Account
Aug 26, 2009
Aug 05, 2022
Sarah
Avon
49
6
48 inches
45 lbs
White / Caucasian
Female
On a summer evening in Joliet, Illinois, six-year-old Sarah Avon was playing with her younger sister and friends near her home on Richards Street. After a disagreement with another child, Sarah walked away from the group. This was the last time she was seen. Her family reported her missing at approximately 9:00 p.m. on July 21, 1981. At the time of her disappearance, Sarah was wearing a Joliet District soccer t-shirt, blue jogging pants with red and white stripes, and blue tennis shoes with a white stripe. She had blondish-brown hair and brown eyes. The initial search for Sarah yielded no clues as to her whereabouts, and the case quickly went cold. Years later, in 1993, a significant lead emerged when the nephew of a former neighbor of the Avon family, Ernest Wilson Sr., came forward to the police. The nephew, Robert Tadej, claimed that his uncle had made a "deathbed revelation" about Sarah's disappearance. Although unable to speak, Wilson allegedly drew a triangle with a circle inside, which some family members believed represented the triangular-shaped lot where he had lived in Joliet. Tadej further alleged that Wilson's own son, who was a teenager in 1981, had implicated himself in Sarah's death. A witness also supported this theory, stating they had seen Wilson digging a deep hole on his property around the time Sarah vanished and later saw him moving dirt with a bulldozer. Despite this information, a search of the former Wilson property did not uncover any evidence related to Sarah. Another person of interest in Sarah's case was William "Billy" Redden, a cousin of Sarah's father who lived just a few blocks from the Avon home. Redden had a prior conviction for aggravated battery against a toddler and was known to have a frightening reputation in the neighborhood. He was questioned by investigators at the time of Sarah's disappearance, and his former home was later searched, including an excavation of the crawl space in 2019, but no evidence was found. Redden passed away in 2010. The Will County Sheriff's Office has kept the investigation active throughout the years, following up on numerous leads. Despite the passage of time and various theories, the disappearance of Sarah Avon remains an unresolved case, a painful mystery for her family and the community.
Jul 21, 1981
Joliet
Illinois
Will County
60433
25907
Will County Sheriff's Office
Joliet
Illinois
Will County
60433
Robert Austin
Detective
16911 West Laraway Road, Illinois
8157278575
County
Law Enforcement
M9308823
Will County Sheriff's Office
7076
Blond/Strawberry
Brown
Brown
No
05/25/2026
