In the quiet community of Niles, Michigan, the last day of 1986 marked the unsettling disappearance of 70-year-old Shirley Gertrude Pullen. A woman of habit, Shirley was last seen by her hairdresser at a Save Mart store in South Bend, Indiana, on December 31st, where she mentioned plans for a New Year's Eve party at her home. Later that day, she returned to her residence in the Windward Village Mobile Home Park in Niles. Shirley, a widow who lived alone, was known to be insulin-dependent due to diabetes and may have been experiencing dementia. She was described as a white female, 5'5' tall, weighing between 125 and 150 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She sometimes wore brown or blonde wigs.
Concerns for Shirley's welfare arose in the new year when she failed to pay her lot rent on January 1st, an act that was out of character for her. On January 12, 1987, after not seeing her for nearly two weeks, the park manager and concerned relatives contacted the police. Upon entering her mobile home, investigators found a scene that suggested an abrupt departure. A half-eaten sandwich was left out, and a cigarette had burned down to its filter in an ashtray, with the television still on. There were no signs of a struggle, and all of her personal belongings, including her coat, luggage, and vehicle, were left behind. This led authorities to believe she had left her home willingly, with the intention of returning shortly.
As the investigation unfolded, more troubling details emerged. Years after her disappearance, a neighbor came forward stating they had witnessed Shirley arguing with two men outside her mobile home on the night she was last seen. One of these men was identified as a former tenant who had rented another of Shirley's trailers and had a history of not paying rent. Investigators questioned this individual, who denied seeing Shirley on the day she vanished. It was also discovered that Shirley had written a $500 check to this man on December 30, 1986, which he claimed was a holiday gift. Furthermore, there were reports that this same individual had used her credit card after her disappearance and that Shirley's diary contained entries about him extorting money from her. The case remains unsolved, and foul play is strongly suspected. Shirley has not used her Social Security number or accessed her insulin medication since she vanished, and her body has never been found. Despite the passage of time and the death of all her siblings, the question of what happened to Shirley Pullen on that New Year's Eve continues to be a painful mystery for those who remember her.
Shirley Gertrude Pullen was a 70-year-old White woman when she was last known to be in Niles, Michigan, on December 31, 1986. Her disappearance unfolded with very few details preserved in the public record, leaving her family and investigators without a clear account of her final movements. Shirley was approximately five feet five inches tall and weighed between 125 and 150 pounds. She had brown eyes and was known to wear both brown and blonde wigs, a personal detail that could have affected how witnesses remembered or described her appearance. No description of the clothing, shoes, jewelry, or other belongings she may have had with her has been publicly recorded.
The known information does not explain where in Niles Shirley was last seen, who saw her, or what she had planned to do that day. There is no publicly available account of whether she left a private residence, visited a business, attended an appointment, or arranged transportation. Investigative records also do not identify a vehicle connected to her disappearance. Without a confirmed route, destination, or detailed timeline, authorities were left with little publicly known evidence from which to reconstruct what happened after Shirley’s final contact.
Shirley was reported missing on January 12, 1987, nearly two weeks after her listed date of last contact. The reason for that interval is not explained in the available case information. It is possible that relatives or others initially believed she was elsewhere or expected her to return, but no specific explanation has been made public. By the time a formal report was filed, the passage of days may have made it more difficult to locate witnesses, preserve temporary records, or determine whether anyone had seen a woman matching Shirley’s description around the end of December.
Her age created particular concern. At 70, Shirley may have been more vulnerable than a younger adult to illness, injury, exposure, confusion, or exploitation, although no medical condition or cognitive impairment is publicly listed in connection with her case. There is no disclosed evidence that she deliberately left Niles to begin a new life, nor is there a known record of her contacting relatives after she vanished. Public records do not indicate that she accessed financial accounts, sought medical treatment, established a new residence, or appeared under another identity.
The limited information has also made it impossible to determine whether Shirley met with an accident or encountered another person who caused her harm. Niles and the surrounding portions of Berrien County include residential neighborhoods, rural roads, wooded areas, waterways, and routes leading toward the nearby Indiana state line. Any of those settings could have complicated a search, particularly without a reliable last-known location. However, no evidence available to the public establishes that Shirley entered the wilderness, traveled out of state, or became the victim of a crime.
No suspect has been publicly identified, and there is no reported arrest or criminal charge connected to Shirley’s disappearance. The case record does not describe signs of a struggle, abandoned personal property, suspicious activity at her residence, or statements from anyone believed to have been with her shortly before she vanished. The absence of those details does not rule out foul play, but it means that the known evidence does not support a definitive explanation. Shirley’s case has therefore remained open to several possibilities, none of which has been proven.
As the investigation continued, a DNA reference sample was obtained from Shirley’s brother and processed through the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification. Both mitochondrial DNA and a standard genetic profile were developed from that sample. The case information notes that additional family reference samples would improve the ability to search national DNA databases efficiently. The existing sample nevertheless provides investigators with a potential way to compare unidentified remains with Shirley’s maternal family line.
DNA technology offers a path toward answers that did not exist when Shirley disappeared. Remains recovered years ago and never identified can now be tested and compared across jurisdictions, including cases far beyond Michigan. Shirley’s physical description, photograph, and information about the wigs she wore can also be used when reviewing unidentified-person records. No publicly announced DNA comparison has established what happened to her, and there has been no confirmed recovery.
The Michigan State Police’s Niles Post remains the investigating agency associated with Shirley’s disappearance. Her case is marked by the painful scarcity of information surrounding her final day. There is no detailed last sighting, known destination, associated vehicle, clothing description, confirmed later contact, or publicly identified person of interest. Those missing pieces have left investigators and Shirley’s loved ones with little more than her final known location, her identifying characteristics, and the hope that a witness, document, or future DNA match may still provide an answer.
In overview, Shirley Gertrude Pullen disappeared from Niles on December 31, 1986, at the age of 70 and was reported missing the following month. She was known to wear brown or blonde wigs, but little else has been publicly revealed about the circumstances surrounding her last contact. No suspect has been named, no arrest has been reported, and no confirmed trace of Shirley has emerged. Her case remains the story of an older woman who vanished with almost no public trail, leaving her family to endure decades of uncertainty and investigators to continue searching for the evidence that might finally explain where she went.
Last Seen: Dec 31, 1986
