On a summer day in 1978, 15-year-old Patricia "Patsy" Campbell, a White female, vanished along with her 12-year-old friend, Tina Anderson. The two girls were enjoying a Pioneer Day celebration at Alameda Park in Pocatello, Idaho, on July 22nd. Witnesses later reported that the girls had gone for a drive to the Moonlight Mine Road area with some adults. Those individuals claimed they dropped the girls back off at the park. Tina was supposed to be at a babysitting job across the street from the park that evening. She briefly checked in at the house around 6:30 p.m. and was told to come back at 7 p.m., but she never returned. When the girls failed to come home, their families reported them missing.
For three years, their disappearance remained a painful mystery. Then, in October 1981, hunters discovered their remains in a remote area known as Two Mile Canyon in neighboring Oneida County, roughly 60 miles from where they were last seen. Investigators found clothing at the scene that matched what the girls were wearing when they disappeared, along with. 22 caliber bullet casings. The cause of death for both girls was determined to be gunshot wounds. While Tina's remains were identified relatively quickly through dental records, a partial skull found at the scene was not definitively identified as Patricia Campbell's until March 2007, through DNA testing. In fact, a partial human skull was found by a hunter in the same general area in 1986, and it was only through forensic genealogy in 2022 that those remains were also confirmed to be Patricia's.
Despite the passage of decades, the murders of Patricia Campbell and Tina Anderson officially remain unsolved. Over the years, the investigation has been marked by periods of hope and frustration. The Oneida County Sheriff's Office stated in 2016 that they were confident they knew who the perpetrators were and what the motive was. However, no arrests were ever made. The prosecutor's office declined to press charges, citing that the evidence, while strong, was largely circumstantial and that key physical evidence had been lost over the years. A witness had reported seeing the girls with a young man who was wearing a blue-hooded sweatshirt and a large ring on the day they disappeared. Though investigators have explored potential links to other local unsolved homicides, the case has grown cold, leaving the community and the families of the two young victims without definitive answers or justice.
