leave for her school lessons. Kathy was in Kindergarten and only attended nearby Adams Elementary School for the afternoon session. The sandstone building was 4.5 blocks, roughly ½ mile away from the Shea residence and stood on Adams Avenue and 17th Street. It was adjacent to the Gray Veterans Memorial Football Field and surrounded by beautiful trees.

Although the official start to spring was only a few days away, it was still bitterly cold out and slushy snow lined the pavements and roads. This led James to offer his daughter a lift in the car. Kathy declined the offer, replying that she would prefer to go on foot as she enjoyed walking through the snow. The fun-loving six year old was known to enjoy splashing in the puddles as she made her way to school. 

Kathy kissed her father goodbye on the steps of the house. James waved as he saw his daughter make her way to the corner of North Avenue before turning left and heading down the steep hill towards Adams Elementary. This was at 12.10pm. James returned to work a short time later and Mary Ann popped out to run some errands, leaving the two youngest children in the care of their grandmother.

Due to the chilly temperature Kathy had been wrapped up warmly by her mother. Kathy was sent out wearing a brown hat with tie down ear muffs, red sweater, a brown shift jumper (I’m not quite sure what that is) beige coat with fur collar, red tights, red leather gloves and yellow snow boots with a black band around them and black soles. One report described the boots as having a similar design to a bumblebee.

Kathy was excited to be going to school. It was only her second day back after a long absence due to illness. She was admitted to hospital in early March to have her tonsils removed. (Back then records of hospital admissions were actually printed in local newspapers.) Kathy regularly suffered from sore throats and in those days it was common practice for this operation to be administered. Two of her second cousins, who were both close in age to Kathy, were in the hospital at the same time, also having their tonsils removed. After returning from hospital Kathy then contracted chicken pox. All in all she had been away from school for several weeks. 

Not only was Kathy pleased to be going back to school but she was also looking forward to a sleepover that coming Friday at her grandmother's house with her second cousins. This was to make up for the fact that she had turned six on February 2nd (Groundhog Day) but was unable to have a party because she was ill with a sore throat. 

There were at least three adults who saw Kathy that afternoon as she made her way to school. Not long after leaving the house she ran into a male neighbour,  who asked about her short stay in hospital. Kathy replied that she had enjoyed the soft food the staff had given her in recovery after surgery. The 6 year old then cheerily went on her way.

There were at least 5 or 6 elementary schools in the vicinity, including Logan Street, St Matthew’s and Kathy's own school Adams Elementary. This meant that around lunch time there were scores of children making their way to and from school. In those days it was common for children to return home for lunch. To help with the logistics several people were employed as crossing guards to assist the children in navigating the busiest streets. Additionally some older children would be asked to fulfill this role on quieter roads.

A retired railway worker working as a crossing guard saw Kathy cross from 15th Street and head down North Avenue to his crossing position. The pair briefly chatted and Kathy informed the crossing guard that she was running a little late so he told her to hurry on to school. This was about 12.20pm. A short way behind Kathy was a small boy who crossed the road just behind her. 

Very often Kathy would meet her second cousin Susan on her walk to school. This would normally be on West 16th Street and North Avenue but that day Susan walked a different route on her return from lunch. On her morning walk Susan had been upset by a patrol boy upon whom she had a crush and she wanted to avoid him for the rest of the day. As a result the two girls did not meet up for the last leg of their journey to school.

A 31 year old woman was standing in her front yard waving goodbye to her daughter as she left for school when Kathy walked by. Her daughter left for school at 12.15pm but the woman remained in the front yard for a while. (It’s a little unclear if this happened before or after Kathy talked with the crossing guard).  The woman briefly chatted to Kathy as she passed the house. I believe another woman, also a mother, noticed Kathy walking down the street, though she did not speak to her.

