On a summer evening, July 20, 1978, in the small town of Picher, Oklahoma, twelve-year-old Cheryl Denise Taylor vanished. Her mother had sent her to Martin's Supermarket, a short walk from their home, but Cheryl never returned. She was last seen between 7:15 and 7:30 p.m., standing across the street from the grocery store. At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing yellow shorts and a sweatshirt, and was barefoot.
Cheryl had red or auburn hair and blue eyes, and sometimes wore a patch over one eye. Her family had only recently moved to Picher from Nowata County, and reports suggest Cheryl was unhappy with the move.
The initial investigation into Cheryl's disappearance considered the possibility that she had run away. She had reportedly talked to friends about leaving and potentially going to stay with her older sister in Galena, Kansas. However, when authorities located her sister and her husband, they confirmed they had not seen or heard from Cheryl. The family's home life was troubled; one of Cheryl's siblings described their father as an abusive alcoholic, which may have contributed to the theory of her running away. Despite this, a sibling also described Cheryl as 'happy-go-lucky' and 'very friendly,' casting doubt on the idea that she would voluntarily disappear. Tragically, just days after she went missing, Cheryl's family moved away from Picher.
As years turned into decades with no sign of Cheryl, the belief that she had run away faded, replaced by the strong suspicion of foul play. Her case became one of several unsolved disappearances and murders of young women and girls in the Picher area during that time, creating a cloud of fear over the community. One individual, a suspected serial killer named Karl Myers, has been considered a person of interest in Cheryl's disappearance. Myers had a history of crimes against young girls and was a suspect in other local cases, though he was never charged in connection with Cheryl's vanishing and died in prison in 2012. The investigation into what happened to Cheryl Taylor is ongoing, with law enforcement agencies like the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the Ottawa County District Attorney's Office still seeking answers in this decades-old cold case. The disappearance of a young girl on a short walk to the grocery store remains an unsolved tragedy, leaving her family and the community with unanswered questions about her fate.Last Seen: Jul 20, 1978
