Case Details
- Photo URLs:
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- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 04/16/1987
- Missing From:
- Missing From Union City, Tennessee
- Classification:
- Classification Non-Family Abduction
- Gender:
- Female
- Race:
- Race White
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 02/17/1983 (41)
- Age:
- Age 4 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 4’0, 38 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Clothing/Jewelry Description A purple and white checked shirt with lace trim, light purple pants and pink jelly-style shoes.
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Light brown hair, blue/hazel eyes. Marlena’s ears are pierced. She had silver or stainless steel caps on her top and bottom front teeth at the time of her 1987 disappearance.
- Details of Disappearance:
- Marlena disappeared on April 16, 1987, from her front yard in Union City, Tennessee. Her mother, Pamela Bailey, said she heard a car and found Marlena gone. Witnesses saw Marlena talking to someone in an older, red, two-door car with Kentucky license plates just before she vanished.
Two months later, Bailey confessed to accidentally killing Marlena and disposing of her body in a river. She later retracted this confession, saying she was stressed, on medication, and pressured by police. She gave other conflicting stories, including claims of selling Marlena or that a family friend had abducted her.
Police investigated, but never found Marlena’s body and the charges against Bailey were dropped. There were also unconfirmed reports of Marlena being seen in Alabama months after her disappearance.
Years later, in 2002, Bailey was arrested for stabbing her son. This led to Marlena’s case being reopened, but it remains unsolved and is considered a non-family abduction.
- Agency:
- Obion County Sheriff’s Department 731-885-5832
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 04/16/1987