Moments later twin sisters who were walking to school looked behind and saw a little girl they recognised as Kathy following them. She was in the area of North Avenue and West 16th Street. This is about a block north of where the crossing guard had seen Kathy. From this location the side entrance of Adams Elementary School was visible. A minute or so later the twin sisters glanced behind again but Kathy was gone. They thought no more about it and carried on walking. 

This is the last sighting of Kathy Shea and she was never seen or heard from again. Almost 60 years on the question of what happened to the little girl still hangs over the small town of Tyrone and the community, in need of closure and answers, remains ever watchful. 

When Kathy failed to show up to school her absence was noted by her kindergarten teacher, however she was not concerned. As Kathy had been ill recently she thought her absence was probably a relapse. Perhaps her first day back had exhausted her. Even so the teacher made a mental note to give Kathy's mother a call after school to see how she was doing. 

There followed a gap of several hours in which no one was aware that Kathy was missing. When she did not return from school at her usual time her mother Mary Alice thought perhaps she had gone to a friend’s or relative’s house to play. She called Kathy's grandmother, her second cousin (the family with whom the sleepover had been arranged) and various school friends. According to a 2019 article on NBC, Kathy did have a play date scheduled for that afternoon with a child called Bob whose parents were good friends with the Sheas. I imagine they were also called. 

Mary Alice got the same answer from everyone, no one had seen Kathy. Mary Alice then assumed her daughter must have remained at school. She got in the car and drove down to Adams Elementary but soon found Kathy wasn't there. At 4.45pm the now panicking mother telephoned Kathy's kindergarten teacher at her home and was told the sickening news that Kathy had not been in school all afternoon. It had been many hours since her daughter could be accounted for. At 5pm the police were contacted and the biggest search in what was then Tyrone’s 108 year history got underway. 

The Tyrone borough police force was tiny, with a staff of 8, so search efforts were heavily reliant on volunteers. As soon as 5.30pm groups of people were out looking for the little girl, and by 10.30pm between 2000 and 2500 individuals were involved in the search. These included volunteer firefighters, local national guard members and even boy scout groups as well as individual citizens. Many people came from the local Civil Defense Unit, an organised civilian group of volunteers that trained and prepared to support the military and police in emergency and disaster situations. Headquarters for the search was established at Adams Elementary School and groups fanned out from there into the local neighbourhoods and beyond. Even rubbish bins were gone though for clues, though in truth a description of Kathy's clothing had not been given out yet, so something may have been missed as people didn't know exactly what to look for.

Well into the night, streams, gulleys, caves, clay pits, back yards, empty buildings and stationary vehicles all over east Tyrone were searched. The night passed and dawn came but there was still no sign of Kathy.

The search got into full flow on Friday March 19th with many local firms giving their employees special leave to participate and high school students being granted permission to get involved. Local radio station WTRN provided support and kept townsfolk abreast of developments. The search began to stretch out further into the surrounding areas including the neighboring towns of Warriors Mark, which was a ten minute drive north east, and Sinking Valley, a township 10 minutes to the south east. 

The operation was coordinated by the Civil Defense director Robert “Spike” Meredith together with the local Chief of Police John Giles and Fire Chief Richard Phillips. Volunteers poured in from far and wide, with people traveling from places like Altoona, 20 miles 32 km to the south. A communications centre was established at the Tyrone police office in the municipal building and a canteen was established at Adams Elementary School by the Salvation Army to feed and hydrate the volunteers. 

As the search went into its third day snowfall inhibited efforts and there was concern that this may conceal tracks and other potential clues. As the search radius slowly widened there was also a problem with getting enough transport for all the volunteers. The Air National Guard stepped in and were able to provide trucks. 

The Civil Defense leaders organized the volunteers (mostly men) into groups of 10 -20. They were then sent to their designated search which could be anywhere within a 20 mile 32 km radius. All this was done with the aid of a large and detailed map. By this stage approximately 5000 people had already been utilised, which is staggering considering the size of Tyrone was only a little over 7000. The number grew to over 9000 over the course of the weekend with people coming from the cities of Harrisburg and Pittsburgh to lend a hand. The response from the public was massive, with the police receiving 500 tips via telephone.

