Kona Gallagher Kona Gallagher

Mikelle Biggs

On January 2, 1999, 11-year-old Mikelle Biggs was waiting outside her Mesa, Arizona home for an ice cream truck. Her sister went inside to grab her coat. When she came back — less than two minutes later — Mikelle was gone. Her bicycle was lying in the road, one wheel still spinning.

"Her hair was all golden in the sun and she was happy and having a good time. That's the last image I have of her."

That's how Kimber Biggs remembers her sister. She was standing on her bike pedals and smiling. Kimber was nine years old. Mikelle was eleven. They were waiting together outside their home in Mesa, Arizona for the ice cream truck.

Kimber went inside because she was getting chilly, and her mom sent her back out to get her sister. She was gone for 90 seconds, but when she came back, Mikelle had vanished. Kimber’s purple bicycle was lying in the road, one wheel still spinning. The two quarters their mother had given them for ice cream were on the ground beside it.

That was January 2, 1999. Mikelle Biggs has never been found.

Ninety Seconds

Investigators believe that's all it took. A ninety-second window was enough time for someone to pull up, grab an eleven-year-old girl, and disappear.

Search dogs were brought in almost immediately. They picked up Mikelle's scent and followed it, but they only went only a few feet before losing it entirely. The most likely explanation was that she was placed into a vehicle and driven away.

What followed was one of the largest searches in Arizona history. Tips poured in from across the country. Houses in the neighborhood were searched, and police interviewed over a thousand people. . A freshly dug patch of earth outside of town sent investigators scrambling, but they found nothing. There was no trace of Mikelle anywhere.

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The Neighbor

From early in the investigation, one name kept surfacing: Dee Lee Blalock. He was a registered sex offender who lived just two blocks from the Biggs family. He had prior convictions for sex crimes in three states. Investigators considered him a person of interest from the start, but his wife and sister-in-law gave him an alibi, telling police he had been home with them all evening.

Police moved on. The tips continued, and the years passed.

Then Blalock was arrested again — this time for the violent sexual assault of another neighbor, a woman who later told police from the ambulance on the way to the hospital that she believed Blalock had taken Mikelle. He was convicted on seven felony counts and sentenced to 187.5 years in prison.

After he went to prison, his ex-wife and former sister-in-law recanted their alibi statements. They told investigators he had actually been gone from approximately 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on the evening Mikelle disappeared — the exact window in which she vanished.

Blalock has denied any involvement and he has never been charged in Mikelle's case.

Where Things Stand

Now, more than 25 years later, the Mesa Police Department has never stopped working this case. In 2024, Detective Paul Sipe was assigned as the new lead investigator and publicly confirmed that Blalock remains the primary person of interest. When asked directly whether there was still hope of solving it, his answer was yes.

In our full episode, we walk through every detail of that January evening: the timeline, the search, the suspect, and what investigators are still hoping to uncover. This is one of those cases that stays with you long after you've heard it.

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Missing Person: Mikelle Diane Biggs

Mikelle Diane Biggs has been missing from Mesa, Arizona since January 2, 1999. She is a white female with brown hair and hazel eyes. At the time of her disappearance, she was approximately 4 feet 8 inches tall and between 85 pounds. She had prominent upper front teeth, pierced ears, and several small moles on the left side of her neck. She was last seen wearing a red short-sleeved shirt with a white stripe, embroidered bell-bottom blue jeans, and white canvas shoes. Mikelle was 11 years old when she went missing. She would be 39 today.

If you have any information about the disappearance of Mikelle Biggs, please contact the Mesa Police Department Homicide Unit at 480-644-6195, or by email at p20008@mesaaz.gov. You can also leave an anonymous tip with Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS (480-948-6377). 

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Karlie Gusé

On the morning of October 13, 2018, 16-year-old Karlie Gusé walked out of her family's home in Chalfant Valley, California — without her phone, without her wallet, and without a coat. She hasn't been seen since.

"She seemed really out of it — like something was very wrong."

That's how the night of October 12, 2018 was described by those around 16-year-old Karlie Gusé in the hours before she vanished. Karlie had gone to a party with her boyfriend and some friends in Chalfant Valley, California — a small, remote community in the high desert on the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada. She smoked marijuana that night, and something about it sent her into a state of intense, escalating paranoia.

Her stepmother picked her up, brought her home, and stayed with her until she fell asleep.

When she woke up around 7:30 a.m. on October 13th, Karlie was gone.

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The Morning She Disappeared

Karlie left without her phone, wallet, or any other personal belongings. In the freezing pre-dawn desert, she walked out wearing what was likely a white t-shirt, gray sweatpants, and Vans sneakers.

She wasn't invisible that morning. Three witnesses saw her. According to them, she was walking near her neighborhood, holding a piece of paper, looking up at the sky, and moving in the direction of U.S. Highway 6. The last confirmed sighting placed her near some sagebrush at the edge of the highway.

Search dogs picked up her trail and followed it — until they reached Highway 6. There, the scent ended.

The ground search lasted nearly two weeks before it was officially called off. The FBI was brought in, but no trace of Karlie was ever found.

A Case That Refuses to Stay Quiet

Karlie's disappearance didn't stay contained to a small California county. It spread — through true crime forums, social media groups, and competing theories that split her own family publicly apart. Her mother went on national television to make allegations. People who had never met Karlie were convinced they knew what happened to her.

Through all of it, the case stayed open. Because the answer, whatever it is, has never surfaced.

Then, in 2021, a new lead emerged.

A witness came forward claiming to have seen a girl matching Karlie's description at a party in Tonopah, Nevada — a small mining town more than 100 miles from Chalfant Valley, connected to it by a single road: Highway 6. Investigators reportedly identified a vehicle that may have carried her there.

No further details have been made public. Karlie has still never been found.

Missing Person: Karlie Lain Gusé

Karlie Gusé has been missing from Chalfant Valley, California since October 13, 2018. She is a white female with dark blonde hair and blue eyes. At the time of her disappearance, she was 16 years old, approximately 5'7" and 110 pounds, with a piercing in her left nostril. She was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, gray sweatpants, and Vans shoes. She may wear glasses.

If you have information, contact the Mono County Sheriff's Office at (760) 932-5678 or by email at karliegusetips@monosheriff.org. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to her location.

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