Shy’Kemmia Pate was last seen near her home in Unadilla, Georgia, on September 4, 1998. She was 8 years old. Several people reported seeing her that evening in the neighborhood. Dateline’s Josh Mankiewicz speaks with some of her loved ones, as well as Dooly County Sheriff’s Deputy Randy Lamberth, and Natalie Wilson of the Black and Missing Foundation. Shy’Kemmia would be 34 years old today. When she disappeared, she was wearing a neon green Atlanta Braves jersey with red lettering, Levi’s jeans, and had a leg brace. Anyone with information about her disappearance is asked to call the Dooly County Sheriff’s Office at 229-645-0920 or the Georgia Bureau of Investigation at 478-987-4545. Get more information and see age-progressed pictures of Shy’Kemmia Pate here: https://www.nbcnews.com/datelinemissing
She was Shyshi to everyone who knew her full name, Shikemia Pate.
The day was September 4, 1998.
Shyshi was only eight.
She had just started third grade.
The little town she lived in was Unadilla, Georgia.
And that Friday, a southern summer, wasn't close to ending.
It would be 90 degrees and muggy that morning, Shyshi's mom, Veronica, walked her to school.
Unidilla elementary was just a couple of blocks away.
And when they got there, Veronica says she told her youngest daughter what she always had.
I love her and have a good day.
And I see her when I got home.
For Veronica, that moment remains the dividing line between life before and after.
Because when she got home that night, Shyshai wasn't there.
And that's when the world as Veronica had known it changed, and it still hasn't changed back.
It's a storm that never stopped storming in your life.
What Veronica calls the storm has been raging for more than 25 years.
Has there been a day when you didn't wake up and think about where your daughter might be?
I think about that every day and every night.
It's about the worst thing a parent can go through.
It is 26 birthdays have gone by since Shyshai vanished.