# 3 yr old girl missing 35 years; finally a confession that she's dead :( **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 2, 2004, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-yr-old-girl-missing-35-years-finally-a-confession-that-shes-dead/262677 "2004-09-02T00:22:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-yr-old-girl-missing-35-years-finally-a-confession-that-shes-dead/262677/1 "2004-09-02T00:22:58Z")
[From this CNN article:](http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/09/01/daughters.disappearance.ap/index.html) > [@](#): > > SANTA ANA, California (AP) – A man arrested on charges he helped kill a 3-year-old girl more than three decades ago told authorities he buried the body in California before the family abruptly moved out of state, a detective said Tuesday. > > \ > > Days after Michelle was last seen, her family suddenly moved to Illinois from their home south of Los Angeles. Both Kent and Prentice, who were living together at the time, have said the girl was left with a relative in California. > > \ > > Michelle’s brother, 41-year-old Richard Pulsifer Jr., said he last saw his sister when he was 6 and she asked him to hide her. He hid Michelle under the bed covers, but their mother came and got her. This is so tragically sad. How horrendous that a little girl can disappear completely, and no one figures out that it’s a murder until many years later. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-yr-old-girl-missing-35-years-finally-a-confession-that-shes-dead/262677/2 "2004-09-02T01:17:40Z")
How tragic and sad. Her brother must have lived in fear throughout his childhood that he was next. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-yr-old-girl-missing-35-years-finally-a-confession-that-shes-dead/262677/3 "2004-09-02T01:53:23Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > This is so tragically sad. How horrendous that a little girl can disappear completely, and no one figures out that it’s a murder until many years later. No one in Illinois, where they moved to, would have any reason to suspect. But according to the article, the Aunt hired a PI who got prosecutors to investigate the girl’s disappearance in California. > [@CNN](#): > > But prosecutors spent a year looking into the case after a private investigator hired by the girl’s aunt told them he could find no public record of her after July 4, 1969. Apparently they simply had no leads. > [@Mockingbird](#): > > Her brother must have lived in fear throughout his childhood that he was next. > [@CNN](#): > > When the family moved to Illinois, officials said [her brother Richard] Pulsifer was told there was not enough room in the car for Michelle. And they told him she was left with a relative back in California. So if anything, his fear would have been that they’d simply abandon him for lack of space. Although, seeing as how the father “had 17 previous arrests and was convicted four times of charges that include assault and domestic violence,” he probably had lots of reasons to be fearful growing up. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-yr-old-girl-missing-35-years-finally-a-confession-that-shes-dead/262677/4 "2004-09-02T02:02:13Z")
It mentions that the boy was told that there wasn’t room in the car for the girl. Tell me there was another reason for the murder than that! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-yr-old-girl-missing-35-years-finally-a-confession-that-shes-dead/262677/5 "2004-09-02T03:19:46Z")
Just to clarify, I’m not blaming anybody for not knowing she wasn’t alive; I simply think it’s heartbreaking that it happened that way. As for the boy, it’s not hard to imagine that once he got a little bit older, the “no room in the car” excuse lost a lot of credibility with him. I can’t imagine he didn’t at least start to suspect something closer to the truth, even if not until adulthood. No matter how you cut it though, it’s still really very sad. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-yr-old-girl-missing-35-years-finally-a-confession-that-shes-dead/262677/6 "2004-09-02T05:15:03Z")
Dammit. Why is it that the innocent and good so often die unfairly, while the corrupt and evil just go on living?? :mad: ☹ I can only hope there is a judgement waiting for them that’s far worse than anything we can give them. Poor little girl.