By now there was speculation that the most likely outcome was she had been lured into a vehicle and abducted. Bloodhounds from the state police barracks at Carlisle were brought in to assist, however, it was work done by a Bloodhound and police handler from the town of Burnham that appeared to confirm the car abduction theory. The dog tracked Kathy's scent from her home on West 14th Street towards Adams Elementary. The dog did three trips of the route and on all occasions stopped on Garfield Street. This was very close to the spot Kathy was last seen by the 31 year old mother and the twin sisters. Reports vary how close this was to Adams Elementary School, but it was within sight, and in the region of 90 metres away. 

Kathy’s father James said his daughter was exceptionally bright and would not go into a car voluntarily. In the recent past she had actually refused a lift from a family friend who was a police officer. James believed that if Kathy was put inside a vehicle force must have been used. Apparently there were a lot of empty  garages nearby and it was speculated the man may have been hiding in one of these when he sprang out and surprised Kathy.

With abduction the likely senario Captain Clarence F Temke of the state police arrived to take charge of the investigation. To this day the Pennsylvania state police remain the lead organisation. An FBI agent from the state offices in Pittsburgh also joined the team looking for Kathy.

James and Mary Alice Shea wrote an open letter to their daughter's abductor which was published in local newspapers. It pleaded with the person or persons responsible to return their daughter to them and end the suffering of the family. If the perpetrator had already abandoned Kathy they asked them to let them know where she was, as it was snowing and the temperature was getting colder. They ended the letter with a prayer for Kathy's safe return. 

The search continued but was now limited to just 50 people a day as a way of honing the operation to possible suspicious areas mentioned in telephone tips. The search area was now a staggering 500 square miles 800 square km and locations were searched multiple times. The following locations were at one point or another examined: a dump at Nealmont operated by the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, the Tyrone railway station, a local warehouse, the storm sewers that ran along the road to neighbouring Thomastown, caves in Laurel Ridge, a reservoir at the Sinking Valley Country Club and numerous dams and open farmland. Rivers and waterways were especially targeted by the searchers but their task was made difficult due to heavy rainfall. 

A few things of note did turn up. A group of searchers from the Purdue mountain citizens band radio group came across a large quantity of blood in Waddle, which is located in Patton township, Centre County. This is about a 20 minute drive north east of Tyrone. The blood was collected in a thermos flask and sent for analysis. I have found no further references to this find so I presume it was deemed to be unconnected.

Another search party came across a set of children's clothes but they did not belong to Kathy.

A barrel was reported floating on the Juniata river near Tyrone forge, 2 miles/ 3km southeast of the town. The barrel turned out to be empty. On a different stretch of the river a body was reported to be floating on the surface of the water. This turned out to be a log.

A skeletonized body was found but quickly determined to belong to an adult. The person was believed to have died by suicide.

As well as the search over the surrounding terrain, state police were continuing to make enquiries throughout Tyrone. State troopers went door to door in the streets around Adams Elementary School and questioned local residents. In addition scores of people with criminal records for sex offences were brought in for questioning, but no individuals were detained. 

By the fifth day things were looking bleak. The temperature had dropped to -11 degrees celsius 12 fahrenheit and Robert “Spike” Meredith, the director of the Civil Defense, said the prospects of finding Kathy alive were looking dim. Tips continued to come in and by March 24th 900 had been received by investigators.

One such tip suggested investigators check out a reservoir park just ¼ mile ½ km from Kathy's home. A dig was subsequently organised but nothing was found. In response to information that came in, riders on horseback were sent to search a remote area 30 miles 48 km south, in the north of Huntingdon county. Likewise nothing of note came from this. Investigators even questioned school children and asked them to suggest areas where they should look.

