Case Details
- Photo URLs:
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- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 04/02/1986
- Missing From:
- Missing From Big Sandy, Texas
- Classification:
- Classification Non-Family Abduction
- Gender:
- Female
- Race:
- Race Black
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 03/26/1981 (43)
- Age:
- Age 5 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 3’0, 39 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Clothing/Jewelry Description Orange panties.
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Two of Ara’s lower front teeth were missing at the time of her disappearance. She has a silver filling in her back right molar. Ara’s nickname is Neecee (sometimes spelled “Nicee” or “Niecie”). Her middle name may be spelled “Denice.”
- Details of Disappearance:
- Little Ara disappeared from her family’s trailer home in Big Sandy, Texas on April 2, 1986. Her dad last saw her around 2 am; when her parents woke up around 6:30 am, she was gone. The back door was open, and her dark orange bedspread was missing. Nothing else seemed disturbed, and no one heard anything. Dogs couldn’t track her scent.
Police investigated and even gave lie detector tests to Ara’s parents and another person. They became interested in a man named David Penton, who is in prison in Ohio. Penton had already been convicted of killing his own baby and a 9-year-old girl in Ohio. He also pleaded guilty to killing three other girls in Texas. Penton’s cellmates said he admitted to being involved in Ara’s disappearance, along with the disappearances of two other girls, but he hasn’t been charged.
Police think Ara was kidnapped by someone who knew the family. This was especially hard on the parents; they had lost another child, a six-year-old son, just nine months earlier. Ara’s disappearance remains a mystery.
- Agency:
- Upshur County Sheriff’s Office 903-843-2541
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 04/02/1986