Overview

Missing: Henrietta Geck Cruz Avila
Age: 17
Date of Birth: October 10, 1942
Official California DOJ Last-Seen Date: August 10, 1960
California DOJ Last-Seen Location: Santa Ana, California
NCMEC Date/Location: August 3, 1960 — Garden Grove, California
Status: Still missing; foul play is considered possible

Main Circumstances

Henrietta disappeared only months after marrying Merle Avila. Her husband said she packed her belongings and left and later claimed to have encountered her in a Long Beach park.

On August 27, her family received a collect call from San Francisco from someone using Henrietta’s name, but the caller hung up before Henrietta’s mother could speak with her. A telegram signed “Henrietta” also arrived from San Francisco that day. Investigators reportedly traced it to a pay phone and learned that the woman who placed it had supplied a false address.

Shortly before Christmas 1961, a belt and underclothing belonging to Henrietta mysteriously appeared on her father’s car.

Henrietta has never been conclusively located, and her case remains unresolved.

Detailed Case Breakdown

The Disappearance of Henrietta Geck Cruz Avila: California Teen Missing Since 1960

Henrietta Geck Cruz Avila was only 17 years old when she disappeared from Orange County, California, during the summer of 1960. More than six decades later, her disappearance remains unresolved.

Henrietta, whose maiden name was Cruz, was born on October 10, 1942. She was approximately 5 feet tall and weighed about 100 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. One of her identifying features was a scar between her eyes, described by some sources as a measles scar between her eyebrows.

She had recently married when she vanished, and the unusual events reported after her disappearance—including an alleged sighting, a mysterious collect call, a telegram traced to a pay phone and the later appearance of some of her belongings—have kept questions surrounding the case alive for generations.

Henrietta’s Life Before She Disappeared

Henrietta lived in Orange County and had attended Santa Ana High School before leaving school and taking a job at a store.

During the spring of 1960, she met Merle Avila, an older man in his twenties. They married after a relatively short courtship and began their married life in the Santa Ana/Garden Grove area.

Only a few months later, Henrietta disappeared.

According to the account Merle later gave, Henrietta packed her belongings and left him. What concerned her family was that she did not subsequently return home or maintain the kind of contact that would have reassured them she was safe.

Her father ultimately reported her missing.

When Did Henrietta Avila Actually Disappear?

One of the most significant complications in Henrietta’s case is that surviving sources do not agree on her exact disappearance date or even the precise city from which she should be considered missing.

The California Department of Justice currently lists Henrietta’s date last seen as August 10, 1960, and says she was last seen in Santa Ana.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children lists her as missing since August 3, 1960, from Garden Grove.

Other case summaries state that Henrietta’s father reported her missing on August 1, while The Charley Project uses June 1, 1960, as its database date but describes her more generally as disappearing sometime during the summer.

Because these records conflict, the safest description is that 17-year-old Henrietta disappeared from the Santa Ana/Garden Grove area during the summer of 1960.

The Reported Long Beach Sighting

Henrietta’s husband, Merle, reportedly said that after she left, he encountered her in a park in Long Beach.

The Charley Project dates this alleged sighting to August 20, 1960 and describes it as the last time anyone claimed to have seen Henrietta.

The sighting is important, but it should not be treated as independently verified proof that Henrietta was alive in Long Beach. The publicly available case summaries identify Merle as the person who reported seeing her.

There is no publicly documented subsequent confirmed sighting of Henrietta.

The Strange Call From San Francisco

On August 27, 1960, Henrietta’s parents reportedly received a collect telephone call originating in San Francisco.

The caller identified herself as Henrietta Cruz.

Henrietta’s mother agreed to accept the charges, but the person on the other end reportedly hung up before the two women actually spoke.

As a result, Henrietta’s mother apparently never had the opportunity to confirm that the caller was really her daughter.

A Telegram Arrives the Same Day

The Cruz family reportedly received another unusual communication on August 27: a telegram from San Francisco signed with Henrietta’s name.

According to published case summaries, the message indicated that Henrietta was all right, had obtained a job and did not intend to return to her husband.

Investigators reportedly traced the telegram to a San Francisco pay phone. The woman who telephoned the telegram in had provided a false address.

The available public records do not establish that Henrietta herself sent the telegram.

Taken together, the unanswered collect call and telegram are among the most puzzling elements of the case. Both appeared to suggest Henrietta was alive in San Francisco, yet neither publicly established that Henrietta was actually the person behind the communications.

Henrietta’s Belongings Mysteriously Reappear

More than a year passed without Henrietta returning home.

Then, shortly before Christmas in 1961, another unexplained event occurred.

Henrietta’s father reportedly walked outside and discovered a belt and underclothing belonging to his daughter sitting on the trunk of his car.

There was apparently no accompanying explanation and no sign of Henrietta.

The discovery was particularly disturbing because Henrietta still did not contact her parents.

No publicly documented evidence explains who placed the belongings there or why.

Was Henrietta the Victim of Foul Play?

Henrietta remains officially classified as missing rather than a confirmed homicide victim.

The circumstances, however, have led investigators and missing-person researchers to consider foul play possible. She disappeared as a teenager, never established confirmed contact with her family afterward, and several events that appeared to indicate she was alive could not be conclusively authenticated.

No publicly available official source reviewed for this article identifies Merle Avila or another individual as having been charged with causing Henrietta’s disappearance. Merle died in 2012.

Henrietta’s case therefore remains an unresolved missing-person investigation, and allegations or theories about responsibility should not be presented as established fact.

Latest Publicly Available Investigation Information

Henrietta has not been removed from current missing-person databases.

The California Department of Justice continues to maintain an active public missing-person record for her and lists the Santa Ana Police Department as the reporting agency. The state record carries case number 9307468.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children also continues to display Henrietta as missing. Its current poster identifies her as NCMEC #1270740, lists NCIC #M622853152, and includes an age-progressed image showing how she might have appeared at approximately age 75.

Her NamUs identifier is MP34024.

One more recent development concerns an unidentified-person comparison rather than the identification of Henrietta herself. Public case-comparison information for NamUs UP7228, an unidentified young woman whose partial skeletal remains were discovered near Tucson, Arizona, in 1965, records Henrietta Avila/MP34024 as having been excluded as a potential match on March 11, 2024. This means that unidentified woman is not considered a match for Henrietta; it does not resolve what happened to Henrietta.

No publicly announced arrest, identification of Henrietta’s remains, or resolution of her disappearance was located in the current sources reviewed for this article.

Very Brief Case Summary

Missing: Henrietta Geck Cruz Avila
Age: 17
Date of Birth: October 10, 1942
Official California DOJ Last-Seen Date: August 10, 1960
California DOJ Last-Seen Location: Santa Ana, California
NCMEC Date/Location: August 3, 1960 — Garden Grove, California
Status: Still missing; foul play is considered possible

Main Circumstances

Henrietta disappeared only months after marrying Merle Avila. Her husband said she packed her belongings and left and later claimed to have encountered her in a Long Beach park.

On August 27, her family received a collect call from San Francisco from someone using Henrietta’s name, but the caller hung up before Henrietta’s mother could speak with her. A telegram signed “Henrietta” also arrived from San Francisco that day. Investigators reportedly traced it to a pay phone and learned that the woman who placed it had supplied a false address.

Shortly before Christmas 1961, a belt and underclothing belonging to Henrietta mysteriously appeared on her father’s car.

Henrietta has never been conclusively located, and her case remains unresolved.