The Disappearance of Marjorie West: A 1938 Missing Child Case
- Sarah Turney
- 22 minutes ago
- 4 min read
The Disappearance of Marjorie West: A 1938 Missing Child Case Still Waiting for Answers
On Mother’s Day in 1938, 4-year-old Marjorie West went on a family picnic in the woods near White Gravel, Pennsylvania.
By the end of the afternoon, she was gone.
Marjorie’s disappearance sparked a massive search, national headlines, reward offers, theories, and decades of unanswered questions. More than 80 years later, her case remains unresolved and is still listed by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Listen to the Full Episode
Listen to the full Marjorie West episode on Voices for Justice below.
Or listen on your favorite podcast player:
Who Was Marjorie West?
Marjorie West was just 4 years old when she disappeared from McKean County, Pennsylvania, on May 8, 1938. She was the youngest child of Shirley and Cecilia West and lived with her family in Bradford, Pennsylvania.
She was a little girl with curly red hair, blue eyes, and freckles. At the time she vanished, she was reportedly wearing a blue dress, a red hat, and a navy blue coat.
But before Marjorie became one of the oldest missing child cases in the country, she was a daughter, a sister, and a little girl spending Mother’s Day with her family.
What Happened to Marjorie West?
On May 8, 1938, Marjorie went with her family to church in Bradford, Pennsylvania. Afterward, the West family drove to the White Gravel area near Marshburg for a Mother’s Day picnic.
At some point that afternoon, Marjorie was near her family in the wooded picnic area. Her father was fishing nearby, her mother was close to the family’s car, and Marjorie was with her siblings.
Then, within a very short window of time, Marjorie disappeared.
Her family began searching almost immediately. Police were called. Volunteers poured into the area. The search expanded into the surrounding woods, brush, hills, and waterways. Newspapers reported on the scale of the search, and the case quickly drew attention far beyond the small Pennsylvania community.
But Marjorie was not found.
The Search for Marjorie West
The search for Marjorie was enormous, especially for the time period. Local officials, volunteers, bloodhounds, and community members searched the rugged, heavily wooded area where she vanished.
Newspaper coverage from the days after her disappearance described urgent calls for volunteers to search the woods, with officials asking for hundreds of men to report and help comb through the area. A reward was also offered for information that could lead to Marjorie or explain what had happened to her.
The search continued for days, but no confirmed trace of Marjorie was found.
That is part of what makes this case so haunting. Marjorie disappeared from a family outing in broad daylight, in an area that was searched intensely, and yet the central question has never been answered.
Where did Marjorie go?
Why This Case Still Captivates People
Marjorie’s disappearance remains one of those cases that people return to because the possibilities are so difficult to sit with.
Did she wander into the woods and become impossible to find in the terrain? Was she taken by someone nearby? Did someone see something but never come forward? Were there clues in the early search that were missed because of the time period, the location, or the chaos of those first hours?
There is no responsible way to reduce Marjorie’s case to one simple theory. The truth is that there are several possibilities, and each one raises its own painful questions.
In the full episode, I go deeper into those theories, what was reported at the time, what investigators appeared to believe, and why Marjorie’s case is still discussed more than 85 years later.
Listen to the Full Marjorie West Episode
This post only covers part of Marjorie’s story.
In the full Voices for Justice episode, I go deeper into Marjorie’s life, the Mother’s Day picnic, the search through the Pennsylvania woods, the theories that followed, and the reasons this case still deserves attention today.
Marjorie West was not just one of America’s oldest missing child cases. She was a beloved little girl whose family never got to bring her home.
Case Information
Marjorie West was 4 years old when she disappeared on May 8, 1938, near White Gravel in McKean County, Pennsylvania.
She had curly red hair, blue eyes, and freckles. According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, she was last seen wearing a blue dress, a red hat, and a navy blue mid-length coat with a pink collar.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Pennsylvania State Police at 814-938-0510 or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.
Sources:
"799DFPA - Marjorie West." The Doe Network, 12 Dec. 2023,.
"Give Up Hope Child Is Alive In Woods." The News Herald, 14 May 1938, pp. 1, 6,.
"Have you seen this child? Marjorie West." National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, 2026,.
"Hunt For Bradford Child Continues on Kidnaping Theory." The Punxsutawney Spirit, 11 May 1938, pp. 1, 8,.
Lissner, Caren. "The great unsolved mystery of the missing Marjorie West." The Guardian, 26 Sept. 2018,.
"Little Girl Is Lost In Forest." The News Herald, 9 May 1938, p. 10,.
"Marjorie West Appeal Issued." The Buffalo News, 2 June 1938, p. 17,.
"No Trace Found Of Bradford Child." The Punxsutawney Spirit, 10 May 1938, pp. 1–2,.
"PA - PA - Marjorie West, 4, McKean County, 8 May 1938." Websleuths, 2 July 2004,.
Reece, C.L. "Still Missing 85 Years Later: The Unsolved Case of My Cousin Marjorie West." Medium, 5 Aug. 2023,.
"The Disappearance of Marjorie West." Pennsylvania Oddities, 23 Aug. 2025,.
"Use Bloodhounds In Search For Child Missing In Woods." The Danville News, 12 May 1938, p. 1,.
"Young Girl Is Being Hunted Near Kane, Pa." New Castle News, 9 May 1938, p. 1,.
"1,000 Volunteers Asked To Hunt for Lost Girl." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12 May 1938, pp. 1–2,.
"2,000 Searchers In Child Hunt." The Punxsutawney Spirit, 13 May 1938, pp. 1–2,.
"36 Members of Troop L and 25 Members of Troop I Engaged in Hunt." The Punxsutawney Spirit, 16 May 1938, pp. 1–2,.
