Vilate Kerreen Young -- NamUs #MP73780

By: Shane Lambert

Published: December 5th, 2020

Vilate Kerreen Young is new to NamUs. Her profile was only uploaded to the missing person's website on September 19th, 2020. However, her last-seen date is well before then: she went missing on July 4th, 1956 from Widtsoe, Utah. The gap between her last-seen date and the upload-to-NamUs date is immense, spanning over 64 years. It's the gap that caught my attention and I decided to read up on the case for a little while tonight.

Vilate was just 15 months old when she disappeared. She was at a family picnic at the Newell Steed Ranch near Bryce Canyon, Utah. According to NamUs, "She was watching one of her relatives churn ice cream near one of the farm's outbuildings when she walked away. Airplanes and bloodhounds attempted to track the little girl, but she was never found." She disappeared wearing a light-cotton dress and sandals.

What sticks out with this case is the young girl's age. Obviously, she could not have gotten far on her own at the age of one year and three months. That suggests to me either abduction or a terminal fate at the hands of a wild animal, one that then took her away to an area that was not searched -- like a den.

Carnivores, even ones that don't attack humans, can be particularly attracted to babies, possibly because human babies are not able to mount any kind of counterattack when preyed upon. When it comes to small animals making off with children, there are a lot of precedents. Keep in mind the well-known case of Azaria Chamberlain, a two-month old baby that was taken away by a dingo in Australia.

That Vilate might have been taken away by a carnivore is possible. One newspaper article I read from about the time of the disappearance stated that 100 men "searched the wild and barren foothills of the Escalante Mountains" for the girl the day after she disappeared (July 6th, 1956; Page 25; The Salt Lake Tribune). 

The same article contained some important information that's not mentioned at NamUs. The last person to see her was Vilate's three-year-old cousin. This cousin said, "Vilate is going up the hill and won't come back." That is an interesting nugget of information because it paints a picture of a child doing something of her own volition instead of being kidnapped. Conversely, the statements made by three-year-olds may not be comprehensive.

The bloodhounds that tracked the girl were able to follow her for 500 yards before they lost the scent of her. That's five American football fields and, according to the statement of her cousin, it would have included going uphill. One physician that commented on the matter said the girl would not have been able to make the distance on her own. In fact, I don't know that a 15-month child could do that on her own either but if she was separated from her parents at the family picnic, then she might have had a strong will to find them. Dragged by an animal is one explanation while abducted is the other. Deseret News from July 7th, 1956 had a great picture of the scene, one that I repost here for posterity.

In the journalism from the time of the child's disappearance, kidnapping is seen as credible. When I look at the picture above, I see the bloodhounds losing the child's trail at what appears to be a road. To me, that suggests that the child entered into a car. From the same source as to where I got the above picture, it should be noted that the bloodhounds followed the girl's scent five times and each time they followed the same route. This does not appear to be a case of dogs erroring.

The news article does suggest that the end of the scent at the road speaks to abduction. However, it counter suggests that vehicles using the road may have unsettled the dust -- thereby ending the bloodhounds' abilities to follow the child's scent. I would be more inclined to believe in the former -- that this was a kidnapping, simply because of the exhaustive search of the area by what one source called 200 men over several days. These men, when asked, opined that she was likely taken away in an automobile. I do confer some credibility to that as I believe people that are on-site working on a problem have likelihoods dawn on them that are not to be discounted. 

Furthermore, a family-team of 20 searched the area for her about 10 minutes after she disappeared. That's according to Deseret News on March 12th, 1957. It seems that wherever the child went that she went away from the area quickly. I'm sure that a family-lead search for a 15-month old tot would have been eager, urgent, and as thorough as possible. This same source reviewed the opinion of law enforcement, which stated that the general opinion of these professionals was that she had been kidnapped. 

The news in 1956 basically stopped before the end of the month on the matter. The parents placed classifieds which included the picture that's included at NamUs. Also, they expressed gratitude to everyone who helped with the search.

As far as happy endings go, kidnapping seems to be the only plausible one that would involve Vilate's survival.

But one troubling part of this case is that it is hard to picture the sequence of events that lead to her disappearance according to the statements cited in the journalism at the time of the disappearance. Firstly, she is surrounded by family members who are watching a 17-year old churn ice cream. Then, Vilate wanders off and is spotted by a three-year old cousin heading up a hill.

What drove her to that? Youthful curiosity or a drive to find her parents and a juvenile instinct that they are on the other side of the hill? Was the possible abductor with her all along and the 3-year old cousin simply didn't mention this person? If the abductor was with Vilate at an early point after she left the group at the ice-cream churning, then wouldn't the abductor be rushed? Accordingly, wouldn't the abductor be carrying the child? If so, then what scent were the dogs following? The airborne child's doesn't seem likely. Or did Vilate Young wander 500 yards or a portion of 500 yards from the ice-cream churning and then stumble onto one on-the-spot kidnapper in a horrific stroke of bad luck?

This case doesn't have a clear picture but at least kidnapping is the most plausible theory. That's a good thing because kidnappers do not always murder their victims. Given how young the victim was there is a chance that Vilate Young is still alive as of 2020. She would have been born in early 1955, meaning as of 2020 she could be 65 years old.

The possibility of finding her is enhanced with DNA advancements. If she or a child or grandchild ever enters his or her DNA into the increasingly popular databases that are emerging, then it might create a way to deduce her existence at a certain time and place. In my opinion, this case is cold but not necessarily for all-time.