Ilene Rebecca Scott Disappeared The Day After Her Sixth Birthday In 1980

There had been changes in Ilene Rebecca Scott’s life as the holiday season of 1980 approached. Her mother, Lois Scott, was separated from her father and was seeing a new man, Harry Jolly.

Ilene — who sometimes went by the nickname Becky — and her brother, Jeff, lived in Rancho Dominguez Estates Mobile Home Park with Lois and Harry in Carson, California, a city just north of Long Beach.

On the morning of Dec. 20, 1980, Ilene had been playing in the trailer park with her brother and friends and made several trips in and out of her home before leaving to roller skate around 10:30 a.m. Later, neighbors would confirm that they had seen her skating through the mobile home park throughout the late morning.

After a couple of hours, Lois reportedly checked on Ilene but realized the child was nowhere to be seen. Lois also realized that Ilene’s skates were back home and her shoes were missing and she called the police.

A massive search effort was mounted as dozens of cops, a handful of tracking dogs, and volunteers searched the area and went door-to-door looking for the girl, but there was no trace of her.

During the search, Lois’s boyfriend, Harry, was arrested on unrelated charges out of Orange County, but police were able to rule him out as a suspect in Ilene’s disappearance.

Ilene was never seen again; according to the Charley Project, her parents believe she is deceased.

There were some serial killers active in Southern California around the time of Ilene’s disappearance, but none of them were ever linked to her disappearance.

• Joseph James D’Angelo, who is believed to have killed 13 people and raped another 50, was active in 1980, but his victims were adults in neighboring counties.
• Richard Ramirez — the Night Stalker — was active in Los Angeles County, but his known crimes didn’t begin until 1984. His victims did include some children.
• Randy Kraft — known as the Scorecard Killer or the Southern California Strangler — was in year 8 of an 11-year killing spree when Ilene disappeared, but his known victims were young men.

At the time of her disappearance, Ilene was wearing green pants and a pink or red shirt. She has brown hair and blue eyes, and a brown birthmark on her right hip. If Ilene is still alive, she would be 48 years old as of 2023.

If you have any information about Ilene’s disappearance or her whereabouts, please call the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department at 323-890-5529 or 323-890-5500.