The West Virginia Pulp and Paper factory had a siren or whistle that would go off at the end of the working day. The local children would use this as a signal to return home for their evening meal. It had been decided that the whistle would sound if and when Kathy was found. On the evening of March 25th the loud whistle sounded and was heard across Tyrone. Unfortunately this was an accident and the result of a short circuit following routine maintenance on a telephone line. I dread to think of the heartache this must have caused Kathy's family and loved ones.

There were plenty of rumours and speculation circulating Tyrone concerning the missing girl. One theory was that Kathy had been taken into the large underground network of sewers, another concerned the laying of a concrete foundation on a local farm. The theory was that Kathy’s body had been buried there. There was no evidence for these rumors and police discovered that they were unfounded. 

The state police were baffled and had no solid leads to work with. Despite traffic stops and dozens of interviews with neighbours, no one had seen anything happen to Kathy. Just as importantly no one had heard a scream or call for help.  Lt AA Verbitski said they knew no more now than on the first day when Kathy went missing. As we shall see some people did come forward to tell of unknown men and vehicles in the area. I will come to these reports in detail shortly. 

The family were trying to remain hopeful. James Shea told the press that they had not given up hope that Kathy was still alive. They just couldn't believe that something like this had happened in their little town in broad daylight and so close to the school. James and Mary Alice drew on their faith for strength and comfort. The family were members of Columbia Avenue Methodist Church and the pastor Rev Leroy Harrison did his best to extend sympathy and support. James Shea praised the wider community of Tyrone for standing with the family. The Shea family were well known in the town as James was a leader at the local Elks Lodge and his father James R Shea senior had been manager at the paper mill and a former borough council president.

Townsfolk were in shock following the suspected abduction and the streets were noticeably quieter as parents refused to allow their children to go out to play or walk anywhere unaccompanied. An illustrated pamphlet was hastily distributed to children and their families from kindergarten to grade 4 warning of the peril of “stranger danger” and instructed children not to accept lifts or sweets from those they didn't know. A group of concerned parents organised a group called “Parent Watchers” which would patrol the streets when the children were let out of school and in the late afternoons. The common belief was that this crime must have been committed by an outsider. The very thought that someone from within this upper middle class close knit town could be responsible seemed too far fetched for many to comprehend. 

A successful local contractor, W D Parshall, set up a reward fund of $200 for clues and information that would lead to finding Kathy. The amount grew rapidly over the next week or so and a police organisation also contributed money. A time limit was put on the reward and the deadline came and went without it being claimed.

After 11 days the mass search effort was called off and reduced to just members of the police. Volunteers remained on standby but for the most part they were stood down. Altogether 10,000 people had been involved, with up to 3000 on a single day. 73,000 staff hours had been spent and around one thousand leads and clues had come in. Included in the large volume of tips were many brought forward by mediums and other self proclaimed psychics .

At least six separate pieces of information came in from people who claimed they had received knowledge of Kathy's whereabouts from sources such as dreams and ouija boards. A woman from Everett. Pennsylvania, who was said to have an interest in “extra sensory perception” contacted renowned Dutch parapsychologist Gerhardt Croiset and asked for his help in solving the case. You may have heard Croiset’s name before as a year later in 1966 he famously visited Australia to work on the missing Beaumont Children case.

In April 1965 Croiset sent detailed information to the Sheas, including maps depicting where Kathy's body could be found. He claimed that the body was snagged on a tree and one of the limbs was dangling in water. According to Croiset, this location was 500 metres from a house which he described in great detail. The Sheas spoke to Croiset over the telephone and he told them the body of water where Kathy could be found was 5 miles 3 km from Tyrone. Rivers and streams across the region were searched and as trout season was about to start, fishermen were asked to keep a watchful eye. Needless to say nothing came of this and Kathy remained missing.

Yet another psychic, Howard B Burkett of Erie Pennsylvania, got involved. In 1962 he helped to find two boys who were lost in a clay mine. Burkett suggested that police look to drain a clay pit east of the town of Warriors Mark. This was done but nothing was found.

