TILWANA CHEATHAM - 8 yo (1989) Aiken SC

Few days have gone by that Lt. Becky Edmonds
hasn't thought about one of her early missing children cases - the day
that 8-year-old Tilwana Cheatham went missing.


It's been 20 years since Friday, Aug. 11, 1989, the day Cheatham left
her Balltown home off S.C. Highway 19 with money for ice cream.
Investigators know she had gotten as far as a telephone booth off the
two-lane roadway before she disappeared but have few other details.

Edmonds said she remembers searching for the little girl, going door-to-door and canvassing the neighborhood.

Volunteers helped search the woods, and detectives launched an immediate investigation.

"... But nothing," Edmonds reflected.

Two decades later, the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children (NCMEC) has released an age-progressed photo of Cheatham and
what she may look like at 27.

The NCMEC is asking for the public's help locating Cheatham as part of
the 20th anniversary of her disappearance, urging anyone with any
information to call the national organization.

Aiken County Sheriff's Office investigators said they investigated a
truck driver who came through the area the day she went missing;
detectives learned later that he had a history of crimes against
children. He was given a speeding citation, but he was never charged
with anything having to do with the girl's disappearance. No one was.

An investigator with the juvenile division at the sheriff's office at
the time, Edmonds received the case only about a week after the
disappearance. She said there was an initial investigator assigned to
the case, but then it was turned over to her.

"We did everything humanly possible to find her," Edmonds said. "We never found anything."

Other deputies at the sheriff's office have received the file since
then, looking for details that another deputy may have missed.

Capt. Troy Elwell said he personally has looked over the file.

"We have had several investigators look over this in the past several
eras, looking for something," Elwell said. "We never had any good
leads."

The last person who saw Cheatham was a passer-by who noticed the 70-pound, 4-foot-tall little girl.

Edmonds said she still communicates on occasion with Cheatham's aunt.

The two talk about a number of things, including Cheatham.

"Things go by in life so quickly," Edmonds reflected on the two decades that have passed. "But I still think about that child."

She said she never assumed Cheatham had died and asked thousands of questions looking for an answer but never got any.

But it hasn't stopped investigators from trying. The case is still open.

Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-THE-LOST
(1-800-843-5678). Calls are kept confidential and may be made
anonymously.

AIKEN COUNTY, S.C. --- Twenty years ago today, Aiken County investigators began their search for then eight-year-old Tilwana Cheatham. Her case is now the second oldest missing person case in the county and investigators say they're still looking for answers.

"There's not a day that goes by I don't see that child's face or think about that child. I have to travel 19 every single day and wish that we had found her," said Lt. Becky Edmonds of the Aiken County Sheriff's Office.

Lt. Becky Edmonds is still wishing she could piece together the puzzle of what happened to then 8-year old Tilwana Cheatham. "It just brings it all back. It hurts. I'm heartbroken to be honest because we haven't found her," said Lt. Edmonds.

Investigators say on August 11, 1989, the 8-year old was walking on Balltown Drive headed to the store for ice cream. The only problem, she would never return home.
Loved ones like her grandmother are still looking.

"I think somebody knows where she is because I sure don't believe she's dead," said Tilwana's grandmother Catherine Cheatham. She says the hardest part of it all is she believes her granddaughter tried to call her from a nearby pay phone the day she went missing.

"When I got here, the phone was ringing and ringing. But I've got a tall step on the back and went down and fell. When I got back up, the phone quit ringing and they said it was her calling me," said Catherine.

Both the family and investigators say that phone call leaves them wondering and looking for clues to what happened.

"It goes through you. It's a hard thing to swallow, it really is. It's just misery thinking about it, but it's nothing you can do about it," said Catherine.

"I hope someone out there can come up with some information or if Tilwana's out there, that she sees this and calls in," said Lt. Edmonds.

Investigators say cases like Tilwana's remain open until the people they're looking for are found. Investigators say they did question a truck driver who had been in the area and was said to be a child molester. However, they say there wasn't enough evidence for them to make an arrest.

Again, this case is still open and if you have any information, you're asked to call the Aiken County Sheriff's Office.