Shirley Clift was a woman whose remains were discovered in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma, in 1999. She disappeared under suspicious circumstances nineteen years prior.
She was identified in 2003.
Background[]
Shirley got into a car accident sometime in 1974. She was nearly paralyzed due to a neck injury but recovered. Her doctors told her she was still at risk of paralysis if she moved her neck the wrong way.
Shirley married Gary Clift in the 1970s and had a daughter with him. They later divorced, and Clift said they had just drifted apart, but Shirley told her mother she was afraid of him. They both fought for primary custody of their daughter, which Shirley won.
Case[]
Shirley was last seen during Thanksgiving weekend in November 1980, leaving her daughter at her babysitter's home. She went with Clift in his car. Two days later, Clift reported her missing, saying that she ran away with a group of unidentified Hispanic men. Her mother also reported her missing after failing to show up for Thanksgiving dinner. Developments weren't made in the case, and it went cold.
Nine years after Shirley's disappearance, police noticed her Social Security number hadn't been used since her disappearance, which is a strong indicator that she was deceased. They interviewed Clift again, this time in New Mexico, and he said she was dead.
According to Clift, after Shirley got in his car, he began driving, and they soon argued about a photo of their daughter that they both wanted. Shirley allegedly slapped Clift, and he hit her in response. Shirley then jumped out of the car, which was traveling at about fifty miles per hour. Clift turned around to look for Shirley, and when he found her, she was unconscious, and he didn't believe she was breathing.
He panicked and decided to bury her in a five-foot-deep grave on the banks of the Turkey River. Shirley's mother didn't believe his explanation, as she believed Shirley wouldn't jump out of a moving car after the accident she went through in 1974. Police also didn't and suspected foul play in her case. They searched the area where Clift confessed to having buried Shirley, but they only found a coat button.
In 1996, Clift and his daughter met at Turkey Creek, and he told her that Shirley was "close." Their daughter relayed this information to police. Two years after this encounter, police searched Turkey Creek again, this time with a cadaver dog. The dog alerted them to the presence of human remains. They also found an undisclosed piece of evidence at the scene that police said could bring first-degree murder charges against Clift, but the case continued to be unsolved.
Sometime in 1999, possibly during the searches carried out by police, Shirley's remains were discovered in the area of Turkey Creek. Her cause of death wasn't released, and she remained unidentified. In 2003, Shirley's remains were identified, but it wasn't reported until years later. Shirley's death remains unsolved.
Sources[]
- Shirley Clift at the Charley Project
- The Charley Project (archived)
- The Daily Oklahoman