Two months after Kathy disappeared, the Sheas’ middle child turned 5 years old. It had been very difficult for the young boy to comprehend what had happened to his big sister. He asked for a piece of his birthday cake to be saved for her. I can’t imagine how difficult it was for the Sheas as they juggled trying to ensure their two sons experienced some kind childhood normality while going through this awful experience. At this time James Shea told reporters from the Tyrone Daily Herald that he now feared foul play. In spite of this dark reality the family and investigators were continuing to leave no avenue unexplored. 

A data pack was produced with details about Kathy and her plight which included a recent photograph. It had been taken by a professional photographer at school just a fortnight before she went missing. This is the image of Kathy most associated with this case. By the end of May 1965 the pack had already been distributed across 8 states. 6 months later it had been received by law enforcement agencies and school administrators in all 50 states. Residents of Tyrone were encouraged to take the data packs with them when they went on vacation to help spread the word.

Particular focus was given to ensuring school administrators across the country received the pack, as there was a theory that Kathy may have been taken by someone who was desperate to have children. If true, the thought was that she may have been enrolled at school. One report came in from New Jersey about a school girl who claimed to be Kathy Shea. This was investigated but it turned out to be a false alarm and the girl was said to have a vivid imagination. The lead was dismissed. 

Investigators were sent on several other wild goose chases as tips came in from all over the region and beyond. These included a man who claimed he had seen Kathy in a shopping mall in Texas and two women who said they had seen Kathy in a restaurant in Binghamton, New York. Other tips came in from Pittsburgh and Akron and as far away as Missouri. 

Six months after Kathy went missing the state police investigation had been whittled down to just two state troopers, including Lieutenant Fred Leamer, working on the case. They continued to liaise with the family but could not offer them much in the way of news. 

In May 1966 a person of interest came on the scene when a 17 year old girl was abducted at gunpoint as she was getting off a bus with friends near her home in Shade Gap, Pennsylvania. This is about an hour's drive south of Tyrone. The girl, who I will only refer to by her first name, Peggy, was held hostage by her abductor, the “Mountain Man”, 44 year old William D Hollenbaugh, for a week before she was eventually rescued. During a gun battle with FBI agents Hollenbaugh was shot dead; the day before he had killed an FBI agent when authorities first came across his mountain hideout on Fogal’s Hill, near Shade Gap. 

Hollenbaugh had spent much of his adult life in prison or mental health facilities. After abducting Peggy he told her he had been watching her for months. Whilst she was held captive Hollenbaugh also talked about other crimes and incidents he had been involved with. While not explicitly saying he had been involved he mentioned the disappearance of Kathy Shea. Peggy told investigators that Hollenbough told her that, I’m paraphrasing here, at least your parents know where you are. Kathy Shea's parents don't know where their daughter is. 

After this revelation the deceased Hollenbaugh was looked into but he was dismissed as a suspect by the Pennsylvania State police. Hollenbaugh did not  know how to drive and had acquired the nickname “the bicycle man” amongst locals. This was because he travelled everywhere on a pedal bike. Investigators were sure that Kathy’s abductor had used a car and there was no way Hollenbaugh could be responsible. They believed he had heard about the case as he enjoyed listening to his transistor radio and the airwaves had been flooded about Kathy Shea's story for weeks after she went missing. 

We are now going to go back to the afternoon Kathy disappeared. The majority of people living near Adams Elementary did not report seeing anything suspicious. The crossing guard who had helped Kathy over the road said he always kept a watchful eye over the children and had seen nothing that day that was different than any other week day. While no one had seen Kathy being abducted, there were reports of individuals and vehicles in the area that investigators were eager to trace. Investigators were loath to call these people suspects, but adamant that they wanted them to come forward. Specifically they were looking for two men seen separately around the time Kathy vanished. Composite sketches were produced of both individuals.

The first was a white male aged 50 with dark eyebrows and an unshaven face which was deeply tanned and lined. A witness saw the man sitting in a car, which was facing north on the southeast corner of West 17th Street and Adams Avenue. This was a block away from the school. 

