Jamiesfeast – In Alabama, specifically at Candlestick Park, a trailer park, there was a shocking incident on August 16, 2001. It was the day when 11-year-old Shannon Paulk went missing while playing outside. The news of her disappearance sent shockwaves through the community.
Shannon’s Story
According to The Suitcase Detective, Shannon’s mother went to work, leaving her older sister in charge of watching Shannon until their mother returned home. Shannon left the house at around 7:45 AM, and her sister didn’t wake up until around 9 AM.
A public Facebook page focused on Shannon has shared a detailed timeline of the events that unfolded on the morning of her disappearance. According to the page, Shannon went to a couple of her friends’ houses to invite them to play outside. However, some of her friends were still getting ready or didn’t respond when she knocked on their doors.
Sometime around noon, Shannon was potentially abducted. When her mother returned home from work at 2:30 PM, she didn’t initially think much of Shannon not being home, as she would often be outside playing with friends. However, as 6:30 PM approached and Shannon’s mother began to cook dinner, she started to worry about her daughter’s whereabouts, considering it was close to dinner time.
According to The Flor-Ala, Shannon’s mother became concerned when she didn’t come home by 9 PM and decided to contact the police. The authorities immediately launched a search for Shannon, forming a dedicated “Shannon Task Force” to locate her.
Weeks went by, and Shannon was nowhere to be seen. The anticipation of starting school the following Monday had filled her with excitement, according to her mother.
On October 6, 2001, there was a sudden breakthrough in the case. Unfortunately, the update that authorities had to share with Shannon’s mother was not what they had hoped for.
In Flor-Ala’s article, they provided more information about the discovery of Shannon. They stated:
Rabbit hunters found the remains of Paulk’s body, bound with rope, in a black plastic bag, in a wooded area on public hunting property. Clifford Zeigler, one of the hunters who found the body, told reporters that he passed the bag multiple times, assuming it was just trash, before he realized what it held.
The Sketches are No Good
In 2017, Alabama’s WSFA interviewed Autauga County’s District Attorney Randall Houston, who shared that the sketches previously utilized in Shannon’s case were no longer considered reliable. Houston clarified:
We’ve re-interviewed witnesses. We’ve talked to different people. We’ve talked to critical people in making that composite. We’re not saying there wasn’t a white male involved and we’re not saying there wasn’t a white male involved that had a mole on his face. We’re just saying that the composite now is not credible.
Detectives interviewed several children during Shannon’s disappearance. Years later, as adults, they confessed that they had lied about the date they claimed to have seen Shannon talking to an unfamiliar man in the vicinity. According to The Suitcase Detective, these individuals admitted to fabricating their stories back then in hopes of aiding in Shannon’s safe return home.
Alabama Cold Case
As of Jan. 29, 2024, Shannon’s case remains a cold case in the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, with no arrests made in connection to the incident.
If you have any information, please contact the detectives at 334-595-0244.