In the spring of what is believed to be 1977, a seventeen-year-old girl named April Rose Zane vanished from her home in Frankfort, Illinois. The exact date is shrouded in some uncertainty, with official records often citing April 18, 1977, while family members have suggested it might have been a year earlier, on Easter Sunday of 1976. On the day she disappeared, April told her family she was heading into town to visit a friend. She left her home, but she never arrived at her friend's house and was not heard from again. April was last seen wearing a brown flannel jacket. She was a student at Lincoln-Way High School at the time.
April's family had moved to the more rural setting of Frankfort from Chicago when she was eleven. She reportedly had difficulty adjusting to the change and missed her friends in the city. This longing for her old life led to a history of running away from home.
On previous occasions, she had been found in the Chicagoland area and had even been arrested for curfew violations. However, she had always returned or been found. This time was different. The days turned into weeks, then months, and then years, with no word from April. Her parents passed away in 2003 without ever learning what became of their daughter, but her younger sister has continued the search for answers.
The circumstances surrounding April's disappearance remain a painful mystery. Her tendency to run away may have initially hampered the investigation, with the possibility that her case was not taken as seriously as it should have been from the outset. Over the decades, her case has grown cold, one of many long-unsolved missing persons cases in Will County. April is described as a white female with red or auburn hair and blue eyes. She had several distinguishing marks, including an appendectomy scar, as well as scars on her right knee and chin. Despite the passage of time, the search for April Zane continues, a quiet but persistent effort to uncover the truth of what happened to the seventeen-year-old girl who walked out of her home one spring day and never returned.Last Seen: Apr 18, 1977
