Ida Dean Richardson Anderson, Missing For 51 Years

In 1995 three siblings were reunited in what I can only imagine was a bittersweet reunion. In 1958 their mother, Ida Dean Richardson Anderson vanished without a trace and her son and two daughters were forced to begin a chapter of their lives without her.

A young, 18 year old Ida became pregnant in 1955 and, as was the custom then, married the father, Kenneth Anderson, also known as Jerry. They began their marriage in Florida where Ida was living with her parents. Jerry Anderson was a musician and I surmise he and Ida and their young child traveled the circuit, finally settling down in Detroit, Michigan, and adding two more children to the family.

It's stated that their marriage was troubled, emotionally and financially, and Ida wrote about it to her family members still living in Florida. She left Kenneth Anderson, took her children, however, shortly afterwards was hospitalized with rheumatic fever and ulcers in February of 1958.

At that time, her husband was not able to care for the three young children and placed them in a "boarding home." It's not reported if the boarding home was an orphanage for children or just a private home which took in indigent children. As a recourse to this action the State of Michigan gained custody of the three children.

After Ida was released from the hospital, she and Kenneth Anderson attempted to regain custody of their children for the next six months. Ida was scheduled to receive custody in September, 1958. A plane ticket to Florida had been purchased for her and the children, however, on the 18th of September she vanished and has never been heard from again, the plane tickets never used.

Ida's son and older daughter were adopted by the same family and raised near Fraser, Michigan, while her younger daughter was adopted by another family and raised in the Upper Peninsula area of Michigan. After they were reunited they started to search for the mother who disappeared from their lives without a trace.

The 51 year old cold case has never been solved, there is no unidentified deceased person matching her description and searches through hospital records in Michigan and surrounding states show no one by the name of Ida Dean Richardson Anderson as being a patient.

Recently, Track Missing, a missing persons organization based in Michigan has tried to help the family with their search. It's Founder, Chad Scott, says that there is no missing persons report among the records filed in Michigan, although her family states that one was filed at the time of her disappearance.

51 years is a long time to wait, wonder and search. United in their efforts, the family, Track Missing, Peace4 the Missing Members, Porchlight International, Doe Network, Charley Project and a host of others with a passion for helping families of missing persons will do everything possible to help these children find their mother.

Ida is now 72 years old and has spent a lifetime without her children.

Shirley Clift

Hennessey, Oklahoma sits north and a little west of Oklahoma City and is flat, barren and dotted with oil wells pumping up and down like a bird pecking the ground looking for worms. Scorching hot in the summer and cold winds in the winter, it's a rural town that has seen better days, yet many families settled there during the land rush generations ago.

Shirley and Gary Clift were 4 years into each other's second marriage when they realized the relationship was ending. In 1980 they were separated and went through a custody battle for their young daughter, Amanda, who was primarily awarded to her mother, Shirley. According to Gary, this breakup was friendly, and they had just drifted apart and all was settled amicably. However, Shirley's mother, Bonnie Anderson, speaks differently on the subject and recounts that she was told by her daughter that she was afraid of Gary.

"She would tell me a few things about her life with Gary, and none of it was very pretty," Anderson told The Daily Oklahoman. "She was deathly afraid of him."

Thanksgiving weekend in November of 1980, Shirley was seen leaving with Gary from her babysitter's home in his car. When she did not show up at her mother's for Thanksgiving dinner, Bonnie Anderson reported her missing, as well as Gary, two days later, stating that she had left that night with several Mexican men. Shirley was never heard from again.

Gary moved to Albequerque, NM with his young daughter, Shirley's daughter, and had several petty run ins with the law, nothing indicating violence, but resulting in a number of convictions. Nine years after Shirley disappeared, law enforcement agencies checked on her Social Security information, found no activity since she vanished, and indicated that she was most likely deceased.

Authorities finally caught up with Gary in NM and questioned him. He confessed that she was dead, that they had been in an argument, Shirley jumped from a car moving at 50 miles an hour and died from her injuries. Gary says, at that time, he panicked, rode around for several hours with her unresponsive body in the car and decided to bury her on the banks of the Turkey Creek. He was extradited to Oklahoma, Amanda was put into protective custody, then he quickly realized he implicated himself, changed his story, and according to authorities, there was not enough evidence to charge Gary with any crime at that time.

In October, 1999, police searched the site once more with cadaver dogs that indicated the presence of human remains. Heavy equipment was brought in, the site was excavated, and police indicated that evidence was strong enough to link Gary's earlier recanted statement to Shirley's whereabouts.

Shirley Clift was only 25 years old, her daughter, Amanda, 1, when her mother was taken from her under suspicious circumstances, probably involving her father. As of this writing, Gary Clift has not been charged, indicted, or convicted of having anything to do with the disappearance of Shirley.

Gary Clift is a free man. Did he get away with murder?