Welcome to Mysteries of the Missing, a podcast and blog about missing person's cases. Keep in mind that I am only reporting the events of what have happened, per my research through various media outlets. I am not placing blame on any people of interest or those who haven’t been investigated. Also, I’m not trained in any way in true crime. Instead, I’m solely a human being that’s trying to do my part to get the message of Anthonette's story out there so that one day, hopefully, she may be found, and her case may be solved. Join me as I dive into the last day that people saw Anthonette and what happened after she was last seen.
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Warning: Today's blog post will contain incidents of child grooming, neglect, and kidnapping as well as drugs and alcohol use.
Today, we're going to talk about Anthonette Cayedito, missing from Gallup, New Mexico since April 6, 1986. This episode may be shorter than the first one, but that's okay. While researching this episode, I spiraled down a dark hole of sadness because this case has to do with a child. I remember seeing Anthonette's case on Unsolved Mysteries, and her story played at the strings of my heart.
Anthonette Christine Cayedito was born on December 25, 1976. Her mother, Penny, was Navajo, and her father, Anthony Montoya, was Italian and Hispanic. She had two younger sisters, Wendy and Senida, and they were raised in Gallup, New Mexico in an apartment by Route 66 by their mother.
The Cayedito house in Gallup, NM
Anthonette was described as being smart, hardworking, kind, caring, and dependable. By the time she was six, she often took care of things at home, like watching her sisters, and cooking and ironing for the family. She had a big heart, often taking care of others and showing concern if they were sad or in need, and many referenced that she had a "caregivers heart." Her nickname was "Squirrel" and she loved listening to Michael Jackson.
At her local elementary school, Lincoln, Anthonette showed athleticism and even won the Presidential Fitness Award in fourth grade. She was also a devoted student. In addition, Anthonette was devoted to her Bible studies and was devoutly religious.
This kid was great all around.
At the time of her disappearance, she had moles on her right cheek, nose, back and one of her ankles and had scars on one of her knees and on her lip. Her ears were pierced.
The evening before Anthonette went missing, her mom, Penny, went out to a local bar with friends. At the time, Penny said that she left Anthonette, Wendy, and Senida with a babysitter. Later on, it would come out that most likely, Anthonette was the babysitter...at the age of 9. Also, Penny was known for drinking and using drugs. In fact, right before Anthonette disappeared, the family's house was raided for drugs. The children and their mother had to wait across the street while police tore their home apart, looking for drugs. Wendy stated she was afraid to come forward about this because she feared the people involved with drugs with Penny would retaliate. Also, she said that Penny was very abusive and would often have parties at the home while the kids were there. When that happened, Anthonette would take her sisters to her bedroom and shut the door. It was evident that Anthonette's home life was not safe for her and her sisters.
In fact, a man, Emo (aka Emilio Gardella), would often come around to give flowers and jewelry to Anthonette. One time, he came and brought the girl a necklace with a turquoise bear on it and put her in his lap. Wendy got a strange feeling and took her sister off Emo's lap and to their room. The evening before her disappearance, Emo brought Anthonette flowers.
According to Wendy, Emo would never come to the house without Penny's best friend, Ronald, until the night of Anthonette's disappearance.
I didn't find any information about Child Protective Services coming to the Cayedito home or any teacher or school official expressing concern at all. If they didn't, these people dropped the ball. Also, where was the father in all of this? He is never apart of the story and I haven't read anything that states that he was a suspect. He was literally M.I.A.
Penny Cayedito, mom
Penny said she returned home to her three young daughters from her night of partying sometime around midnight. Usually, the girls would sleep in their mother's room, and that morning, Wendy and Senida were told to go to sleep before Anthonette. Wendy says that Anthonette was allowed to stay up playing cards with her mother, which was not typical. According to Penny, she let Anthonette stay up until 3 am with her, then they both fell asleep.
At the time, it was thought that were was only one knock on the door. However, it wasn't until 1994 (8 years later) that Penny would reveal that there were two knocks on the door.
