Gone By Noon

On the morning of Tuesday, April 17th, 1979, Cheryl worked the morning shift instead, 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

[phone ringing] That meant an early wake-up call.

The alarm goes off, and then she would tell me to close my eyes because she's gonna turn the light on to get her clothes out of the closet.

I remember all that happening that morning.

She told me that she loved me because we always said that, you know, "I love you," and then away she went.

[gentle music]

Later that morning, 17-year-old Anthony and 14-year-old Diane headed off to school.

Their memories of the timeline of that day are a bit murky, probably because back in the 1970s, people did not always know exactly what time it was.

Investigators say Deborah Hamilton, one of Cheryl's fellow employees, stopped by the gas station sometime between 11:15 and 11:30 AM.

Here's Detective Sergeant Michael Williams of the Scott County Sheriff's Office.

Witnesses did, did see her that day.

They did see her outside.

Ms. Hamilton come by and bought cigarettes.

The family also says Cheryl called her mom at home right around that time.

She usually did that when things were slow at the gas station.

And that final phone call was like every other, completely normal.

That's right.

Uh-huh.

Mom said they talked about what was gonna be for supper that night.

Uh, Cheryl was gonna come home and sew.

Mom was asked that so many times about is there anything in her voice, and Mom's like, "There was nothing.

No change in her voice or nothing." And how they ended, it wasn't like, "Oh, I've gotta hurry and go." It was just like, "Okay, I better get back," you know?

So nothing to suggest that, you know, maybe somebody else was there while she was having that conversation.

It sounded normal.

Definitely.