"Little Miss Nobody" identified as Sharon Lee Gallegos 62 years after her death
A 4-year-old girl who went missing in New Mexico nearly 62 years ago has been identified as "Little Miss Nobody," a previously unidentified girl whose remains were discovered in Arizona, police announced Tuesday. Authorities identified the victim as Sharon Lee Gallegos, who was abducted on July 21, 1960.
Police said Gallegos was abducted by a man and a woman while she was playing with other children in an alley behind her grandmother's house in Alamogordo, New Mexico. According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, the couple had been stalking the girl for several days. Gallegos was dragged into a "dirty, old green car" by the woman after the young girl refused the woman's offer to buy her clothes and candy, according to NAMUS.
Gallegos' partially buried body, then-unidentified, was found 10 days later near Highway 93 in Yavapai County, Arizona, roughly 500 miles from Alamogordo. A person who was searching for rocks discovered the body, Yavapai County Lieutenant Tom Boelts said Tuesday.
When the body was found, the extent of the decay made it difficult to identify the remains or even determine the age of the deceased. As a result, authorities at the time estimated the remains to be those of a 7-year-old. When authorities from Alamogordo got in touch with officials from Yavapai County at the time to see if the remains belonged to Gallegos, the incorrect age difference was used in part to rule out a match.
Authorities at the time also could not determine a cause of death.
Although the Gallegos' body was initially exhumed and had DNA extracted in 2015, the technology at the time was not sufficiently advanced enough to positively identify the remains, authorities said. But within the last few months, authorities were able to positively match Gallegos' DNA to living relatives.
Police said they are still looking for the people responsible for Gallegos' 1960 abduction and killing.
"I hope we never hear that name again," Sheriff David Rhodes said Tuesday regarding the "Little Miss Nobody.