Children's Safety Zone
Mikelle Biggs Story Index
Contact The Mesa Police Department immediately with any new information!
If you have information that would help solve this case, call Mesa Police Detective Jerry Gissel on the Mikelle Biggs Hotline: (480) 644-4940.
Arizona's unsolved mysteries
Eleven-year-old Mikelle Biggs heard the chimes from an ice cream truck about 6 p.m. on Jan. 2, 1999. She borrowed two quarters from her mother, got on her sister's bicycle, and headed away from her home at El Moro Avenue and Toltec Street in Mesa. Other children went with her, but they wearied of waiting and returned. Mikelle vanished. The only traces of her left behind were the bicycle and two quarters in the street.
Her disappearance triggered the most expensive hunt ever for the Mesa Police Department. Investigators interviewed dozens of psychics, peered into or scrambled down 35 mine shafts in the Santan Mountains, traced every known ice cream vendor in the state. Hundreds of thousands of fliers were handed out. Lab tests, helicopters and video cameras were employed.
The two lead detectives followed up tips from Pennsylvania to Mexico. They and other investigators kicked around wildly differing theories. Perhaps drug smugglers had spirited Mikelle off to Mexico. Perhaps an ice cream truck had crashed into her and her body was taken away and hidden. Perhaps a sex predator had plucked her from the street.
Over the last three years, Mesa police have checked out more than 9,500 leads in the case and filled more than 70 binders 4 inches thick with tips. It has been hard, slogging work, but Jerry Gissel, currently the lead detective on the disappearance, says he's hopeful that leads they are now working will lead to a break in the case.
Investigators continue to scan old files for lines of investigation they need to follow more fully, or people they should re-interview. And Gissel says tips continue to flow as public awareness remains high.
Mikelle's mother, Tracy, says she and her family still hope for closure in some form. She is encouraged that people still remember.
"Everywhere I go, I get people that will stop me and say, 'Have they come up with anything? We're thinking about you,' " Tracy says.
"I know it's still very much in the public's mind."
If you have information that would help solve this case, call Mesa Police Detective Jerry Gissel on the Mikelle Biggs Hotline: (480) 644-4940.
|
Reproduced with permission from: The Arizona Republic Byline: By Charles Kelly ©Copyright 2002 Arizona Republic |
| |||
