On June 6, 1984, 12-year-old Sherry Lynn Marler, a white female child with brown hair and brown eyes, was last seen in downtown Greenville, Alabama. Public missing-child records say she had left the First National Bank and was going to the gas station across the street; the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency places the time at around 9:30 a.m. and notes she was last seen around the Chevron station across from the bank.
She was described as wearing a red plaid or red long-sleeved shirt, faded jeans, new gray tennis shoes with Velcro, and a watch with a black band.
The known public account of that morning is painfully brief. Sherry had gone into town with her stepfather, Raymond Stringfellow, and while he handled business at the bank, she was said to have gone across the street to buy a soda. The short errand should have taken only minutes, but Sherry did not return. Sources that summarize the case describe that moment as the last confirmed point in the public timeline: a child walking from the bank area toward a nearby gas station in daylight, in the center of town, and then vanishing without a confirmed explanation.
Sherry’s missing-person descriptions have remained consistent across official and advocacy sources. She was about 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed roughly 100 to 120 pounds when she disappeared. She had brown hair and brown eyes, and public case summaries list distinguishing scars, including a two-inch scar on her stomach and another scar near her upper back or shoulder. NCMEC has continued to circulate age-progressed images of Sherry, including an image showing how she may have looked at age 50, underscoring how much time has passed while her family and investigators have continued to seek answers.
The disappearance has endured as one of those cases in which the simplicity of the last known moment makes the unanswered questions feel even heavier. Sherry was not described as leaving for a long walk or running away with belongings; she was a child sent on a quick errand across the street. Public sources classify or describe the case as an abduction or involuntary disappearance, and Alabama’s law enforcement flyer lists the status as active. Anyone with information has been directed to the Greenville Police Department, and NCMEC also continues to list her case. In overview, Sherry Lynn Marler was a 12-year-old girl last seen on June 6, 1984 in Greenville, Alabama, near the First National Bank and the gas station across the street; she disappeared in a narrow window of time during an ordinary morning errand, and decades later, the central question remains what happened to Sherry after she left the bank area and failed to come back.Last Seen: Jun 6, 1984
