FBI Asks Public for Help in New Mexico Cold Case

Knock. Knock. Knock.

9-year old Anthonette “Squirrel” Cayedito was fast asleep at 3:00 AM that night of April 6, 1986, when she and her younger sister Wendy heard progressively louder raps on the door of their Gallup, New Mexico apartment.

KNOCK. Knock. KNOCK.

The force of the knocks rapidly shed any pretense of civility in trying to enter. Was that Uncle Joe? He sounded hurried and irate — like something horrible had happened.

Knock-KNOCK-Knock-KNOCK

“It’s Uncle Joe! Open the door!”, bellowed a male voice as the knocks continued.

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK

Anthonette and Wendy thought for a moment. Didn’t mom have a brother named Joe?

The man’s voice was gruff, surly — like he swallowed a bottle of whiskey then smoked a carton of Marlboro Reds while binge-eating gravel and being flattened by an 18 wheeler. Mom’s family didn’t do any of those things. Still, maybe the man was sick.

She should ask mom before opening the door, she told him.

“No! Come on! It’s just Uncle Joe!”, he replied.

She thought for a moment. Her mom and sisters were in the next rooms. What’s the worst that could happen?

I. Into Thin Air

Anthonette’s mother Penny woke up early that morning of April 7, 1986, to her oldest daughter having vanished into thin air. Penny was out of the apartment the night before having a drink with friends. God knows she needed it after her horribly messy divorce from the father of her 3 girls. So, Penny left her girls with a trusted babysitter until she arrived home around midnight.

Penny frantically woke Wendy and Sadie around 7:00 AM when she noticed her eldest daughter was not in the apartment. Had the girls seen anything?

That’s when Wendy relayed the story about the gruff-voiced man. They had answered the door when Penny didn’t hear the knocking. Anthonette answered the door while Wendy — thinking it was Uncle Joe — went back to bed. Anthonette would wake mom up if she needed anything.

Where had Anthonette gone?

Was she playing a game? That would be very unlike the level-headed and mature-beyond-her-years Anthonette who since age six ironed for, cooked for, and took a huge role in helping raise her sisters — especially after mom and dad split up.

Anthonette was used to a lot of responsibility around the apartment. Perhaps then it was no surprise, then, that she answered the door.

II. The Crime

Penny went to every neighbor, canvassing them all.

One neighbor said they saw an unfamiliar light brown pickup truck with New Mexico license plates around the time Anthonette vanished. The stranger inside got out and walked to the Cayedito apartment door.

Penny saw no other option: she had to call the Gallup Police Department. She did so and was told to wait another eight hours before filing a report. In the meantime, detectives questioned the real Uncle Joe and quickly ruled him out as a suspect.

After filing the report, Gallup PD, friends, family, and neighbors began the search for Anthonette.

The search of Gallup was utterly fruitless. What happened to Anthonette? This is where the weird and tragic nature of her story dramatically escalates.

III. Post Kidnapping

One year after Anthonette’s disappearance, the Gallup Police Department received a bizarre phone call.

On the line was what sounded like a little girl. She sounded out of breath telling the dispatcher she was Anthonette and that she was being held captive somewhere in nearby Albuquerque.

That’s when a gruff male voice could be heard barking, “Who said you could use the phone?”. The little girl screamed as sounds of a struggle were heard before the line went dead.

Investigators did all they could to trace the call, but the line disconnected too quickly. The call lasted only 40 seconds. Penny would ultimately confirm that indeed the voice on the line was her daughter’s and that the man’s voice was unrecognizable.

IV. Sightings

Most high-profile missing person cases come with purported sightings of the missing. Anthonette’s case was no exception.

Four years after the phone call to Gallup Police, a waitress in Carson City, Nevada (a full 1,000 miles from Albuquerque) believed she saw Anthonette when a teenage girl fitting her description came into her restaurant with a “unkempt” couple. The girl kept purposely dropping silverware as if to get the waitress’s attention covertly.

Every time the waitress would pick up the utensils, the girl would squeeze her hand. When the girl and the unkempt couple left, the waitress found a note under the girl’s plate that read, “Help me! Call Police!”. The identity of the girl was never confirmed to be Anthonette.

V. Now

While law enforcement believes Anthonette is dead, this case remains open as a missing person investigation. Anthonette is of Italian and Navajo descent. She has dark-colored moles on her right cheek, nose, back, both hands and on her right knee. She has scars on one of her knees and on her lip.

Some agencies spell her name as “Antoinette.” She would be 44 today. While both her parents are dead today, her sisters are still living. Below is the FBI flyer on this case in English and Navajo with an age-progressed photo of Anthonette.

If you have any information on this case, please call the FBI’s 24-hour tipline at 505–889–1300 or online at tips.fbi.gov.