‘I'm Still Searching For My Baby’: Georgia Mother Hopes For Answers In Daughter’s Disappearance

The case of a missing girl described as outgoing and a fan of new clothes and skating remains unsolved nearly 25 years after she was last seen at her family’s home in Georgia.

"I just want to let everybody know I'm still searching for my baby … she's not really a baby anymore but she's still my baby,” Veronica Pate said in 2021 of her daughter Shy’Kemmia “Shy Shy” Pate, WMAZ reported.

Around 7 p.m. on Sept. 4, 1998, Shy’Kemmia, then 8, was playing outside in Unadilla when the little girl’s older sister went to fill up her car with gas ahead of the family’s plan to attend a football game together that night.

When the sister returned, Shy’Kemmia was gone. Initially, the little girl’s family believed she may have just gone over to a friend’s house or found a ride to the game. As the evening wore on, however, Shy’Kemmia’s loved ones contacted police to report her missing.

She hasn’t been seen or heard from since.

According to the Charley Project, authorities believe someone Shy’Kemmia was familiar with may have kidnapped her. Investigators, the organization notes, thoroughly searched every home within a roughly six-block radius of the Pate residence but they turned up no sign of the child. They also cleared her family members of suspicion in connection with the case.

Shy’Kemmia battled multiple medical issues that likely would have required medical treatment, including severe asthma as well as kidney and bladder problems.

The evening she disappeared, Shy’Kemmia was wearing a leg brace, Levi’s jeans, a neon green button-down Atlanta Braves jersey with red lettering, and white K-Swiss sneakers.

She has a distinctive surgical scar that runs along her waistline.

“I feel in my heart that she’s still alive but any closure would be okay with me,” Veronica Pate told WALB of her daughter. “I think she’s still alive but I don’t weigh the options whether if she’s dead or alive, but in my heart, I feel that she’s still alive.”

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation requests anyone with information that could be helpful to the case to contact the agency at (478) 987-4545 or submit an anonymous tip by calling (800) 597-TIPS (8477).