Overview

• Full name: Shannon Eileen Staal
• Other names: Shannon Eileen Hickey and Shannon Eileen Hickory
• Date of birth: July 30, 1942
• Age when missing: 36
• Date last seen: July 10, 1979
• Last known location: Her residence in Menifee Valley
• City/area: Menifee Valley
• County: Riverside County
• State: California
• Case classification: Missing person; some secondary records describe her as endangered missing
• Current status: Unresolved, with no publicly verified recovery or identification
• Investigating agency: Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, Perris Station
• Official sheriff’s case number: 179192016
• NamUs reference: 18174, as identified in secondary case records

Circumstances: Shannon was last seen at her home on July 10, 1979, and was never heard from again. Public records provide few details about the events preceding her disappearance, and no confirmed criminal charges or determination of homicide were located.

Detailed Case Breakdown

Shannon Eileen Staal: The Unsolved 1979 Disappearance from Menifee Valley, California

On July 10, 1979, 36-year-old Shannon Eileen Staal disappeared from her home in Menifee Valley, Riverside County, California. More than four decades later, her whereabouts remain unknown, and the circumstances surrounding her disappearance have never been publicly explained.

Shannon’s case is particularly troubling because so little information about her final known movements has been made public. There is no verified account establishing where she went after leaving or disappearing from her residence, and authorities have not publicly identified a confirmed explanation for what happened.

Her disappearance remains documented in the California Department of Justice’s missing-person records and The Charley Project. Despite the passage of time, Shannon has not been publicly confirmed located.

Case Summary

• Full name: Shannon Eileen Staal
• Other names: Shannon Eileen Hickey and Shannon Eileen Hickory
• Date of birth: July 30, 1942
• Age when missing: 36
• Date last seen: July 10, 1979
• Last known location: Her residence in Menifee Valley
• City/area: Menifee Valley
• County: Riverside County
• State: California
• Case classification: Missing person; some secondary records describe her as endangered missing
• Current status: Unresolved, with no publicly verified recovery or identification
• Investigating agency: Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, Perris Station
• Official sheriff’s case number: 179192016
• NamUs reference: 18174, as identified in secondary case records

Circumstances: Shannon was last seen at her home on July 10, 1979, and was never heard from again. Public records provide few details about the events preceding her disappearance, and no confirmed criminal charges or determination of homicide were located.

Sources: The Charley Project, California Department of Justice.

Shannon Eileen Staal’s Background and Life Before Her Disappearance

Shannon Eileen Staal was born on July 30, 1942. She was 36 years old when she vanished, just 20 days before her 37th birthday.

According to The Charley Project, Shannon had five siblings, although at least one had died before her disappearance. Her identifying information also indicates that she had previously given birth.

Publicly accessible records contain little additional verified biographical information. Details about her employment, education, daily routines, and personal relationships before July 1979 have not been comprehensively documented in the sources reviewed.

The absence of this information makes it difficult to reconstruct her life in the days immediately preceding her disappearance.

Physical Description and Identifying Characteristics

At the time she went missing, Shannon was described as:

• Height: 5 feet 2 inches
• Weight: Approximately 125 pounds
• Hair: Blonde
• Eyes: Blue
• Race: White

Several distinctive physical characteristics could be important in identifying her or comparing her case with unidentified remains.

Shannon had previously suffered fractures to her nose and right foot, both of which had healed. She also had a scar between the first and second toes of her right foot and another scar on her left middle finger, below the second knuckle.

Her tonsils had been removed, and she wore a full dental plate.

These details are especially significant because healed fractures, dental characteristics, and surgical history can assist forensic specialists when examining unidentified human remains.

Shannon may also be recorded under her maiden name, Hickey, or the surname Hickory.

Source: The Charley Project – Shannon Eileen Staal.

The Disappearance: July 10, 1979

The central confirmed fact in Shannon’s disappearance is that she was last seen at her residence in Menifee Valley, California, on July 10, 1979.

She subsequently disappeared and has never been heard from again.

The Charley Project does not provide an exact time when she was last seen. It also does not identify the last confirmed witness, describe her clothing that day, or establish whether she departed on foot or in a vehicle.

There is no verified public account explaining whether Shannon took identification, money, luggage, or other personal belongings with her.

The available records also do not establish whether anyone witnessed her leaving the property.

These omissions are important. Without a verified sequence of events, investigators and the public cannot reliably determine whether Shannon intended to leave, encountered an unexpected emergency, or became the victim of a crime.

Historical Reporting and the Menifee Valley Residence

A September 19, 1979, edition of The Valley Tribune in Lake Elsinore has been identified in community research as containing coverage of Shannon’s disappearance.

A community contributor discussing the historical article reported that Shannon lived on Daily Road and described her as having short, curly blonde hair with a reddish tint and wearing gold-colored metal-frame glasses.

These additional details come from a secondary discussion of the historical newspaper report, rather than a directly verified police record. They should therefore be treated as historical reporting that warrants confirmation against the original newspaper page.

The referenced article is available through The Valley Tribune newspaper archive.

The newspaper reference demonstrates that Shannon’s disappearance received public attention in 1979, although the full extent of contemporary reporting and investigative activity has not been established.

Investigation History and Available Evidence

Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Investigation

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department is the agency identified in Shannon’s case records.

The California Department of Justice lists the department’s Perris operation as the investigating agency and associates Shannon with case number 179192016.

The publicly accessible case summaries do not provide a detailed chronology of the initial investigation.

They do not establish when the original missing-person report was filed, which witnesses were interviewed, whether the residence was searched, or whether investigators recovered physical evidence.

Likewise, no publicly verified documentation was located describing specific searches of surrounding properties, waterways, roads, or remote areas in connection with Shannon’s disappearance.

