Elizabeth Ann Allen

• Missing Since 01/20/1980
• Missing From El Paso, Texas
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 10/13/1924 (101)
• Age 55 years old
• Height and Weight 5'3 - 5'4, 105 - 125 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A gold and opal ring and a silver watch.
• Associated Vehicle(s) White 1971 Ford Thunderbird with suicide doors and the Texas license plate number MNL-431 (accounted for)
• Distinguishing Characteristics White female. Red hair, green/hazel eyes. Allen's nickname is Beth. Her maiden name is McDonald. Allen's ears are pierced and she has a smallpox vaccination scar on her upper left arm. She wears eyeglasses for reading; they have plastic horn rims.

Details of Disappearance

Allen was last seen at her home in El Paso, Texas on January 20, 1980. She lived in a second-floor apartment at Fountain Plaza at Sun Bowl Drive and Mesa Street on the west side of the city; she was an assistant manager there and also managed three other apartment complexes.

Between 10:30 and 11:00 a.m., she spoke to her sister on the phone. She may have also had breakfast that day with an unidentified man who had been her date to an awards dinner a few nights before. She has never been heard from again. The next day, after her family was unable to reach her by phone, her sister went to Allen's apartment.

Her apartment was left untouched, with nothing missing to suggest she had intended to be gone for an extended period of time. The lights were on and all her belongings, including her clothes and her toothbrush, were in the usual places. Only Allen and her vehicle, a white 1971 Ford Thunderbird with suicide doors and the Texas license plate number MNL-431, were missing. She left no note behind, and hadn't told her loved ones of any travel plans. It would be uncharacteristic of her to leave without telling anyone.

On January 24 or 25, Allen's Thunderbird was found near San Bernardino, California. Photographs of a similar vehicle are posted with this case summary.Some receipts were inside the vehicle, all of them for charges made to Allen's husband's credit card. He had died two years before. Whoever made the charges forged Allen's husband's signature. The receipts were for gas stations in New Mexico and northern Arizona. Authorities said the receipts were indications that someone other than Allen was the last person to drive the Thunderbird.

Allen was born in Cleburne, Texas and had four sons. Three of her sons have died in the years following her disappearance; the surviving one lives in California. Her sister is also still alive and looking for her. Investigators believe Allen was abducted, but little evidence is available in her case.