On a Saturday morning, June 13, 1970, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 14-year-old Sherri Lee Truesdale left her home on Pitts Street around 11:30 a.m.. A quiet and studious girl, Sherri had earned a scholarship to a summer fine-arts program at Mount Tabor High School that was set to begin the following Monday. She planned to take a bus downtown to run a few errands: buy school supplies for the program, pick up doughnuts for her older sister, and make a payment on her mother's account at
Raylass Department Store. She was last seen by a clerk at the department store at approximately 4:30 p.m. that afternoon and has not been seen or heard from since. At the time of her disappearance, Sherri was described as being 4'2' and weighing 75 pounds. She was wearing a blue shirt, blue bell-bottom pants, and brown loafers. She also wore pentagon-shaped aqua blue earrings and a wristwatch with a black band. Sherri has distinguishing moles, one above her upper right lip and another on the center of the base of her neck, and her ears are pierced.
When Sherri failed to return home that evening, her family grew increasingly worried. A heavy rainstorm had moved into the area, causing some local creeks to flood. Her parents, frantic with worry, searched for her throughout the rainy night. They feared she might have taken a shortcut through the nearby Happy Hill Park and fallen into a swollen creek. The following day, with no sign of Sherri, her parents reported her missing to the Winston-Salem Police Department. The subsequent investigation lasted for six weeks, with detectives canvassing the downtown area and searching for any sign of the missing teenager. However, the extensive search yielded no clues or information about her whereabouts.
Decades have passed since Sherri Lee Truesdale vanished, and her case remains unsolved, marking it as the oldest missing person's case in the Winston-Salem Police Department's records. Despite the passage of time, her family has not given up hope for answers. Her older sister recalled in a 2013 interview that their mother would watch the bus stop near their home every day after Sherri's disappearance, hoping to see her daughter get off the bus. The case was reportedly closed a year after she disappeared due to a lack of leads but was reopened in 1997 after the police department received a letter inquiring about the investigation. The disappearance of Sherri Lee Truesdale is a deeply felt loss for her loved ones and a lingering mystery for the community. With no witnesses coming forward and no evidence ever found, the circumstances of what happened to the quiet, studious girl on that summer day in 1970 remain unknown.Last Seen: Jun 13, 1970
