Diana Leigh Avera

Avera, circa 1982

  • Missing Since 08/01/1982
  • Missing From Mount Vernon, Alabama
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Sex Female
  • Race White
  • Age 22 years old
  • Height and Weight 5'0 - 5'3, 100 - 120 pounds
  • Medical Conditions Avera suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, hazel eyes. Avera has a scar on her right thigh.

Details of Disappearance

Avera was arrested for disorderly conduct on May 21, 1982 and involuntarily committed to Searcy Hospital in Mount Vernon, Alabama. She received electroconvulsive treatments and other therapies at the hospital, and her family visited her; they said she was "like a zombie" and barely able to speak or walk.

Sometime in August of that year, Avera escaped from the hospital and was never seen or heard from again. She was not officially reported missing until 2020, however. Her family thought she had been reported missing earlier, but found out this was not the case; only the state Department of Health had been investigating her disappearance, not the police.

Her case remains unsolved and few details are available.

Investigating Agency

  • Mobile County Sheriff's Office 251-574-8720

Source Information

Updated 3 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated September 18, 2023; three pictures added, details of disappearance updated.