UNADILLA, Ga. (WALB) – This week marked 27 years since 8-year-old Shy’Kemmia Pate disappeared from her Unadilla neighborhood.

On Sept. 4, 1998, Shy’Kemmia Pate, affectionally known as “Shy Shy,” was supposed to go to a football game with her older sister. Instead, she left home to play with a neighbor down the street. That would be the last time her mother told her youngest daughter, “I love you.”

“I tell her every day that I love her. I talk to her every day and let her know that I’m still searching for her. I ain’t never going to stop believing. I love her, I miss her and I’m still waiting on her to come home. I pray and ask God every day, do not let me leave this world without seeing her again,” her mother, Veronica Pate, said.

The Dooly County Sheriff’s Office began searching for Shy Shy 24 hours after she went missing. The search expanded from a 5-mile radius to a 10-mile area and involved several local and state resources, including cadaver dogs and helicopter searches.

In recent years, police have conducted searches in the area and re-interviewed people regarding Shy Shy’s disappearance. However, nothing has revealed what happened. Investigators told WALB they believe Shy Shy was taken by someone her family knows.

But her mother says she believes that if the search had started earlier, Shy Shy would be here today.

“It just gets harder and harder every year without knowing…my baby was eight years old. She would be 36 years old next month. That’s a long time," Pate said.

Every year, Shy Shy’s family celebrates her birthday in October. For Veronica, her family, especially her 10 grandchildren, are what keeps her going.

She said, “Even with losing a child. You bury them, and you can go see the cemetery, it still hurts too. But at least you have closure, you know, you buried that child. But not knowing where your child at. She has been missing for 27 years…44 years…that’s the hardest thing in the world.”

If you have any information regarding Shy’Kemmia Pate’s disappearance, call the Dooly County Sheriff’s Office at (229) 645-0920.

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