A seven-year-old playing outside near her aunt’s Baltimore home disappeared on Sept. 10, 1978, leaving behind a case that remains unresolved nearly five decades later. According to The Charley Project, Telethia R. Good had been left with her aunt in the 1700 block of Montpelier Street while her mother attended church services.
Telethia, known to her family as “Lee Lee,” was playing with three other children in the neighborhood before she vanished. Her family reported her missing around 10 p.m. after she failed to return.
Telethia lived with her mother in the 1500 block of Montpelier Street and attended Coldstream Elementary School. The Resource Center for Cold Case Missing Children’s Cases, which cites archived Baltimore Sun and Evening Sun coverage from 1978, reports that she had been adopted as an infant in Newark, New Jersey, before her family moved to Baltimore.
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Searches Failed To Find Telethia
Investigators and community members searched for Telethia in the days after she disappeared. According to The Resource Center for Cold Case Missing Children’s Cases, Baltimore newspaper reports documented searches around the neighborhood and nearby areas, including Clifton Park and Lake Montebello.
There wasn’t any evidence publicly released from those searches that established where Telethia went after she was last seen on Montpelier Street.
Years later, her disappearance resurfaced during the investigation into the 1988 murder of 11-year-old LaTanya Kim Wallace. In a 2019 post, The Charley Project connected details from David Simon’s book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets to Telethia’s case. The man police considered the prime suspect in LaTanya’s murder had a business associate who lived on Montpelier Street and reportedly visited the area regularly.
Investigators allegedly later showed that man a photograph of Telethia. He initially said he recognized her, then changed his answer and denied knowing her.
Police were never able to establish that he was in the neighborhood when Telethia disappeared, and he was never charged in connection with her case. He has since died.
Telethia Good: What To Know
At the time of her disappearance, Telethia Good stood 3 feet 4 inches tall and weighed approximately 60 pounds. She had black hair and brown eyes. She was missing her two front teeth and was known by the nickname “Lee Lee.” Her DNA is reportedly on file; however, her dental records and fingerprints are not.
She was wearing a blue T-shirt with “Collington Square” printed across the front and blue Levi’s jeans or gaucho-style pants. The Resource Center for Cold Case Missing Children’s Cases lists her date of birth as July 15, 1971.
Anyone with information about Telethia’s disappearance can contact the Baltimore Police Department at 443-984-7385, or their local law enforcement agency. The agency case no. is 784I27586.
Please share Telethia Good’s story so someone who remembers Baltimore’s Montpelier Street neighborhood in 1978 can recognize a detail that may help solve this cold case. She is our sister, and her life matters.
Case Number: 784I27586
Agency: Baltimore Police Department Missing Person Unit
Phone: (443) 984-7385
Email:
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