JACKSON, Mich. – Police confirmed they have returned to the Michigan home where, 38 years ago, a mother heard a car door slam in the middle of the night and realized her 6-year-old daughter was gone.
On Friday, May 5, 2023, we posted a Michigan Cold Cases story about Natasha Marie Shanes, a girl from Jackson who went missing exactly 38 years prior, on May 5, 1985.
Hours later, Jackson police officers searched the property. WLNS reports the search took place at 1:19 p.m. Friday.
The Jackson Police Department confirmed to Local 4 on Monday that a search warrant was obtained and executed on the property that day.
Detectives are actively working on the case, as of Monday, police confirmed to Local 4.
Shanes’ disappearance
On the night Shanes went missing, her mother remembered waking up to the sound of a car door slamming outside her home. She fell back asleep, but when she went to check on her daughter in the morning, the 6-year-old was gone.
The front door of the home was wide open, according to the Michigan missing persons database.
NBC affiliate WILX spoke to Shanes’ mother, Susan Shanes, in May 2018 as she continued to search for answers.
Susan Shanes believes someone took her daughter from their home, according to WILX. Police said they didn’t find any signs of forced entry, and they ruled the case a non-family abduction.
Susan Shanes’ boyfriend was found dead two days after her daughter went missing. He had been shot, and his death was ruled a suicide, but Susan Shanes said she believes he was murdered, WILX reports.
Police haven’t yet been able to connect the two cases.
Multiple searches around the Jackson home and even in other states have uncovered no answers about Natasha Shanes’ disappearance.
Officials believe she disappeared between 1:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. May 5, 1985. She had strawberry blonde hair, brown eyes, and scars on her right cheek and forehead. It’s believed she was wearing blue jeans and a large blue and white shirt with a safety pin on it.
The age progression photos below show what Natasha Shanes would have looked like as a 30-year-old in 2009 (left), a 34-year-old in 2013 (center), and a 39-year-old in 2018 (right).
Anyone with information is asked to call the Jackson Police Department at 517-788-4100.
Why is ClickOnDetroit covering so many cold cases?
We’re working to bring attention to as many unsolved and missing persons cases from around the state as we can. Our hope is that getting this important information out to the public will help generate tips for investigators and potentially lead to closure for the affected families. If you have a cold case you’d like us to look into, please let us know by using the form below.