Melinda had run away a few times as a child. After stealing motorcycles with another teenager, Melinda was taken to an all-girls juvenile detention center called "Blake House" in Anderson. Two months later a detective went to the center to question Melinda about the burglary, but they were unable to locate her. At some point between dropping her off at "Blake House" and being questioned by police she disappeared. Melinda's mother told her other children Melinda had run away from "Blake House" in September of 1979. Later on, during the 1990's, their mother told the family that a decomposed body found on the East Coast was Melinda. After their mother passed away in 2003, letters were found in her possession that informed the mother that Melinda's dental records had not matched the body found. In 2004, Melinda's siblings filed a missing person's report.