The Mysterious Disappearance of 11-Year-Old Mikel Biggs: Kidnapped in Broad Daylight Within Seconds

No evidence, no suspects. The haunting case of an 11-year-old girl kidnapped in just 90 seconds still remains unsolved more than two decades later.

Child disappearances sadly occur all too often, with many cases remaining unsolved despite relentless police efforts. The investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance in Portugal, over 13 years ago, has only recently seen progress. Such breakthroughs are rare. Typically, families of missing children are left with uncertainty—cases remain open, and hope dims. This is the tragic reality for Mikel Biggs, whose disappearance shocked the entire United States.

Imagine this: an 11-year-old girl from a quiet neighborhood steps outside with her younger sister to buy ice cream just beyond their home’s fence. Neighbors watch closely. It should have been impossible for anyone to abduct her in such a setting. Yet, it happened.

More than 20 years have passed since the schoolgirl vanished in Mesa, Arizona.

No suspects were ever identified. Her body was never found, and police theories were repeatedly challenged by conflicting witness accounts. Witnesses themselves were baffled by how someone could snatch a child right before their eyes. The case remains open.

Speculation has ranged from drug dealers abducting Mikel for trafficking into Mexico, a reckless ice cream vendor accidentally hitting her with his vehicle, a sinister neighbor with a dark past, to even her father allegedly staging a Freudian tragedy. Yet, as of 2023, these remain theories—over 800 pieces of evidence and more than 10,000 witness statements have failed to uncover the truth.

A United Community Response

On January 2, 1999, the peaceful lives of Mesa residents were shattered by terrible news: a young girl was missing. Police and neighbors reacted swiftly. Within 30 minutes of 9-year-old Kimber’s tearful arrival home shouting, "Mom, Mom, Mikel is gone!", a search helicopter was airborne. Police officers used loudspeakers to announce the search, and the entire community rallied to help.

The entire neighborhood was swept in record time. Officers and volunteers knocked on every door, and concerned citizens distributed flyers featuring Mikel’s school photo.

Within days, her image on a blue background adorned store windows, car dashboards, and highway billboards. But the search yielded no leads.

Kidnapped in 90 Seconds

Years later, now 32, Kimber admitted she didn’t feel fear that evening. "We went outside to wait for the ice cream truck. Mikel was on her bike. I got cold and ran home for my jacket. When I returned, I saw only her bike lying on the ground. I called her name but got no answer. Maybe she was joking? I went back inside and told Mom Mikel was missing. Part of me felt something was wrong, but another part believed she was okay."

Upon hearing Kimber’s claim, their mother Tracy wasn’t alarmed. She thought Mikel had wandered off to neighbors. But the Millers, who lived nearby, said they saw Mikel calmly sitting on her bike through their window.

Could she be playing hide-and-seek? One of the Millers’ sons joined Kimber in searching and noticed coins scattered near the bike—several nickels. It was then clear something terrible had happened.

For the next week, police and volunteers worked tirelessly—searching trash bins, inspecting hundreds of homes, and interviewing neighbors. Mikel’s family, friends, and even strangers stood shoulder to shoulder.

Investigators estimated Mikel was unsupervised for only 90 seconds—the exact time Kimber took to retrieve her jacket. "It was a real nightmare," Kimber recalls.

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Could It Have Been Dad?

Out of desperation or to divert attention, police initially named Mikel’s father, Darien Biggs, as the prime suspect. At first, it was routine—parents are usually the first questioned in child disappearance cases. However, the situation escalated when Darien failed a lie detector test. He claimed to be at work during the disappearance, which was untrue. Where was he really? Could he have harmed Mikel? That night, he was actually with his mistress.

Detectives quickly ruled him out, but by then a year had passed since Mikel vanished.

The children were distressed. Young Kimber couldn’t understand why police targeted her father instead of searching for "the bad person who took her sister." Darien, she said, became a "broken shell" during that year.

"Based on the evidence, we concluded Mikel was running from a stranger. She abandoned her bike, ran toward the house, left money behind in the rush. I believe someone caught up with her and forced her into a vehicle," Detective Gissel told ABC News in 2009.

After long interrogations, Darien would lock himself out of Mikel’s bedroom, unable to face that space. Meanwhile, Tracy spent hours sitting on Mikel’s bed, sorting through her belongings. Kimber became withdrawn, constantly watching over her younger siblings.

A False Lead

Authorities desperately sought clues. In desperation, they interviewed nearly 500 psychics, tracked every known ice cream vendor in Arizona, and searched 35 abandoned mines.

Police stopped motorists at checkpoints on the night Mikel disappeared and questioned 20 local men registered as sex offenders. All to no avail.

A copper-colored Jeep convertible was spotted near the scene, but its driver was innocent.

