She Never Made It Home: Sister, childhood friend believe Jennifer is alive

Not a day’s gone by in 44 years that Theresa Mitchell hasn’t thought about the afternoon of Nov. 15, 1982, when she and her friend Jennifer Marteliz walked home from Shaw Elementary School in Tampa.

It was an ordinary afternoon along the same familiar route the two 7-year-olds and their friends took every day. Theresa was usually the last to reach home and would watch Jennifer walk down her street, keeping her in sight as long as she could before heading home herself.

But on that November afternoon, Jennifer never made it home. About 30 minutes later, Theresa recalls Jennifer’s panicked father arriving at her house, asking if she knew where his daughter was. 

“I don’t know what could have happened,” Theresa said. “She disappeared into thin air. One minute she’s there, one minute she’s not, and how could she just disappear into thin air?”

Theresa is still haunted by that day she and Jennifer walked home from school.

This week marks 44 years since Jennifer vanished. Now Theresa and ToniLisa Marteliz, Jennifer’s older sister, are speaking with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the hope it can help bring her home. A NCMEC forensic artist has created an age progression showing what she may look like today. 

Was Jennifer taken by a stranger? By someone she knew? Could she still be alive?  Her friend and sister both fervently believe she’s alive. She would be 51.

“I just felt like I had to finally speak out for Jennifer,” said ToniLisa, who was 11 when her sister vanished. I do feel like she's alive and I just wish somebody would come forward and tell us.”

When Jennifer disappeared, she was living with her dad and stepmom, and ToniLisa was staying with their grandparents after their parents’ divorce. But the sisters saw each other on weekends, often at their mom’s, and were very close.

ToniLisa recalls the nervousness in her father’s voice that afternoon when he called the house, asking if her grandmother had picked up Jennifer. Soon, their neighborhood became a command post. Search parties fanned out, flyers were distributed, phone lines were set up for tips. Panic set in. 

“We were going door to door, looking in bushes,” said ToniLisa. “I mean, I was a kid, so I thought it was smart to look in the bushes.”

ToniLisa and her sister Jennifer were very close. (Credit: ToniLisa Martilez)

Sheriff’s deputies even hypnotized Theresa, hoping she might remember something from that day. Years later, they tried again as an adult to no avail. 

Still, her memories of her friend have not faded. She remembers Jennifer as spunky and funny, “like a firecracker,” and a girly girl who loved pretty dresses. 

“Just because it’s been 44 years, we're still always talking about her,” ToniLisa said of her family. “My mom still has her teddy bear. I just want somebody to have mercy on Jennifer, to just come forward and say what happened to her. That's what I plead for.”

If you have any information, call the Tampa Police Department at (813) 276-3200 or NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).

To see Jennifer’s missing poster, visit https://ncmec.org/poster/NCMC/601814/1