According to an article in the Tyrone Daily Herald on March 16th 1968 this was said to be at 3.25pm on the afternoon Kathy went missing. However an article from the Times Tribune Scranton a year earlier, on July 2nd 1967, tells of an incident with this man that happened the day before Kathy went missing. In the said article Tyrone chief of police Richard T Fink says that the man approached one of the boys on crossing duty and inquired about Kathy by name. He asked if Kathy Shea had come by yet. 

Two composites were drawn up of this man. In one he is wearing a hat, possibly a railroad type or a baseball cap that had the peak turned up. The hat sat on the back of the man's head.

The young patrol boy who shared his interaction with the man did not know the make and model of the car the man was driving, though he gave the following detailed description of it. The car he was driving was dirty and dark in colour (one report says brown). It had a very dirty bottom. It had two doors and the sides of the car went straight down, the rear of the roof sloped down to the top of the boot, which projected out from the vehicle. The boot itself sloped down to the rear bumper. 

An article in the Altoona Mirror dated March 15th 2015 stated that a man in a dark car had approached a patrol boy in either November or December 1964. This would have been 3 or 4 months before Kathy went missing. The man asked if the patrol boy could point out Kathy Shea to him. The boy did so when Kathy came by with two other children. A similar looking man was said to have been seen by two patrol boys the day before Kathy disappeared. It would seem this is the same man described in the aforementioned account shared by Police Chief Fink.

The second man police were looking for  was white, aged 25-30, with dark, wavy hair. He was described by a witness as “nice looking”. He was wearing a light dress shirt and a sports jacket. He was seen on the day of Kathy’s disappearance driving an aqua coloured car east on West 14th Street near Lincoln Avenue. This was a few minutes drive from Adams Elementary School. 

This man approached a witness on the corner of East 14th Street and Blair Avenue and asked for directions to Plank Road in Altoona, a twenty minute drive away. The man tried to persuade the witness to get into the car with him but they refused. This man was last seen driving north on Blair Avenue which led to Route 220. He was said to be a stranger, i.e. he appeared to be from out of town.

Just a day after Kathy went missing I came across a reference to a green Ford that was seen in the area on the day. I am not 100% sure if this is a separate car to either the dirty, dark coloured car driven by the older man or the aqua coloured car driven by the young man. This car was parked near Adams Elementary at an odd angle to the curb in an area where only parallel parking was permitted. A man was seen sitting in the car. 

After this report was made public a woman who worked at a local sweet shop came forward relaying an incident from the day after Kathy went missing. The witness said an unshaven man with a thin face had come into the shop and purchased a popsicle and “Banjo” chocolate bar. The witness noticed that when the man returned to his car there was a young girl, similar in age to Kathy, sitting waiting for him. The shopkeeper did not recognise the man as a local. 

The 31 year old female witness who had briefly spoken to Kathy as she waved her own daughter to school also reported seeing a car. It went by her house moments before Kathy walked past. 

Vehicle ownership records were searched in Harrisburg to try and narrow down the search but nothing came of this. 

In the early years of the investigation those working the case did not share a lot of information publicly concerning their theories. That being said, in the aforementioned Scranton Times Tribune article  from July of 1967, borough Police Chief Fink did reveal some of his thoughts. 

He was fairly certain that not only did the abductor use a car but that he must have known Kathy and her family. The perpetrator knew the little girl and the school route. Fink was willing to bet that whoever did it lived locally or had done so in the past. He points to the interaction between the patrol boy and the unknown man driving the dirty brown car as proof of this. This was not a spontaneous or random crime but had clear planning behind it.

Fink makes reference to the fact the car was dirty and infers that this was a specific type of mud. Rather cryptically he concludes by saying there is only one place around here where that mud could come from. The Police Chief would not be drawn further on this issue, though he goes on to say that in the two years since Kathy went missing there had been numerous reports across Tyrone of men trying to get children into cars. There had also been literally hundreds of reports of prowlers and obscene phone calls around the town, which Fink labeled as strange. He added that for a town so small Tyrone seemed to have more child molesters and deviants than most towns.

