Sheila Fox: Woman missing for 52 years found alive in one of UK’s longest cold case mysteries

A woman who had been missing for 52 years in what became one of the United Kingdom’s longest cold case mysteries has been found alive.

Coventry teen Sheila Fox went missing in 1972 at the age of 16, when she vanished from the city centre.

At the time West Midlands police were hopeful she had just moved region but after failing to find her they launched numerous appeals, releasing a blurry black and white image of Fox asking Brits to keep an eye out for the teen.

Missing woman Sheila Fox disappeared in 1972 at age 16, 52 years later she was found alive, bringing a close to one of the UK's longest cold case mysteries.

Her disappearance stumped police as she lived at home with her parents and didn’t suspect home life to be a cause of any instability.

At the time, police theorised that Fox might have gone missing by choice, hinting she could have been in a relationship with an older man.

But for decades the case remained unsolved.

Then in 2024, police “searched through every piece of evidence to find a photo of Sheila” and put out an appeal in December in the hopes of gathering any information, Detective Sergeant Jenna Shaw explained.

“A single photo of Sheila from around the time of her disappearance was found by officers investigating and published on our website and social media”, police said in a statement.

Within hours of the new appeal, members of the public got in touch and helped police track the missing woman down.

Detective Sergeant Jenna Shaw said: “Every missing person has a story, and their families and friends deserve to know what happened to them and, hopefully, be reunited with them.”

While police didn’t detail what happened over the 52 years, they revealed Fox was confirmed safe and well and living in another part of the county.

“We’re absolutely delighted to have found Sheila after more than five decades,” Detective Sergeant Shaw said.

Finding Fox brought an end to a 52-year mystery and the oldest missing person cold cases in the area.