Then an anonymous email claimed responsibility for Mikel’s abduction. Police traced it and raided a Phoenix home, only to find a 12-year-old prankster.

Farmsteads in Queen Creek, mountain ridges, wastelands—Arizona was combed thoroughly but yielded no results. Law enforcement was helpless until a violent crime shook the Mesa neighborhood.

After the Assault, Set Fire

Di Bullock was a known alcoholic living with his wife and three children. He repaired broken cars and occasionally caused disturbances. His rundown home was two blocks from the Biggs residence. Neighbors were used to police calls about noise and shouting. Bullock was among the first to volunteer in the search and allowed police to search his house—but not the trailer in his backyard, demanding a warrant.

He wasn’t a suspect until another tragedy occurred. A neighbor came home to find Bullock hiding in her kitchen... with his pants undone.

Without a word, he attacked, strangling her. He didn’t kill her but broke her neck, then raped her and set the house on fire before fleeing.

He likely intended for her to die, but she survived and managed to call emergency services. On arrival at the hospital, she barely whispered, "Mikel Biggs. The girl who disappeared. He took her. You have to save her."

Mikel was talented musically, taking piano lessons twice a week from a neighbor who lived across from Bullock.

Di Bullock was later revealed to have three prior convictions for sexual assault, kidnapping, and molestation of minors.

He was released in 1995. At the time, Arizona laws made it difficult to access such information, and no one in Mesa suspected a predator lived nearby.

Bullock knew Mikel well and had seen her during lessons. However, he had an alibi corroborated by his wife: on the night of the abduction, he was in the garage fixing a broken lawnmower, drinking beer, and watching an Arizona Cardinals game.

Police searched his home that day and found nothing. They were not allowed to search the trailer until after the neighbor’s assault, but by then, the trailer had vanished.

Alive or Dead?

"Her parents believed Mikel was in that trailer. Alive or dead, we don’t know, but it was our only hope to find the truth. And that hope was crushed," Kimber admitted years later.

Bullock was sentenced to 187 years for the brutal attack on the neighbor. Kimber said her parents once wrote him a letter in prison.

"Dad asked if he had taken Mikel. Bullock said it was too personal to talk about but agreed to meet," Kimber revealed.

The three—Darien, Tracy, and Bullock—met soon after, separated by bulletproof glass in a visitation room. Police recorded their conversation.

Darien: "Do you have anything to do with my daughter’s disappearance?"

Bullock: "No."

Darien: "I’m sure you did."

The exchange continued for minutes before Bullock stood and silently left with guards. Was he mocking them?

Later, Darien confessed in an interview that he was ready to attack Bullock, never believing his lies: "I sat just meters away from the man who killed my daughter and could do nothing."

Everyone Has Their Own Truth

On the fifth anniversary of Mikel’s disappearance, her family held a memorial service, burying an empty coffin.

Darien and Tracy couldn’t save their already strained marriage and divorced. They left Mesa and now live in Utah, far from the place where their eldest daughter vanished. Their last media appearance was in 2009, during an interview with ABC News.

Kimber works in media and still can’t forget the piercing fear she felt that fateful January day in 1999.

For years, she vigilantly watched over her younger siblings, believing if she ever looked away, they too might disappear.

Only now does she realize she was never to blame. At nine, she couldn’t have stopped the abductor, even if she had stayed with her sister.

Today, Kimber is raising her six-year-old son and tells him about his missing aunt. He believes Mikel became his guardian angel, protecting him from harm. Together with his mother, he visits the cemetery where the empty coffin lies. "I want people to remember—Mikel Biggs existed."

Kimber is convinced Bullock killed her sister and longs to meet him face to face.

"What would I say to him? Honestly, I don’t know. But I need to get answers from him. For that, I must become very strong. Unfortunately, I’m not there yet."

Will There Be a Reunion?

After the Biggs family’s 2009 interview, public discussion about Mikel’s disappearance faded. Surprisingly, nine years later in 2018, a note surfaced at a police station: "My name is Mikel. I was kidnapped in Mesa. I am still alive," scrawled in shaky handwriting on a dollar bill.

Investigators immediately reopened the case, once deemed hopeless.

Relatives were contacted, and Kimber rushed to verify the handwriting. It seemed like hope at last! Yet, the Biggs family unanimously doubted the note’s authenticity. The name was misspelled, and the handwriting didn’t match Mikel’s. Many, including forensic experts, believed an adult was mocking the grieving family by faking a child’s handwriting.

Police attempted to trace the dollar bill’s movements but found no leads. The fleeting hope in the Biggs family’s hearts was extinguished.

The case of Mikel Biggs remains one of the most enigmatic in U.S. criminal history.