In the late winter of 1979, a 29-year-old mother named Nellie Florence Flickinger made a decision that would leave her family searching for answers for decades to come. Last seen in Erie, Pennsylvania, around March of that year, Nellie had recently returned to the area from Arizona, where she had reportedly gone to escape difficulties in her marriage. She was a mother to five young children, and her life at the time was described as transient. Upon her return to Erie, she stayed only a short while before telling her mother and children her plans. She said she was leaving for California with a new boyfriend, expressing a hope to get her life in order, and she promised she would come back for her children. With that, she departed, leaving her loved ones holding on to a promise that has yet to be fulfilled.
The man Nellie left with was largely a mystery to her family; they did not know his name, though he was described as a white male, possibly a member of the military. In the past, Nellie had traveled throughout the western United States, sometimes taking her children and other times leaving them with relatives, but she had always maintained contact and eventually returned for them. This time was different. As days turned into weeks and then years with no word, her family grew increasingly concerned. Her children were cared for by their grandmother for a time before ultimately being adopted into other families. Due to the circumstances of her departure, appearing to have left willingly as an adult, an official missing persons report was not filed with law enforcement until 2007, nearly three decades after she was last seen.
Nellie had distinct physical characteristics that her family hoped would aid in the search. A motorcycle accident in the 1960s had left her with significant injuries, including numerous scars from skin grafts and plates or screws in one of her legs, which was consequently smaller than the other. She also had a noticeable gap between her upper front teeth. A promising lead emerged in 2007 when her niece discovered a potential match with an unidentified Jane Doe found in Colusa County, California, in 1982. The remains indicated the woman had a steel plate in her leg, remarkably similar to Nellie's injury. Tragically, after the body was exhumed in 2008, scientists were unable to extract enough DNA to make a conclusive match, leaving the family with unanswered questions. The investigation into Nellie Flickinger's disappearance remains open, a quiet but persistent search for a mother who vanished with the promise of a new beginning and a sworn return that never came.
Last Seen: Mar 1, 1979
