Account
Apr 15, 2010
Jan 25, 2024
Pamela
Tinsley
58
19
67 inches
130 lbs
White / Caucasian
Female
On a spring afternoon in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on April 13, 1986, 19-year-old Pamela Dawn Tinsley vanished, leaving behind a life filled with complexities and unanswered questions. She was at Lake Overholser with friends, a popular local spot, when she reportedly accepted a motorcycle ride from a man she had just met. Tinsley, a female with blonde hair and blue eyes, was last seen wearing a two-piece turquoise bathing suit adorned with black polka dots, white shorts, and flip-flop sandals. She left her purse, car, and cigarettes with her friends, expecting to return from a short ride around the lake. She never came back, and the man she was with, described as a white male in his twenties with brown hair, has never been identified. In the weeks leading up to her disappearance, Pamela's life was troubled. She was engaged to be married to a man stationed in the military, but she was also dealing with personal issues at her Edmond apartment. Three unemployed roommates were living with her, and she had expressed a desire to evict them. Just two weeks prior to vanishing, police had discovered marijuana growing in her apartment, a discovery she denied responsibility for. It was later revealed that her fiancé had been writing to her, asking her to send him drugs. This series of events led investigators to consider that her disappearance could be drug-related, a theory supported by the belief that she may have been killed to prevent her from disclosing information about the drugs found in her apartment. Years turned into decades with no resolution in Pamela's case. Her family tirelessly distributed flyers and sought answers, steadfast in their belief that she would not have willingly disappeared, especially without her personal belongings. The initial police theory that she had run off with the motorcyclist eventually shifted to the belief that she had met with foul play. A significant development occurred in 2008 when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Oklahoma City Police Department received a series of anonymous phone calls. The caller, believed to be the same person, provided the name of a potential suspect and a general location where her body might be found. Despite this promising lead, authorities were unable to substantiate the information. The case remains an active investigation, a painful puzzle of a young woman's life cut short, leaving her loved ones to grapple with the ambiguity of her fate. The prevailing belief among law enforcement is that Pamela was likely killed shortly after she left the lake that day, but without her remains or concrete evidence, the full story of what happened on that April afternoon remains untold.
Apr 13, 1986
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
Oklahoma County
No
26996
Oklahoma City Police Department
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma
Oklahoma County
73102
Mike Burke
Cold Case Detective
701 Colcord Drive, Oklahoma
4052971129
Local
Law Enforcement
860411313
1986-04-30
Oklahoma City Police Department
Blond/Strawberry
Blue
Blue
05/31/2026
