The Throwaways

On this episode we talk about the kidnapping and murder of Shirley "Sissy" Beaty with author Jax Miller

Shirley "Sissy" Armond Beaty went missing from her Oklahoma City home sometime in the early morning hours of June 3, 1975. She was six years old.

Around 4 am, Sissy’s uncle, Bryan, who lived with Sissy’s family that had recently relocated to Oklahoma City, noticed that Sissy had crawled into bed with him. He dozed back off, but when Sissy’s mother and sister woke up around 6am, Sissy was nowhere to be found. It became apparent to everyone, including law enforcement that Sissy hadn’t simply runaway or wandered off. First, it was the middle of the night when she would have gone missing. Second, Sissy was incredibly shy, timid, and deathly afraid of storms. The night she disappeared had been a stormy one. Another reason for believing the girl had been taken was that she disappeared with only what she had worn to bed, a long t-shirt and her socks, and a blanket. The room that Sissy had been in with her uncle had another bed in it as well, with her older sister and her sister’s friend who had been sleeping over sleeping in it. The bedroom they had all been sleeping in had a door that led outside of the home. Authorities checked the door and found that it made no sounds when opened or closed. Sissy’s sister would tell authorities that sometime in the night she thought she had heard Sissy calling out, but had written it off as a nightmare and gone back to sleep.

A full scale search for Sissy was launched, but no evidence of any sort was found. Several people fell under suspicion right away: Sissy’s uncle Bryan, Sissy’s father, Sissy’s grandfather, and James Sullivan, a friend of uncle Bryan’s. Her father and grandfather were cleared in short order. Her uncle would bring suspicion on himself by telling authorities wild stories about what happened to Sissy that would turn out to be false before ultimately being cleared. James Sullivan would be polygraphed, and remain a suspect.

On September 25th, 1975, a man out searching for tree seedlings in a cedar grove on SW Pennsylvania Avenue found human remains that would turn out to be that of a female child. Sissy’s mother would identify the remains as being her daughter’s when the police showed her the scraps of clothing found with the skeletonized remains It's believed strangulation is a possible cause of death, though the state of the remains when discovered made it difficult to determine.

Shortly after Sissy’s remains were found, authorities charged James Sullivan with Sissy’s murder. Charges would be dropped a month later after the case fell apart due to lack of evidence. No one else has ever been publicly named a suspect or ever charged in the kidnapping and murder of Shirley “Sissy” Beaty.

Sissy was a sweet and affectionate little girl who loved playing baseball. She was extremely afraid of the dark and of storms. She would not have left the house under any circumstances. As friendly as Sissy was, she was also shy and would not go willingly with strangers.