Naman Shrestha
The evening of September 4, 1998, was the last time Shy’Kemmia Pate was seen in and around her neighborhood, gracing her bright-eyed and wide smile. Almost instantly after her sudden disappearance, the community went into a state of shock and concern as they collectively made efforts to find the eight-year-old girl. The decades-long case, which is still unsolved as of writing, is talked about in detail in the episode titled ‘The Night Shy Shy Disappeared’ of the podcast ‘Dateline: Missing in America.’ The podcast episode also features the voice appearance of Shy Shy’s loved ones and the officials involved in the case, providing in-depth details to the listeners.
Shy’Kemmia Pate Vanished From Her Neighborhood Right Before a Football Game
Veronica Pate brought Shy’Kemmia Shy’Rezz Pate into the world on October 29, 1989, as a little bundle of joy. Raised in Unadilla, Georgia, among her three older siblings, including LaSwanda, Shy’Kemmia went to a local school where she was close to each teacher, and they loved her right back. Nicknamed “Shy Shy” by her loved ones, she was an ambitious girl who dreamt of becoming a pediatrician after growing up. As per her mother, she was battling numerous medical conditions, including a chronic asthma disease and a kidney disease.
Due to these diseases, she was frequently at the hospital, sometimes spending more time there than at her home. When she was home, her family members ensured that she was loved dearly and supported every step of the way. On September 4, 1998, the Pate siblings were excited about a high school football game that night. In the evening, the eldest daughter of Veronica, 17-year-old LaSwanda Hickey, was meant to pick Shy Shy from the house and head to the game with her. Once Shy Shy was ready, she went outside to play in the neighborhood since it was a safe neighborhood where everybody knew everybody.
After getting ready and filling up the gas in the car, LaSwanda came looking for her younger sister outside their house, but she was nowhere to be found. At the time, she thought that Shy Shy had been picked up by a friend, so she was not concerned much about it. However, when there was no sign of the eight-year-old girl even after the game had ended, her loved ones were in a state of panic as their worry multiplied with each passing second.
Neighbors and Police Joined Forces to Search For Shy’Kemmia Pate
When Veronica informed the police regarding her missing daughter, they told her that she needed to wait at least 24 hours before filing a missing person’s report. So, the mother and the neighbors took matters into their own hands and began searching for Shy Shy throughout the night, but to no avail. The official search for her began the next morning as the officers, the local fire department, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) searched by land and air. Meanwhile, several investigators interviewed the missing girl’s family, neighbors, and acquaintances to find clues that could lead them to the girl.
The neighbors also cooperated with the authorities and allowed them to search their residences, but nothing seemed to produce any leads whatsoever. While one neighbor claimed that Shy Shy ate a hot dog at her house, several others testified that they saw her alone outside around the intersection of Crumpler Avenue and West Street. Although she lived in a friendly neighborhood, there was a club called Roxie’s right across the street, where drug trafficking and other crimes were the norm. Thus, the police suspected that she might have gotten involved with someone from that side of the street.
Despite a Few Developments, Shy Shy Remains Missing to This Day
Hoping that her daughter might walk inside the house at any time, Veronica left the front door unlocked for two years after Shy Shy’s disappearance. In 2002, Unadilla was at the center of a series of sexual assaults against young girls. The case of Shy Shy saw some developments when 20-year-old Quenton Kendrick, one of the last persons to see Shy Shy, pleaded guilty to 16 charges in the attacks. He became the prime suspect in the case, but he denied any involvement in her vanishing. More than two decades later, Veronica was contacted by a woman from Missouri on Facebook, claiming to be Shy Shy. She claimed that she was abducted and could not recollect any details because of the trauma attached to the incident.
When a DNA test was conducted, it was confirmed that it was not her missing daughter. However, Veronica was not ready to believe the DNA results as she claimed that the woman knew things that only her daughter would know. On the other hand, LaSwanda did not believe that the caller from Facebook was her beloved sister. In late 2023, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children released a new age-progressed image of an adult Shy Shy in an attempt to help the public recognize her. The director of the center told 11Alive, “Our age progression images have played a pivotal role in reuniting missing children with their families. Today, on Shy’Kemmia’s 34th birthday, we’re asking everyone to take a moment to look at this new image. We just need the right person to see it and make that call.”
In light of that, Veronica hoped that new and significant information related to her daughter’s disappearance might surface. “I am not going to give up or stop believing that she will come back one day,” she said. Moreover, she stated, “Even if she doesn’t want to come back here … I just want that stamp to say she’s located and I never gave up looking for her. And no matter how long it takes, I’m not going to stop searching for my daughter.”
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