The Bizarre Case of Mary Day: The Girl Who Died Twice & Then Mysteriously Returned

Sherrie Calgado was told that her older half-sister Mary Day had run away in 1981.

However, the given explanation proved progressively inadequate for Sherrie, a 10-year-old girl when 13-year-old Mary disappeared from their home in Seaside, California in 1992. Consequently, she reported her long-lost sister as missing.

According to Seaside officials, as stated in “The Curious Case of…The Girl Who Died Twice” on Investigation Discovery, it appears that Mary’s mother, Charlotte Houle, and her stepfather, William Houle, did not contact the police or file a missing person report regarding Mary in 1981.

In a conversation with CBS’ 48 Hours for an episode aired in January 2021 about Mary’s destiny, retired former Seaside Police Capt. Steve Cercone expressed that he couldn’t recall a moment when a parent hadn’t informed authorities about their child being missing. Sherrie added to this, struggling to comprehend how a mother wouldn’t exhaust every possible means to locate her lost child.

After solving the long-unsolved crime, detectives quickly came to believe that Mary had met with a tragic end, or, in other words, that she had been murdered.

It is believed that the person in question might have been Mary’s stepfather, William. However, when questioned by police in 2003, William denied this claim. Interestingly, he also hinted to the officers that perhaps a malevolent spirit within him could be accountable for any actions taken.

William and Charlotte have stated they are innocent regarding Mary’s disappearance. Sherrie revealed, during the show, that her mother denied any wrongdoing “completely” without expressing regret or acceptance of blame. It was mentioned that Charlotte declined an interview request and William did not respond to producers’ request for comment. (In 2021, 48 Hours said they received no response from the pair through a relative.)

However, while investigators were exploring if William could be a suspect in the disappearance of his stepdaughter 22 years prior, a woman purporting to be Mary surfaced in Phoenix, Arizona.

And what happened next is stranger than fiction:

Mary Louise Day was born on the 19th of February, 1968, in Little Falls, New York, to her mother Charlotte Day and her second spouse Charles Day.

In the year 1969, the duo welcomed a daughter named Kathy into their family. Subsequently, Charlotte became involved in an extramarital relationship that resulted in the birth of Sherrie Calgado in 1971. This fact was disclosed by Sherrie herself in the Investigation Discovery series titled The Curious Case of…The Girl Who Died Twice.

Later on, I found myself meeting William Houle – a young lad of just 18 who later joined the military. In doing so, I chose to part ways with Charles.

Sherrie remembered that she, along with her siblings, lived in a foster home prior to their mother marrying William.

In the end, Charlotte managed to get full custody of her kids once more. As she and her third spouse went to collect them, Sherrie mentioned this, but it’s stated that she deliberately urinated in the car while they were driving off, targeting her mother.

To clarify, Sherrie mentioned that they reversed direction with the vehicle, returning 6-year-old Sherrie to her foster family, who eventually decided to adopt her.

I facilitated the relocation of Mary and Kathy to the picturesque coastal town of Seaside, nestled within the heart of Monterey County, California. This move coincided with my assignment at the Fort Ord military base, which became our new homebase.

Sherrie mentioned on the ID program that she kept in contact with her sisters for a number of years, but eventually the communication simply ceased.

At the age of twelve, she received a letter from Kathy, postmarked in New York, hinting that the Houles had returned to their previous residence. Subsequently, her foster parents escorted her for a visit.

When Charlotte informed her that Mary had fled Seaside, Sherrie mentioned as well that Charlotte no longer had any photos of Mary because she had destroyed them all.

Back in 1992, I personally stepped forward to file a report about my friend Mary’s disappearance. Regrettably, it wasn’t until 2002 that the Seaside Police Department took notice and launched an investigation into her case. However, unfortunately, the leads they had soon went cold, leaving us all in the dark about what happened to Mary.

In his statement on the ID show, now-retired Detective Joe Bertaina mentioned that the social security number associated with her had never been utilized before. There was no trace of her applying for anything or possessing any form of identification. He found this to be quite peculiar.

At the time when Mary went missing, she wasn’t attending school, however, she was receiving her late father’s social security benefits as Charles Day had passed away in an accident during the late 1970s.

Bertaina speculated to ’48 Hours’ in 2020 that the Houles might not have reported Mary missing because they were using her Social Security benefits for themselves by cashing them out.

On “ID,” Bertaina explained that Kathy informed him during his probe that on June 15, 1981 – the day preceding Mary’s disappearance – she and her sister remained at home while their mother and stepfather were out, and their pet dog, Bubba Brown, became ill.

Upon arriving home, William confronted the girls, suggesting they had poisoned the dog. The detective then intervened, and when Mary boldly defended herself, Charlotte instructed Kathy to retire to her room and shut the door behind her.

Kathy entered her room rather than shutting the door, and instead informed the detective that she observed William assaulting her sister Bertaina. The subsequent morning, as Kathy recounts, Mary disappeared, and when she inquired about her whereabouts from her mother, Charlotte stated that Mary had fled and they would no longer discuss the matter further.

They briefly moved into housing at Fort Ord, then left the state entirely for Canterbury Hill, N.Y.

Following Kathy’s disclosure about how her stepfather prohibited Mary from playing in a specific part of their yard after she went missing, authorities began digging up that location.