This does not establish that such investigative steps never occurred. It means the available public sources do not provide sufficient evidence to describe them accurately.

Source: California Department of Justice – Missing Persons.

Dental Records, Fingerprints, and DNA

Historical case information reproduced in the Websleuths discussion of Shannon’s disappearance identifies several forensic resources potentially relevant to her identification.

That secondary record reports that fingerprints were available, dental information was recorded, and DNA samples had been submitted, with testing described as incomplete at the time of the underlying record.

The same material identifies NamUs case number 18174 and an NCIC reference.

However, the current status of any DNA testing could not be independently confirmed from an accessible official NamUs record during this review.

There is also no verified public announcement that forensic genetic genealogy has been used in Shannon’s case, that a DNA comparison has produced a match, or that unidentified remains have been conclusively associated with her.

The distinction matters: the historical existence of biological reference material does not demonstrate that modern DNA testing has been completed or produced a breakthrough.

Source: Websleuths – Shannon Staal Discussion.

Suspects, Arrests, and Criminal Proceedings

No publicly verified law enforcement announcement identifying a suspect or person of interest in Shannon’s disappearance was located in the sources reviewed.

No confirmed arrest, homicide charge, prosecution, or conviction associated with her disappearance was identified.

Her continued classification as a missing person should not be interpreted as proof that a crime occurred or that a crime has been ruled out.

The available evidence does not establish whether Shannon disappeared voluntarily, suffered an accident, or encountered foul play.

Theories, Family Accounts, and Unresolved Questions

A Family Account Shared in 2025

One of the more recent pieces of public discussion about Shannon’s disappearance appeared on Websleuths on May 13, 2025.

A commenter claiming to be Shannon’s grandchild shared an account of the day she disappeared.

According to that commenter, Shannon and her husband had argued while children were present in the home. The commenter alleged that a visiting child became frightened and was taken home, and that Shannon was gone when her husband returned.

This account is unverified. The commenter’s relationship to Shannon, the described argument, and the sequence of events have not been independently established through police documents or authenticated family statements.

There is no basis in the verified material to accuse Shannon’s husband or any other individual of involvement in her disappearance.

Nevertheless, the account illustrates how additional recollections may continue to emerge decades after an unresolved disappearance.

Source: Websleuths – Shannon Staal, 1979.

Could Shannon Have Left Voluntarily?

One possibility in a disappearance without publicly documented circumstances is that the missing person left voluntarily.

However, no verified source establishes that Shannon planned to relocate, abandon her residence, change her identity, or sever contact with relatives.

Her alternative surnames are documented identifying information, not evidence that she deliberately assumed a new identity after July 1979.

There is therefore insufficient evidence to characterize a voluntary departure as the most likely explanation.

Could an Accident or Foul Play Have Occurred?

Accidental death and criminal involvement are other possibilities that investigators may consider in an unexplained disappearance.

In Shannon’s case, however, no verified public evidence identifies an accident scene, recovered remains, a specific crime scene, or a person responsible for harming her.

It would be inaccurate to describe her disappearance as a confirmed homicide.

Questions That Remain Unanswered

Several fundamental questions remain unresolved:

• Who was the last person to independently confirm seeing Shannon on July 10, 1979?
• What was the precise time and sequence of her final known movements?
• Were any personal possessions missing from her residence?
• What investigative findings were documented in the original sheriff’s report?
• Have Shannon’s dental records, fingerprints, and any available DNA been compared with unidentified-person records using current forensic methods?
• Are there surviving witnesses or contemporaneous records that could clarify what happened?

These are investigative questions, not evidence supporting a particular theory.

Latest Publicly Available Investigative Updates

Historical Case-Profile Updates

The Charley Project reports that Shannon’s profile was last substantively updated on March 19, 2016, when identifying characteristics and disappearance details were revised.

That update was a change to the public case profile, not an announced investigative breakthrough.

In March 2018, a Websleuths discussion thread was opened to share information about Shannon’s disappearance. Later contributions continued to circulate her identifying details and historical case information.

The May 2025 comment claiming a family connection represents a more recent public discussion, but it does not constitute an official investigative development.

Current Missing-Person Records

The California Department of Justice continues to publish Shannon’s identifying information, alternative names, investigating agency, and case number in its missing-person database.

A separate public awareness directory, CaseTrace, also identifies Shannon as missing and references NamUs case 18174.

These listings help preserve public awareness, but their continued availability does not establish that investigators have recently obtained new evidence.

Sources: California Department of Justice and CaseTrace – Menifee Valley.

Status as of October 19, 2026

No publicly confirmed recent investigative developments were located during this review.

Specifically, no verified recent announcement was found confirming an arrest, identification of remains, completed genetic-genealogy identification, new search operation, or resolution of Shannon’s disappearance.

This finding is limited to publicly accessible information. It does not establish that the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has ceased investigating or that no confidential investigative activity is taking place.

Conclusion: Remembering Shannon Eileen Staal

Shannon Eileen Staal was 36 years old when she disappeared from Menifee Valley on July 10, 1979.

Her case remains unresolved after more than 47 years.

Although the publicly documented circumstances are limited, her identifying characteristics, alternative surnames, historical newspaper coverage, and official case reference provide important information that could still help establish what happened.

A person who knew Shannon in 1979 may remember an overlooked conversation, an unusual event, or a detail that did not seem significant at the time.

Anyone with credible information about Shannon’s disappearance is encouraged to contact the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department at 951-940-6200 and reference case 179192016.

Information may also be provided to the California Department of Justice’s missing-person hotline at 1-800-222-3463.

Even after decades, a previously unreported detail may help investigators answer questions that have remained unresolved since July 1979.

Shannon’s story deserves continued attention, accurate reporting, and a resolution grounded in evidence.ontact the investigating agency.