Writing On Dollar Found In Wisconsin Casts New Light On 1999 Disappearance Of Girl

A handwritten note found on a dollar bill used in Wisconsin appeared to be written by a missing girl. Mikelle Biggs, who went missing from her home in Mesa, Arizona in 1999, was mentioned in the note. The handwritten text on the dollar bill read “My name is Mikel [sic] Biggs kidnapped from Mesa Az I’m alive.”

 

Mikelle Biggs went missing after she was taken right from her front yard. She and her younger sister, Kimber, were waiting outside for the ice cream truck when Kimber decided to go inside. When she came out a minute and a half later to call Mikelle in for dinner, she was already gone. The case attracted national attention and became the biggest case ever for the Mesa Police Department. They collected 800 pieces of evidence and received over 10,000 tips, but ultimately the case went cold.

That was until the dollar bill, which was collected during a sale of Girl Scout cookies, was brought to a police station in Neenah, Wisconsin. The dollar bill, dated 2009, was brought to the attention of Neenah Police Chief Kevin Wilkinson, who found the situation strange. He told ABC News “The oddity in the note is that her first name is spelled wrong. That certainly seems odd and it would sway you to believe that it might not be legitimate,” though he continued, “But why would you pick that one, a case that’s nearly 20 years old? It’s somebody who knew something about that case.”

Unfortunately, investigators have no way of tracking the bill or knowing for sure who wrote the note on it in the first place. The dollar bill was minted ten years after Mikelle’s disappearance, which led another Neenah Police investigator, Adam Streubel, to tell the Arizona Republic “There is nothing you can do with it, which is rather frustrating.” Mikelle’s sister, Kimber, who saw a picture of the bill online, also told the Arizona Republic that she did not believe the note was written by her sister. “When I looked at it at first, I was like, ‘Well, maybe it could be,’” she said, “there’s that glimmer of hope where you’re trying to find a reason to make it make sense.”

Despite the lack of viable leads, the case remains open and ongoing, with the dollar bill acting as more of a reminder that Mikelle disappeared and was never found. However, Kimber remains hopeful that one day she will see her sister again. “I always do the hashtags ‘Remember Mikelle Biggs,’” she told the Arizona Republic, “that’s the point — to make sure people remember her, to make sure people think about her and that hopefully, it will reach that person that knows something.”

There have been many cases in the United States where missing children were successfully found and returned to their homes. One of the most high profile of these cases was that of Elizabeth Smart. Smart was famously kidnapped from her own bedroom and was missing for 9 months. She was eventually spotted in public and her kidnappers, Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee, received two life sentences and 15 years in prison, respectively. Another case of kidnapped children being found was that of Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus. All three were kidnapped by Ariel Castro and held prisoners in his basement for 10 years until being found by a neighbor who heard Berry screaming.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children offers a number of resources for reporting missing children or providing information on the location of children. Their 24-hour hotline can be reached at 1-800-THE-LOST. They also offer support for victims and their families, as well as free training to any division of law enforcement officials and healthcare workers throughout the United States.

 

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