West Tennessee Child Missing 24 Years

As the disappearance of Marlena Childress from her Union City home reaches its 25th anniversary, the lead investigator says he thinks about her every day. Marlena was three years old when she disappeared on April 16, 1987. A massive search turned up no trace of her. Then, her mother told police she accidentally killed Marlena and put her body in the Obion River - a confession she soon recanted. Union City Police Lieutenant Andy Gibson tells KYTN radio as investigative techniques have advanced, they’ve put DNA samples from the child into a national database. The girl's mother, Pam Bailey, was later convicted of stabbing her 12-year-old son after taking him to a rural cemetery in Graves County, Kentucky. The boy got away and survived the attack.