Missing: Where is Mikelle Biggs? | Forensic Files

I I couldn't believe it I remember I was sitting on the couch with my boyfriend and I just like gasped and he was like
what and I was like Jamie Claus was found alive Kimber BS felt Joy when she heard Jamie Claus had come home and a
deep aching pain when something like this happens does that give you renewed hope um somewhat she has always hoped to
see her own sister muel walk back in the door how would you describe Mel uh she was
perfect she was funny and smart Mel was a sixth grade honors student in Mesa Arizona who played clarinet and wanted
to be a Disney animator when she grew up she was amazing to be around it was the evening of January 2nd
1999 Kimber then nine Mikel 11 were outside playing Mikel had kimber's bike as both waited for an ice cream truck
muel was riding my bike and she was doing big circles and I said well I'm cold I'm going inside you know I crossed
the street and I remember I looked I saw her riding still doing big circles in the street and that was the last time I
saw her when Kimber went back outside her bike was there but Mikel was gone it took only 90 seconds the thing that
sticks out most in my mind about that day is the bike in the road you know it was on its side the tire was still
spinning What followed was a blur of yellow ribbons and trees cameras and investigators questioning the 9-year-old
I mean it took 30 minutes for a thousand people to be looking for her and there was every news station and multiple
police cars and people organizing search parties abductions like mikel's are rare
less than 1% of missing children are reported as having been abducted by a stranger this one immediately was
different from the get-go it was different Mesa police detective Steve Barry a patrol officer back then joined
the massive Manhunt no one had seen anything she just simply seemed to be gone Without a
Trace police will uh flood an area when a child is missing because they know the
clock is ticking and it's ticking loudly local print reporter Jim Walsh covered the story from the beginning and says
investigators had very few leads and no physical evidence no one heard her cry call out no I never heard of anybody
actually seeing anything or hearing anything there's a reason they say Mel bigs vanished Into Thin Air because it
looks like she did police questioned everyone in the neighborhood starting with Mel's own father Daren to my
knowledge they never named anybody a suspect but they looked pretty hard at him I think part of it was his
personality Darren was more of a aof person didn't mean that he didn't feel it inside you it but he was just a less
demonstrative person but daram bigs was quickly cleared I was very angry my heart was broken that my dad had to go
through that on top of not having his little girl investigators also question neighbors including d block who lived
just two blocks away they knocked on his door they spoke to him they spoke to his
wife his wife gave an alibi to the effect that he was out in the garage watching the Cardinals game in an
interview with a local news station block appeared to be a law order guy if you're my neighbor and I see that you're
living next to me and I see something vitious going on I guarantee you I'd be called 911 he was described as friendly
and personable the police moved on and they kept looking and then on March 14th 2018 about 1700 M away there was a
glimmer of hope I was was sitting at my desk one day when I got a phone call from a reporter in Wisconsin a dollar
bill was turned into the Nina Wisconsin police by a man who said he found it in a stack of bills collected as payment
for Girl Scout cookies a child scraw on it caught his eye it said my name is Mel
bigs kidnapped from Mesa I'm alive did that give you hope did you think is this possible it kind of did for a moment it
was it was hope but then also I felt shattered like God if she is alive what is she going through but I remember
looking at it and the fact that her name was misspelled and the the handwriting it
just didn't look like her handwriting to me it looked like someone trying to write like a child why would someone do
that I'm not sure you know there's some horrible people out there and I deal with quite a few of them on a
regular basis but what felt like a promising lead quickly turned into another frustrating dead end in any case
Kimber feels she knows who took her sister nearly two years after Mel vanished and I see something the
neighbor who said he knew nothing de block was convicted of beating and raping a neighbor he allegedly made some
comments while incarcerating ated in prison um tying back to this case um needless to say that stirred things up
again block has repeatedly denied any involvement there is no physical evidence to tie him to the crime that's
what's one of the hardest things about this case there's nothing to go on and even though I do kind of feel that d
block is responsible you know that's not good enough I'm I'm not going to settle
for I think it's him Jan uary 2nd 2019 marked 20 years since Mel bigs was last seen and Kimber is now the mother
of a six-year-old son said I'm a helicopter mom if we're at the park and he goes behind the play structure I get
up so I can see him I do not let him out of my sight in just 90 seconds Kimber bigs
lost her sister and her childhood and she still wants to know why I hope that she is alive and well and that we get
her back but you know then reality kicks in and then I think well then my hopes need to just be that I know who took her
and we find her body and give her you know the proper burial that she [Music] deserves

The Mesa, Arizona girl was 11 when she disappeared 20 years ago.

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Brief Summary

Kimber Bigs recounts her sister Mel's disappearance and the ongoing search for answers two decades later.

Key points

The Disappearance of Mel Bigs. In just 90 seconds, Mel Bigs vanished without a trace, leaving her family devastated.
The Ongoing Search. Two years after Mel's disappearance, a neighbor becomes a suspect in her case.
A Glimmer of Hope. A dollar bill with a message claiming Mel is alive reignites hope for her family.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I couldn't believe it.

0:09WatchJan 13, 2019

Tension

70/ 100High tension

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