Murdered girl dubbed ‘Little Miss Nobody’ after her body was found dumped in Arizona in 1960 is finally identified as four-year-old abduction victim who vanished playing outside her grandma’s house in New Mexico

• The Yavapai County Sheriff’s office said Tuesday the victim was four-year-old Sharon Lee Gallegos of New Mexico
• She was found partially burned in a wash in 1960 near Congress, Arizona, after disappearing for a little more than a week 
• The victim was reportedly abducted from the yard of her grandmother’s home in Alamogordo, New Mexico 
• Authorities say they do not know who took and killed the child, and the case is still under investigation

A murdered child dubbed Little Miss Nobody after her body was found in Arizona in 1960 has finally been identified 60 years on as a four year-old girl abducted from her grandmother’s New Mexico garden.  

The Yavapai County Sheriff’s office said Tuesday the previously unknown little girl was four-year-old Sharon Lee Gallegos of New Mexico.

Sharon’s remains were found on July 31, 1960, partially buried in Sand Creek Wash, near Congress, Arizona. Her age at various times over the years was estimated to be between 6 and 8 years old, then later at between three-and-six-years-old.

Explaining why Sharon was never linked to the discovery of the body in Arizona, cops said the clothing she was found in was different to what she had last been wearing. Confusion about her age also muddied the waters.

Residents in the nearby central-north Arizona community of Prescott raised money for a funeral and florists, and a mortuary donated its services for the little girl they had dubbed ‘Little Miss Nobody.’

A family photo of Sharon Lee Gallegos is displayed by the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office. The child’s remains were found on July 31, 1960, partially buried in a wash near Congress, Arizona

Gallegos was described as a happy-go-lucky girl by surviving family relatives who learned of the groundbreaking news on Tuesday

Ray Chavez, the nephew of a little girl dubbed ‘Little Miss Nobody’ who was recently identified, speaks during a news conference in Prescott, Arizona, Tuesday, March 15, 2022. The Yavapai County Sheriff’s office said the previously unidentified little girl whose burned remains were found more than 60 years earlier in the Arizona desert was 4-year-old Sharon Lee Gallegos, of New Mexico

Her original grave marker read: ‘Little Miss Nobody. Blessed are the Pure in Heart… St. Matthew 5:8.’

News reports at the time said a local radio announcer and his wife stood in for the girl’s parents during the funeral at Prescott´s Congregational Church.

Gallegos had been reportedly abducted from the yard of her grandmother’s home six decades ago in Alamogordo, New Mexico

‘I guess I just couldn’t stand to see a little child buried in boot hill,’ KYCA announcer Dave Paladin was quoted as saying in an August 11, 1960 article by The Associated Press.

Sharon Lee Gallegos was reportedly abducted from the yard of her grandmother’s home in Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 21, 1960, a little over a week before her body was found. 

Authorities say they do not know who took and killed the child, and the case is still under investigation.

The Alamogordo Police Department and the FBI searched for the little girl but were unable to find her or the suspects, believed to be driving a dark green 1951 or 1952 Plymouth.

The Yavapai County case went cold until 2015, when the remains were exhumed to get DNA samples. 

Gallegos’ original grave marker, which includes her famous nickname on it, reads: ‘Little Miss Nobody. Blessed are the Pure in Heart… St. Matthew 5:8.’

The National Center for Exploited and Missing Children, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System and others worked on the case.

The sheriff’s office and Texas DNA company Othram raised $4,000 earlier this year to pay for specialized testing that finally identified the girl.

Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes said he was glad investigators ‘did not let go until the unfortunate moniker of ‘Little Miss Nobody’ could be removed from the headstone that sits in a cemetery here in Prescott.’

The girl’s parents have since died, but her nephew Ray Chavez was at the news conference to thank authorities for not giving up their quest to identify his aunt.

There was no other mention of any other surviving relatives.

Chavez said his aunt had always been described to him as a happy-go-lucky girl.

‘We were amazed how the people rallied around her,’ Chavez said. ‘Thank you for keeping my aunt safe and never forgetting her.’

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