Key facts
- Name: Michaela Joy Garecht
- Born: January 24, 1979, Oakland, California
- Age at disappearance: 9
- Last seen: November 19, 1988, around 10:15 a.m.
- Location: Rainbow Market, corner of Mission Boulevard and Lafayette Avenue, Hayward, California
- Height / build: 4’8″, blond hair, blue eyes; wearing jeans rolled over her knees and feather-shaped earrings
- Status: Still missing — body never recovered; a suspect was charged with her murder in 2020 and is presumed innocent until proven guilty
- Investigating agency: Hayward Police Department; FBI
The scooter
It was the Saturday before Thanksgiving, 1988. Nine-year-old Michaela Garecht and her best friend rode their scooters two blocks from home to the Rainbow Market in Hayward to buy a snack. Their first trip there without the older neighborhood kids.
Inside, they bought soda, candy, and beef jerky. Coming out, they started walking home — and realized they’d forgotten the scooters by the side door. They turned back. Michaela’s scooter wasn’t where she’d left it. It had been moved, deliberately, to a spot in the parking lot near a parked car.
When Michaela bent down to pick it up, a man jumped out of the car, grabbed her from behind, and threw her into the back seat. Her friend — the only witness — ran back into the store screaming for help. The car sped south on Mission Boulevard toward Union City. Michaela has never been seen again.
The whole thing took seconds.
The manhunt
Within 24 hours, sketches of the abductor were on flyers across the San Francisco Bay Area. The witness described a white man with fox-like blue eyes in a white T-shirt, driving a large, older, American-made sedan — cream or tannish gold, possibly with cement splatters on the sides, lights set into the rear bumper, a battered front bumper, looking run-down.
What followed was one of the most extensive missing-child investigations in Hayward police history: 5,000 tips in the first year alone, more than 15,000 leads followed up by 1994. Michaela’s photo went on milk cartons and billboards nationwide. Her case was the first missing-child case ever featured on America’s Most Wanted, and it was profiled twice on Unsolved Mysteries, plus Oprah, Dateline, Larry King Live, and just about every talk show of the era.
It never produced her.
The long road to a charge
In 2009, when Jaycee Dugard was found alive after 18 years in captivity, Michaela’s case surged back into the headlines, and her kidnapper Phillip Garrido was interviewed about it. In 2012, convicted “Speed Freak Killer” Wesley Shermantine wrote to authorities that the abductor sketch resembled his accomplice Loren Herzog; bone fragments from one of their disposal sites were DNA-tested. They were not Michaela’s.
Then, in 2020 — 32 years later — came the breakthrough. A partial palm print lifted from Michaela’s scooter, too small to be run through computer databases, was analyzed manually and matched to David Misch, a convicted killer already in state prison since 1989 for an unrelated murder near Hayward. On December 21, 2020, Hayward police charged Misch with Michaela’s kidnapping and murder. He is awaiting trial and is presumed innocent.
Misch was convicted on December 19, 2024, of the 1986 Fremont murders of Michelle Xavier and Jennifer Duey and was sentenced on January 21, 2025, to two consecutive twenty-five-years-to-life terms. As of June 2026 he remained in custody at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, California, awaiting trial for Michaela’s kidnapping and murder. He is presumed innocent of the Garecht charges until proven guilty, and Michaela’s body has never been found.
Her mother, Sharon Murch, released a statement after the charges: “In the last year, I had to come to a place accepting that Michaela was probably no longer alive. But somehow, that acceptance was far more wrapped up in the idea of Michaela sitting on a fluffy pink cloud walking streets of gold, dancing on grassy hills, soaring among the stars. What I did not envision was my daughter as a dead child. It was only when I heard this news that this vision of reality appeared, and I honestly have not figured out what to do with it.”
Hayward’s chief investigator once put the department’s position this way: “We’ll go anywhere, any corner of the earth to try to bring Michaela home.” The case remains open with both Hayward police and the FBI.