Exactly three years to the day after Kathy’s abduction a 14 year old teenager, Elizabeth Lurene Ernstein, vanished on her walk home from school in Redlands, California. The similarities with Kathy’s case were not lost on journalists from the Tyrone Daily Herald. For almost 50 years Elizabeth's fate was unknown. In 2012 human remains found way back in 1969 were positively confirmed to belong to Elizabeth. At the time there had been speculation they may have been Elizabath’s but they were determined then to belong to a male. There isn't a lot of information about this case but police have said they believe Elizabath was murdered and as far as I can tell, it remains unsolved. Other than the coincidence of the date I can't find anything else to suggest a connection with Kathy Shea.

Kathy’s case continued to be worked on. State Trooper Fred Leamer, who had permanently been assigned the case, said it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. In 1969 police chief Robert L Fink said all tips were investigated but there was nothing new to report.

By 1971 borough Police Superintendent William P Campbell had taken over from Police Chief Fink. He had worked the case for three years and received maybe 3 phone calls with names of suspicious people. These he passed on to the state police.

In the years following Kathy going missing her parents James and Mary Alice dreaded talking publicly about the case, though from time to time they did so, to prevent what had happened to their daughter fading from people's memories. As much as they could, they kept their two sons away from public attention in a bid to protect them. Both parents were understandably very protective and drove their children both ways to school. The youngest boy, who was only a toddler when Kathy went missing, continued to call out for his sister questioningly to every little girl he saw. 

In 1979 the remains of a young female murder victim were recovered in upstate New York. The age of the victim could not be verified and at one stage they were thought to possibly belong to Kathy Shea. Caledonia or Cali Jane Doe remained unidentified until 2015 when she was confirmed to be 16 year old Tammy Jo Alexander, a runaway from Florida. Other Jane Doe exclusions include the Isle of Wight County Jane Doe discovered in Virginia in 2001.

Over the decades the numerous blue notebooks containing over 1000 pages of  tips and reports have been gone over by the different law enforcement officers who have taken charge of the case file. 

Fred Leamer worked for the state police for 35 years and took a special interest in the case. He personally travelled all over the country chasing down potential leads. All tips were investigated, including at one time organizing a dig of an abandoned well near to Tyrone. I'm not sure when this occurred, but nothing was found. 

Tips do occasionally still come in. In 2015 a tip was passed on to the Pennsylvania state police after an individual contacted the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children with pertinent information. Trooper Dana Martini of the Pennsylvania state police cold case unit currently has responsibility for the case. In 2019 Martini confirmed that over the years all persons of interest that have cropped up and were identified have been cleared. 

Altogether 2000 people have been questioned in connection with the case.

The two individuals of which composites were made have never been identified. It remains unknown whether they had any involvement in what happened to Kathy Shea.  

In the years following Kathy’s disappearance her parents James and Mary Alice became foster parents. At different points they fostered two girls. The second girl was adopted by the Sheas. Mary Alice passed away in 1997 and her husband James in 2006. Kathy’s brothers and sister are still waiting for news of what happened to her.

Kathy Shea is still remembered in Tyrone. A memorial plaque was erected on the 50th anniversary of the event in 2015 at Tyrone elementary school. Adams elementary no longer exists and an apartment complex now stands on the old school site. A special remembrance service was also held in a local church to mark the occasion. The story is passed on to every new generation in the town. In 2023 a local high school student produced a documentary series about Kathy. The trauma of March 18th 1965 lingers in Tyrone and has no chance of ever truly being dealt with until Kathy’s fate and whereabouts are known.

If you have any information about the 1965 disappearance of 6 year old Kathy Shea, you can contact State Trooper Dana Martini on 814 696 6100 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 1-800-222-TIPS.

Sources 

https://tinyurl.com/s4ef99v5