In November 1993, a five-year-old child vanished from Russellville, Alabama in a case that immediately took over statewide media for years to come. Andrea Gonzalez mysteriously disappeared from her family’s trailer in the middle of the night — or so that’s the story the missing child’s parents once gave police. These claims later unraveled and a true horror was uncovered: Little Andrea had been murdered, and her body disposed of somewhere in the backwoods of Alabama.
In the beginning, the father and stepmother of the five-year-old missing girl claimed that she had been taken from their trailer while the family slept. Even though there were no signs of forced-entry, the father and stepmother of the little girl — Paul Gonzalez Jr., and Kim Sherrie Williams Gonzalez — tried to stick to their shaky story. Numerous searchers were conducted but the child was never found. During this initial investigation, the father and stepmother were given polygraph tests. Paul Gonzalez passed his, and Kim Sherrie Williams Gonzalez failed.
Eventually, two years later, Kim Gonzalez had a change of heart and confessed to killing five-year-old Andrea Gonzalez. She told authorities that she’d scaled her in a bathtub on accident, and then attempted to treat the child’s burns. She claims that several hours after attempting treatment, the child was dead. The evil stepmother told police that she disposed of her stepdaughter’s body by dumping her into Bear Creek Lake. The area was searched, and even though some evidence to support the woman’s story was located, the body of the little girl was not.
Eventually Paul Gonzalez admitted to helping dispose of his own daughter’s body after his wife killed her. He alleged that it was all an accident, but he also told police that he was asleep at the time of the entire incident, and that he didn’t witness it. He merely helped get rid of the body after waking up and discovering what had happened. Detectives have never believed either of these people. They believe the more likely story is that Paul Gonzalez and Kim Sherrie Williamz Gonzalez abused that little girl, and ultimately murdered her before getting rid of the evidence.
It’s been around 30 years since this case rocked the little pocked of Northwest Alabama, and Andrea Gonzalez’s body still hasn’t been found. Some people believe that the little girl may not have ever been dead at all — speculating that her father and stepmother sold her into human trafficking. Nonetheless, evidence seems to back up the initial claim that Andrea was dumped in the Bear Creek Lake. Kim told police that she used cinder blocks and bags when she disposed of the little girl, and those items are exactly what authorities found when they searched. Andrea’s body was long-gone by then.
Searches for Andrea Gonzalez have continued throughout the numerous years that have passed. However, the last known media update about the case was in 2013. It seems that time has finally forgotten about the little girl that disappeared from Russellville, Alabama so long ago.
Chelsea Hoffman is a true crime writer with over a decade of professional writing experience. She is best known for her coverage of missing people including the tragic disappearance of Madeleine McCann as well as the heartbreaking cases of Dylan Redwine, Heather Elvis and many others.