In the series “The Girl Who Died Twice,” it was stated by former Seaside Police Chief Steve Cercone, that they enlisted cadaver dog handlers from the Bay Area. Four dogs were then brought in, each taking turns sniffing around, and all of them guided investigators to a specific tree.

As a dedicated follower of the case at hand, I can’t help but remember the indelible sight from that unforgettable day during the excavation. That was when we discovered a tiny girl’s shoe, hidden beneath the branches of a tree.

“We thought, Well, we found her, there she is,” Cercone said. “It was an emotional moment.”

However, despite discovering a teddy bear and a belt buckle, no body was present, leaving Cercone perplexed and saying, “What a mystery this turned out to be.

Afterward, Bertaina elaborated during the ID program that they journeyed to Kansas, where William held a position as a prison corrections officer, for the purpose of interviewing both him and Charlotte.

In the shown interview, Charlotte claimed to the detective that her husband had submitted a police report to the Salinas Police Department (which was untrue, as stated by Cercone). However, she also mentioned that they had provided Mary with a bus ticket to Salinas, California.

Cercone called her interview “very revealing,” alleging it was “apparent she was worried.”

Instead, let’s say: According to the detective, William informed Bertaina that he possibly struck Mary during the stated incident, all while discussing the dog, although he had subsequently lost consciousness.

According to Bertaina, the next day, Charlotte told him that William had a demon within him on that particular night. Asked whether he had killed Mary, William responded that he would never do such a thing, but when questioned further about whether the demon might have been responsible for Mary’s death, William replied, “Perhaps the demon could have taken Mary’s life.

Cercone stated that although they had substantial evidence, they lacked a physical body, and the district attorney was unwilling to file charges against William without additional evidence.

Back in November 2003, I found myself in an unusual situation while riding in a truck that happened to be sporting some less-than-legitimate license plates. As the Phoenix police pulled us over, the woman seated beside me reached for her ID and introduced herself as Mary Day.

When the Seaside police got word, they were stunned.

Cercone remembered thinking, “Clearly, the woman isn’t Mary Louise Day, since I know she’s deceased.

Additionally, Bertaina harbored doubts, suggesting in the series that the woman who identified herself as Mary seemed to possess fundamental knowledge but was lacking specific details concerning her past and the circumstances surrounding her departure from her stepfather’s household.

In her conversation with the detective, as heard on the recording, she said, “I’m not sure how it happened, but I apparently managed to leave the house. These days, I find it hard to distinguish between day and night.

But a subsequent DNA test confirmed this woman was Charlotte’s biological daughter.

There was ongoing discussion about whether the girl was truly Mary, or perhaps an unknown child that the family had not yet discovered.

On the ID show, Sherrie remembered discovering in her twenties that her mom had another daughter from a previous marriage. This half-sibling, Jeannie Parnell, expressed curiosity as to whether Charlotte, known for her promiscuous nature, might have had more children who were unknown to us.

Initially, when Sherrie learned that Mary had been located, she broke down in tears. However, upon their reunion, doubts began to surface for her. In fact, she confessed that she secretly wished this woman wasn’t her sister, remembering her as both volatile and disheveled at times but also perfectly composed and together on other occasions.

For some time, Mary resided with (later close by) Sherrie in Fayetteville, North Carolina, as Sherrie mentioned. However, Mary ultimately moved back to Arizona, and Sherrie chose to stop worrying about it.

During the course of the Mary Day investigation, Cercone was promoted to the position of chief of police in Seaside. After this promotion, he delegated the responsibility to Detective Mark Clark.

However, Clark didn’t get any nearer to verifying if the woman they named “Phoenix Mary” was truly the same Mary, and he concluded his probe in the year 2008.

In the year 2017, Sherrie discovered a shocking truth – the woman she had never fully accepted as her sister was battling cancer in Warsaw, Missouri. She reached out to Judy Veloz, who was temporarily holding the position of police chief at Seaside.

In a conversation on ID TV, Veloz mentioned that he traveled to Warsaw and spent approximately 90 minutes conversing with Mary, who was receiving care at a hospice facility.

She didn’t remember being beaten, Veloz stated, and was unsure of the specific time or circumstances under which she left her Seaside home in 1981. However, she did mention that she had been sheltered by an older woman named B.J. Ward in Salinas at some point.

Mary died nine days after their interview, Veloz said.

In 2020, she firmly asserted to “48 Hours” that the woman she conversed with was undoubtedly Mary Louise Day, leaving no room for doubt.

Previously in Seaside, Veloz mentioned during the 2025 ID show that she contacted B.J. Ward, and B.J.’s partner hinted at potentially having a photo of Mary stored away.

Looking at the picture a few weeks later, Veloz said, she recognized the missing teen.

She deemed it as “solid proof indicating Mary did not meet her demise in 1981,” pointing out that the photograph was captured in 1983. Consequently, Veloz stated, there was no choice but to reclose the case once more.

Despite Cercone suggesting that the likeness wasn’t conclusive proof – “It appears to possibly be Mary,” he pointed out – Sherrie remains convinced that her sibling has been deceased for nearly 44 years.

She stated, “I believe my sister, Mary Louise Day, passed away during the summer of 1981.” For quite some time now, I have been feeling as though she is no longer with us.

2025-02-02 16:21

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