Monica Grover: We recognize National Missing Children’s Day every year on May 25. It’s a day dedicated to encouraging parents, caregivers, and others to make child safety a priority—and it’s a reminder to continue all our efforts to reunite missing children with their families and loved ones.

On this episode of Inside the FBI, we're discussing the disappearances of Karlie Guse, David Williams, Steven Anderson, and Anthonette Cayedito, just a few of the many missing children’s cases the FBI is investigating.

We implore you to listen to their stories, to visit fbi.gov to see their faces, and to report any tips to law enforcement. You may have the piece of information that brings someone home.

I’m Monica Grover, and this is Inside the FBI.

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Brad Bilderbeck: Karlie's personality, from you know, speaking to family and friends, she was a very outgoing person, very kind. She was a good student at her high school, at Bishop High School. She had her typical teenage behaviors that most teenagers have, but nothing out of the ordinary.

She was making plans for that year and just seemed like your typical 16-year-old girl growing up in a small town.

Grover: That’s FBI Special Agent Brad Bilderbeck describing Karlie Lain Gusé, who disappeared October 13, 2018, from her home in Bishop, California.

But leading up to her disappearance, people in Karlie’s life—including her parents and her boyfriend—stressed that she wasn’t acting herself.

Bilderback: Karlie was out with her boyfriend the Friday night before her disappearance. And she and her boyfriend were with some friends and they were at a house, and Karlie started to act somewhat strange, started having just some issues that concerned her boyfriend.

Grover: Soon, Karlie’s boyfriend asked for a ride back to his house; a friend dropped them off nearby, but Karlie didn’t go inside—instead, she started to run away.

Bilderback: Karlie continued to exhibit strange behavior, and at one point pushing away her boyfriend and then continuing to run down the street. He didn't chase her because he was worried it was going to scare her more, she seemed really frightened.

While she was running away, she called her stepmother and asked her stepmother to come get her. Her stepmother did, came and got her, brought her home.

Grover: Karlie and her stepmother stayed together in Karlie’s bedroom that night. Her stepmother fell asleep around 5 a.m. until about 7 a.m.

When she woke up, Karlie was gone.

While that was the last time Karlie’s family reported seeing her, Bilderback says it’s not the last known sighting.

Bilderback: We've got multiple eyewitnesses in the neighborhood and one driver that saw a female matching Karlie's description walking down the road, all gave pretty similar clothing descriptions and hair length and body type.

Grover: At the time of her disappearance, Karlie was described as being about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, 110 pounds, and having dark blonde hair and blue eyes. She also had her left nostril pierced.

Bilderback: The last time Karlie was seen, she was walking south near Highway 6. She was kind of off the road in the sagebrush, walking towards the town of Bishop. A person driving by northbound on 6 saw her. We later interviewed that person and, as far as we know, that's the last person that saw Karlie.

Grover: These eyewitness reports tell us that Karlie was wearing either jeans or sweatpants along with a short-sleeved T-shirt. One individual also stated that Karlie seemed to be holding a piece of paper.
But that’s all she seems to have taken with her.

Bilderback: Her cell phone was found on the kitchen counter and all of her other personal belongings—purse, backpack, these types of things were all left in the house.

Grover: To further bring attention to Karlie’s disappearance, the FBI has released a video series called “The Things They Carry.”

Bilderback: We did a video series and interviewed multiple people that knew Karlie, friends, family, teachers. Really, you get to know Karlie and what she's about and the people that love her and want her to come home.

Grover: You can watch the videos on fbi.gov or on our YouTube channel at youtube.com/fbi.

Bilderback, citing another case he worked, tells us why we keep doing everything we can to find Karlie—and all missing children—and keep hoping for a safe return.

Bilderback: When I first came into the FBI, pretty early on, I was involved when Jaycee Dugard was found, another Tahoe area girl that went missing, was missing for 18 years, but was found alive.

It's important to keep searching for Karlie, and for any missing person, because you just don't know what happened. They can still be alive. And if somebody did hurt them or do something to them, it's important to find them and to find out what happened to them to give closure to a family.

It's just important to never give up hope that we're going to find Karlie, we're going to find out what happened to her. And if someone is responsible for her disappearance, you know, then they need to be held accountable.

Grover: If you have any information related to Karlie’s disappearance, contact the Mono County Sheriff's Office at karliegusetips@monosheriff.org—Karlie's name is spelled K-A-R-L-I-E-G-U-S-E—or at (760) 932-5678. You can also contact the Sacramento Field Office at (916) 746-7000 or contact your local FBI office or tips.fbi.gov.

Bilderback: You never know what piece of information might lead to finding her. It can seem very innocuous or a very small bit of information, but it may be a small piece of a larger puzzle that we need in order to find her.

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Grover: Steven Anderson was 17, and David Williams was just 12 when the two of them were reported missing.

It was a spring afternoon in 1975. At the time, the young men were roommates at the New Lisbon State School—now called the New Lisbon Developmental Center—located in the Pinelands area of central New Jersey.

Both have developmental disabilities, and David has epilepsy and was on anti-seizure medication.

Those who knew them at the time said they were friends, and both needed extra support and supervision in their daily lives.

Justin: And so on that day, on April 7, 1975, both boys were outside playing with staff members in a ball field that was kind of adjacent to the property, towards the rear of the property. And according to reports, at some point there was some kind of alleged incident, where the boys were misbehaving. It seems like they may have been reprimanded by staff members. And at that point, both boys walked off the field, kind of towards the back of the field, which was the last time they were seen.

Grover: That was Justin, an FBI special agent who has been investigating the case for the FBI’s Newark Field Office.