The original story was that there was one knock and Anthonette went to get it. Wendy said she followed her sister but hesitated in the hallway because for some reason, she was scared. When Anthonette got to the door, she said, "Who's there?" The answer came that it was "Uncle Joe." Uncle Joe was a real person and was actually related to the girls -- he was Penny's brother-in-law. Many family members speculate that Anthonette wouldn't have opened the door, especially at that time of night, if she didn't know the person. However, Uncle Joe was questioned and is not a suspect.
Penny had strictly told the children not to open the door to anyone when it was something she called "lockdown time." Before they went to sleep every night, they would go around the apartment and make sure the doors and windows were locked.
If that was the case, why did Penny allow her young daughter to open the door alone in the middle of the night? That will come later.
Wendy said that when Anthonette opened the door, she saw two men grab her sister and put her in a brown van then drive away. She stood there for a moment, frozen in fear, then went back to sleep. She was afraid her mom would be mad so she didn't tell her and she was also fearful of the people who might be involved. Also, she was a kid, so her memories may be jumbled.
The door was apparently left ajar after Anthonette's kidnapping, which was not common at the home.
Penny originally said she woke up at 3 am and Anthonette was still sleeping beside her, fell asleep and woke back up at 7 am, and Anthonette was gone.
There was a search party, looking for a missing dog, on the morning of Anthonette's disappearance. At 6:30 am, the searchers who were looking said that Anthonette was with them, but she never returned home.
Shortly after Anthonette's kidnapping, several new developments started coming.
On April 8, 1986 (just two days after Anthonette's disappearance), a witness said she saw a "Spanish-looking girl in a long pink dress" with a blond-haired woman on the side of the road in San Antonio, Texas. The next day on April 9, a woman called the Gallup Police and said they should look in the Gallup Cemetary. She hung up quickly after making that statement.
On April 19, 1986, another witness said she saw a brown truck at the Thrift Way Gas Station (I wasn't able to find the location per my research).
Jump to June 30, 1986. A witness saw Anthonette with two Hispanic men at a bus depot in El Paso, Texas. The girl had a pink dress and white shoes on. It's two months later and Anthonette was still wearing her pink nightgown? If this is the truth, that is so sad. Had it been washed?
A year later, there was a call straight to the Gallup Police Department from a girl claiming to be Anthonette Cayedito. It wasn't made to 9-1-1, which would you expect from a 10 year old girl (as Anthonette would be 10 in 1987). How did Anthonette know the number of the Gallup Police Department? Some say that it wasn't her, due to this fact, but Penny positively identified her daughter's voice when later, she heard a tape recording of the call played. She said she did not recognize the man's voice.
You can hear the call here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dA2JRaLTx-8 Warning: This call may be disturbing to some.
So...was it Anthonette? Who was the man that had her? No other calls from Anthonette followed this one. None of her family heard her voice again after this.
In 1991, a waitress in Carson City, Nevada said that she served a disheveled couple and a young girl at her restaurant. According to the waitress, the girl matched Anthonette's appearance. The girl kept dropping her silverware on the ground, and when the waitress would pick it up and put it on the table, the girl would grab her wrist hard. If this was me, I would immediately know something was wrong and go to my manager. The waitress said she never did anything about that, and when the group left, she went to clean up the table like it was just another day in the neighborhood. When the waitress lifted the plate the girl had been using, she said there was a note that read, "Help me. Call police." If this was Anthonette, she could've been saved before she and the couple left if the waitress had only done something the moment the girl had been acting weirdly with her.
Photo of the message from the girl
The truth came out eight years later in an interview that Penny had with the FBI in 1994. There had actually been two knocks.
The first knock was from Roger, a man that Penny had argued with at the bar. He asked Penny to open the door, then went to the window and knocked there as well. When no one came to the door, he left.
Shortly after at around 3:30-4:00, there was a second knock. This second knock was the one that would cause Anthonette's disappearance. It wouldn't be until later that it would come out that Penny told Anthonette to go answer the door. This grown woman told her nine year old daughter to answer the door in the middle of the night by herself. Penny said she laid in bed while Anthonette answered the door, then she got up to see where she was when she didn't come back. Now she was concerned about her daughter...NOW. And NOW she wanted to back out of the deal she had.
What deal, you may ask?
