ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — On Saturday, April 5, 1986, Penny Cayedito left her three daughters in the care of a babysitter while she went out to a bar called Talk of the Town. She relieved the babysitter around midnight and allowed the girls to stay up to play.
Cayedito said her oldest daughter, Anthonette Cayedito, 9, slept with her that night.
At 7 a.m. on Sunday, April 6, Cayedito got out of bed to wake her daughters up for bible school. Anthonette was not in her mother’s bed and was nowhere to be found.
After frantically searching for her, Cayedito called the police and found no evidence at the scene. A search began to no avail, and the investigation was eventually halted.
One year later, a call came into the Gallup, New Mexico Police Department. The caller claimed to be Anthonette and stated that she was in Albuquerque. But before she could say another word, an unidentified male voice said, “Who said you could use the phone?” The girl screamed, and the call ended.
Cayedito heard the call recording and was optimistic that it was her missing daughter, but she did not recognize the male voice. The call was too short to be traced by the police.
Four years later, another tip came in. A waitress in Carson City, Nevada, informed local police she had served a couple and a young girl about 14 or 15, the age Anthonette would have been then. While the waitress was there, the girl intentionally pushed her fork off the table, and every time, the waitress would put it back on the table. (Ew). When the waitress did this, the young girl would squeeze the woman’s hand hard. The waitress finally walked away without getting the apparent hint that something wasn’t right with this picture.
After the couple and young girl left, the waitress returned to their table and noticed the girl had left a note. “Please help me! Call the police!”
Because of this tip, the police reexamined the case and re-interviewed Anthonette’s sister, Wendy Cayedito, who was five at the time of the disappearance.
Wendy claimed someone knocked on the door at 3 a.m., and Anthonette asked, “Who’s there?”
“Uncle Joe,” replied the knocker.
Anthonette opened the door and found two unknown men – one Hispanic, one black – on the other side. They grabbed her, kicking and screaming, “Let me go, let me go!” and fled the scene.
The one calling himself Uncle Joe was not her real Uncle Joe, who the police questioned and ruled out as a suspect.
Asked why she had never told anybody about that night until now, Wendy replied that she was afraid she would get into trouble because her mommy was crying.
Anthonette’s case appeared on Unsolved Mysteries in 1992.
In 1999, the police hoped to question Cayedito again on her deathbed, but they were too late. She died before they got there. The police believed she knew more about her daughter’s disappearance than she was telling. One reason was that Cayedito had failed a polygraph test.
Despite an extensive investigation, Anthonette has never been found, and her fate remains unknown. Police believe she is deceased.
The fact that the young girl at the restaurant tried to get help is heartbreaking. Whoever she was needed to be rescued that day.
It’s a shame we will probably never know what happened to Anthonette unless she’s alive today and comes forward. I believe she very well could be alive. Until her body is found, there is always hope she will one day return.