Mary Day was just 13 years old when she vanished from her family’s home in Seaside, California, in 1981. But what should have been an urgent missing persons case… never was. No police report. No search. No desperate pleas from a grieving family. Instead, it was as if Mary had been erased.

Two decades later, her younger sister Sherrie, haunted by the silence, finally reported Mary missing—kicking off an investigation that led to dark family secrets, chilling discoveries, and a case that seemed to point in only one direction: murder. Detectives were certain they were looking for Mary’s body. And when cadaver dogs alerted to a backyard where the family once lived, it seemed like confirmation of their worst fears.

But then, in a twist that no one saw coming, Mary reappeared. Alive.

Or was she?

In this episode, we unravel the baffling case of Mary Day—where nothing is as it seems, and even DNA evidence leaves more questions than answers. Was Mary really a runaway, lost to the streets for decades? Or did something far more sinister happen in that house in 1981?

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Sources:

Mary Day's mother to police: "Life is full of regrets"

Detectives thought teen Mary Day was murdered. So who was the woman claiming to be her decades later?

The mysterious disappearance of Mary Day

Episode 48 House 

The Curious Case of Mary Day

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