Sharon Sue Smith, a 25-year-old mother of two, was last seen on August 25, 1980, in Bangor, Maine. She had just completed her evening shift at the Paramount Lounge on Harlow Street, which was conveniently located on the ground floor of the hotel where she was renting a room. After her shift, she seemingly vanished without a trace. Authorities later found the door to her hotel room open and her purse left inside, yet Smith was gone and has not been heard from since.
At the time of her disappearance, she was preparing for a significant life change, with plans to move to Florida with her parents and five siblings. Her two young children were in the care of their father when she went missing.
Over the years, suspicion has largely fallen on Smith's sometime boyfriend, Franklin "George" Gilks. Allegations arose that Gilks had told people he had broken Smith's neck and killed her during an argument. This claim was disturbingly echoed years later when Smith's daughter, upon reaching adulthood and searching for her mother, received an anonymous phone call. The caller warned her to "leave things alone" or she could also be killed, stating that Gilks had killed Smith and that "things got carried away."
Further tips and investigations pointed towards Gilks's potential involvement. Police received an anonymous letter indicating that Smith was buried at a residence in the 100 block of New Boston Road in Hermon, Maine, a property where Gilks had lived as a child and where his mother and brother still resided. The house where Gilks grew up, a converted barn, has since been torn down. A search of the property was conducted with a cadaver dog, which indicated the presence of human remains in the vicinity of where the old house once stood. Despite this lead, an excavation of the front yard yielded nothing of significance.
Franklin 'George' Gilks passed away in 2008, taking any potential confessions with him. Smith's children's father is also deceased, and tragically, her oldest child died as a teenager. Despite the passage of time and the deaths of key individuals, Smith's daughter continues to seek answers. Investigators and Smith's family believe she is deceased, a conclusion supported by the fact that her Social Security number has not been used since she vanished. The case remains a painful mystery for her surviving family members who still hope for closure.Last Seen: Aug 25, 1980