Theories: what might have happened
The charged suspect is responsible. The palm print on the scooter is the hardest evidence the case has ever produced, and it led to murder charges. What supports it: a forensic match, placed by prosecutors at the abduction scene. What undercuts it: no trial has concluded, no body has been recovered, and Misch is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
She was taken by someone else entirely. For three decades, investigators chased other leads — Garrido, the Speed Freak Killers, thousands of tips. What undercuts it: none of those threads produced evidence, and the palm-print match points elsewhere.
She could still be alive. Her mother held onto hope for decades, and cases like Jaycee Dugard’s proved long-term captivity is possible. What undercuts it: 38 years without a single verified trace, and the 2020 murder charge.
Have information?
Contact the Hayward Police Department at (510) 293-7000 or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678. In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- January 24, 1979 — Michaela Joy Garecht is born in Oakland, California.
- November 19, 1988, ~10:15 a.m. — Abducted outside the Rainbow Market in Hayward while retrieving her scooter.
- 1988–1994 — 5,000 tips in the first year; 15,000+ leads pursued; national media coverage; milk-carton campaign.
- 2009 — Jaycee Dugard’s recovery renews attention; Phillip Garrido interviewed.
- 2012 — Shermantine letter; bone fragments tested and ruled out.
- December 21, 2020 — David Misch charged with Michaela’s kidnapping and murder based on a palm-print match. He awaits trial; her body has never been found.
- December 2024 – January 2025 — Misch is convicted of the 1986 murders of Michelle Xavier and Jennifer Duey in Fremont and sentenced to two consecutive 25-years-to-life terms; as of mid-2026 he remains in custody awaiting trial for Michaela’s murder.
- November 2028 (upcoming) — The 40th anniversary of her abduction.
- Today — Still missing.
FAQ
Is Michaela Garecht still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Michaela Garecht has been missing for nearly 38 years. Her body has never been found.
Was Michaela Garecht ever found?
No. Despite one of the largest missing-child investigations in Bay Area history and a murder charge filed in 2020, no trace of Michaela has ever been recovered.
How old would Michaela Garecht be today?
Michaela was born January 24, 1979 — she turned 47 in January 2026.
Who was charged in Michaela Garecht’s case?
In December 2020, convicted killer David Misch was charged with her kidnapping and murder after a partial palm print from her scooter was matched to him. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and her body has never been found. In December 2024, Misch was convicted of two unrelated 1986 murders and sentenced to two consecutive 25-years-to-life terms; as of mid-2026 he remains in custody awaiting trial in Michaela’s case.
What did Michaela Garecht’s abductor look like?
The witness described a white man with fox-like blue eyes wearing a white T-shirt, driving a large older American sedan — cream or tannish gold, with a battered front bumper — last seen speeding south on Mission Boulevard.
How can I help?
Share this case file. If you have any information, contact Hayward police at (510) 293-7000 or NCMEC at 1-800-843-5678.
Sources
- Official / law enforcement: Hayward Police Department press release, “Suspect Charged in Murder of Michaela Garecht” (Dec 21, 2020) (https://hayward-ca.gov/sites/default/files/press-releases/MG-Press-Release.pdf); Hayward PD missing-person release (Feb 1, 2012).
- News: Associated Press, “Killer charged in 1988 slaying of 9-year-old Calif. girl” (via Police1, Dec 2020) (https://www.police1.com//investigations/articles/killer-charged-in-1988-slaying-of-9-year-old-calif-girl-75Z2O9wpfl0fYC9N/).
- Reference: Wikipedia, “Disappearance of Michaela Garecht” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Michaela_Garecht) (retrieved Oct 2026).
- Media: Unsolved Mysteries (two segments); America’s Most Wanted (1988, 2009); Inhuman: A True Crime Podcast, Episode 392.
Corrections note (fact-verification pass, October 2026): Added that David Misch was convicted on December 19, 2024, of the 1986 Fremont murders of Michelle Xavier and Jennifer Duey and sentenced January 21, 2025, to two consecutive 25-years-to-life terms, and that as of June 2026 he remains in custody awaiting trial for Michaela’s kidnapping and murder (sources: City of Fremont Nixle press advisory; Wikipedia, “David Misch,” retrieved Oct 2026). Her remains have still not been found; the case remains unresolved.
Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.