ST. LOUIS (AP) — Nearly five decades after a small girl was kidnapped from the yard of her southeast Missouri home, the family of Elizabeth Gill is hoping new reward money will help uncover the mystery of her disappearance.

Elizabeth was not quite 3 when she was taken on June 13, 1965, at the family’s home in Cape Girardeau, about 100 miles south of St. Louis. Cape Girardeau detective Jim Smith says it is the oldest missing child case in Missouri.

Elizabeth’s sister, Martha Hamilton, says anonymous donors have contributed $25,000 in reward money. Anyone with information can contact Smith at the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

Authorities believe drifters who were in Cape Girardeau in 1965 and staying at a motel near the Gill family home took the child.

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