After Steven and David were reported missing, several local agencies and the Air National Guard assisted in a large search effort. The teams used helicopters, dogs, and ground searchers.

But the efforts didn’t turn up anything, and 47 years later, there is still little information on where David and Steven went next or what happened to them.

Which is why, as in all of these cases, we ask people to think back to see if they have any information that could help.

Justin: So we really rely heavily on the public calling in tips or information that we can look into. Because a case from 1975, eventually you can look through the file as many times as you want, and you have boxes and boxes of documentation. But unfortunately all these things were investigated almost 47 years ago. So to reinvestigate them now, it doesn't always provide or yield positive results. Where we are able to continue to investigate these cases are when tips are called in. So that's heavily how we rely on looking into cases like this.

Grover: In 2017, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children created age progressed pictures to show what the boys would look like as older men. You can see those images on fbi.gov/missingkids2022.

Justin: It's worth noting that we continue to get tips even as recently as August of 2021, based on those age progression photos. So they, they are worth looking at.

So, if anyone out there believes they have any kind of information, and listen, no tip is too small. You never know what is going to pop out and be the tip that solves this case. So all information is good. You can go to the FBI's website, there's an entire section on missing children or missing adults, wanted subjects, closed cases or cold cases. You can also go to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. There's information on both those sites to where people can call in tips.

Grover: If you have any information on the disappearances of Steven Anderson and David Williams, you can contact FBI Newark at 973-792-3000, reach out to your local FBI office, or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.

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Frank Fisher: Anthonette Christine Cayedito disappeared in Gallup, New Mexico in 1986, when she was only 9 years old. Her mother reported her missing when she did not find her in her bedroom. Anthonette's mother said that she was last seen before she went to bed.

Grover: That was Frank Fisher from the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office recounting the disappearance of Anthonette Cayedito, who was last seen on April 6, 1986.

At the time, Anthonette had freckles, pierced ears, and a scar both on her knee and her lip. She also wore glasses and at times a silver chain with a small, turquoise cross pendant. And when she went to bed the night she was last seen, she was wearing a pink nightgown.

Fisher: Those who knew her said that Anthonette was interested in her weekly Bible studies, was devoted to her religion, was an above average student, and also a good athlete.

Grover: Anthonette is also of Italian and Navajo descent, and it’s important to know that her hometown of Gallup isn’t too far from the Navajo Nation Reservation. As such, we consider Anthonette’s among our investigations concerning missing and murdered victims in Indian Country.

Grover: In an effort to generate new leads in Anthonette’s case and others, we’ve launched an initiative to translate some of our wanted, missing person, and seeking information posters into Navajo.

Fisher: The FBI has been investigating crimes on Indian Country for a long time. We are always looking for different ways to get the message out to the public.

We have more than a dozen posters in the Navajo language. These are from the Albuquerque and Phoenix FBI offices.

We thought that it might be a good idea to translate these posters into the Navajo language in order to communicate more effectively with people on the Navajo Nation, who may feel more comfortable speaking and reading in Navajo.

Recently, we have started including audio clips on these posters that read the poster in Navajo. This is another effort to reach people, who maybe don't read Navajo very well but can understand it when it's spoken to them.

Grover: Anthonette’s is one of those posters that’s been translated into the Navajo language—we’re going to play that for you now.

Narrator: [Speaking Navajo]

Grover: Connecting with the Navajo community could be vital in getting closure on Anthonette’s case.

Fisher: The FBI is looking at any and all ways to get the message out that we have many unsolved homicide and missing person cases on the Navajo Nation, as well as in the rest of Indian Country.

We don't want anyone to ever say that they didn't know we were looking for Anthonette Christine Cayedito or any of the other many missing and murdered indigenous people.

Grover: More than 36 years have passed since Anthonette disappeared—she’d be 45 years old as of this recording. Despite this passage of time, investigators are committed to their search for Anthonette.

Fisher: This is a case that has bothered us for a long time. For her to just vanish one spring morning, that doesn't make any sense. There was no suspicion that something like this would've happened to her.

Since then, the FBI, working with the Gallup Police Department and Navajo Nation Law Enforcement has tracked down numerous leads in an effort to find the girl.

We won't stop until this mystery is solved.

Grover: To assist in efforts to find Anthonette, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has released age-progressed photos of Anthonette depicting her as she might look as an adult. You can find this photo and more information about Anthonette on fbi.gov/missingkids2022.

And what can you do if you know anything about Anthonette’s disappearance?

Fisher: Anyone who has information about the disappearance of Anthonette Christine Cayedito, or any of the other many murdered and missing indigenous people cases that we have on the FBI website, is asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI, or you can go online and send us a tip at tips.fbi.gov.

Grover: As always, please remember that no tip or piece of information is too small.

Fisher: This girl needs closure. Her family, her relatives, the loved ones, the people who have followed this case want closure. They are looking to the FBI and to our law enforcement partners to provide that closure, and that's why we are asking the public to take another look at this case and come forward and help us.

Anthonette didn't deserve to have this happen to her, and she needs to return home. And her family and relatives and the nation needs to know what happened to her.

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Grover: Thanks for joining us as we share the stories of Karlie, David, Steven, and Anthonette. For photos and more information about all of them, visit fbi.gov/missingkids2022.

And remember to go to tips.fbi.gov or call your local FBI office if you have any information that may help us find a missing child.

This has been another production of Inside the FBI. You can follow us on your favorite podcast player, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts. You can also subscribe to email alerts about new episodes at fbi.gov/podcasts.

I’m Monica Grover from the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs. Thanks for tuning in.