Well, Penny would reveal in 1994 to the FBI that she thought Anthonette was becoming a problem and she wanted a better life for her. So, she got with Emo on a plan to take Anthonette to a "better place." Penny asked Emo where he would take her daughter, and he answered, "It's best if you don't know."
Penny then asked the FBI, "If I told you Emo and I did this, would we both go to prison?"
It came out that this woman literally sold her daughter, most likely for drugs. She didn't want a better life for her daughter, she wanted to get high. Just thinking about that makes me sick. I wonder how people like Penny could have and keep kids without officials getting involved. The fact that Penny and Emo were not put in prison over this interview puzzled me...until I found this information:
When the FBI report was turned over to Gallup PD, they did not include the interview in which she basically confessed to them in 1994. So Detective Juan Reyes knew nothing of Penny's involvement, otherwise he said he would have arrested her.
At the time of Anthonette's disappearance, though, six people were required to take a lie detector test, including Emo and Penny, as well as Penny's best friend Ronald. After Anthonette disappeared, neither Ronald nor Emo ever came around the house anymore. Strange and incriminating, don't you think?
Juan Reyes was a detective on the case from Gallup. He stated that Penny told him she had sold Anthonette for drugs but she said "she didn't remember to who." At the time, there were white and brown vans that people saw in front of the house but plates were never taken down.
Even though a small search ensued the next morning, where people searched the area surrounding the house (including the neighborhood), the house wasn't searched and a 25 mile search wasn't done by New Mexico Police until two days later. That is a huuuuge problem. What if Penny destroyed evidence?
Anthonette's shoes were still at the house but her pink nightgown was missing.
It's 1999 and Penny passed away, taking any further secrets of her daughter's disapperance with her.
In 2003, a woman from Elk Grove Village (just outside of Chicago) saw an enhanced photo of Anthonette. She believes she saw Anthonette in her community.
Speed travel to October 2015: An anonymous caller told the investigators in Gallup that they believe Anthonette is in Las Vegas, Nevada and that she may have children. If that's the case, why hasn't Anthonette tried to escape? Or has she tried to escape?
Wendy said that her mom had a shrine for Anthonette in their home where people could leave special things for Anthonette. Penny kept the turquoise bear necklace on top of a Bible on the shrine that came from Emo. Why would Penny keep a trinket from a pedophile, specifically someone who may have taken her daughter?
Strangely, Emo has never been a person of interest in the case. Neither has Penny or Ronald, even after Penny's confession.
According to Penny, both Ronald and Emo failed polygraph tests given to them "miserably". There is no evidence in the case files handed over to Crystal Gutierrez from Beyond the Case of any polygraph results.
In my opinion, Emo and Penny should've been arrested when Penny made that confession to the FBI in 1994. The FBI dropped the ball on this. Why Penny was allowed to walk out of that office without going to jail is beyond me.
Today, the Gallup Police Department thinks that Anthonette is dead.
So what say you? Who is to blame and who should've been arrested? What do you think happened to Anthonette? Let me know by contacting me.
Anthonette, if you are alive and you are listening to this, I hope you are well, that you are safe. I hope that you've found peace and that you are protected. You never got that as a child, but I hope you are getting it as an adult. I hope that whatever tragic scenario started out for you on the night of April 6, 1986 has turned into something better for you. If not, I hope that you can find your way home or out of a dangerous situation one day. Your family hasn't stopped looking for you, specifically your sisters, and they never will. You are loved.
This has been another episode of Mysteries of the Missing. You can find my podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Audible. My blog can be found on Wix and I am also on Facebook and Instagram at @mysteriesofthemissing.
Until next time, stay safe.
If you have any information as to Cayedito's whereabouts, or the identity of her abductor, please contact the Gallup Police Department at 505-863-9365 or the FBI at 505-889-1300.
Age progression photo of Anthonette
If you're interested in learning more about missing children's cases, you can check out the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at missingkids.org or the FBI's list at https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap.
To learn more about a group called the Bioneers: No More Stolen Sisters, which is four women on a mission to stop the abuse and murder of native women and girls, please Google "Bioneers: No More Stolen Sisters" or find the link on this page: https://bioneers.org/no-more-stolen-sisters-stopping-the-abuse-and-murder-of-native-women-and-girls/.
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