Tina Faye Kemp, age 14, vanished from her home, 1/2 mile south of Felton, Delaware on February 3, 1979.
On the morning of her disappearance, Tina helped her mother hang clothes on the clothesline, and left their home on Main Street at about 9:00am. She never returned.
She has a history of running away, but only for a short time. She enjoyed going to horse racing tracks and caring for horses with her father at the stable. Her boyfriend at the time never heard from her after her disappearance, which he and her family felt was unusual.
As far as I’ve been able to tell, Tina did not tell anyone where she was going when she departed the house. She wasn’t dressed adequately to be outdoors for long. A snowstorm hit Felton the following day, so it was likely quite cold.
When Tina left, she wore only a flannel shirt, a sweater, jeans and sneakers. She also wore a leather band around her arm with “Eric” imprinted on it, which was the name of her boyfriend.
On the previous occasions that Tina had run away, she had gone to Eric’s home. But this time, Eric said he hadn’t seen her.
It’s certainly possible that she hitchhiked, went to a race track where she crossed paths with a predator, or fell victim to the elements due to.tbe storm. However, since she was seen leaving the house, it seems she, at least initially, left of her own accord.
It would have been a 10 minute walk into town, if she’d just been headed to a friend’s house or a McDonald’s or something there. Aside from downtown Felton, there isn’t really anyplace she could have reasonably walked to, unless it were a neighbor’s home or the home of a friend who also lived south of town.
What really bothers me about Tina’s disappearance is the lack of publicity. Aside from a couple snippets included in recent articles about other missing persons, there is nothing that I could find in the way of media coverage. I’m sure the police were convinced she was a runaway. They assumed virtually all teens and young adults had left voluntarily and would return in a couple days. The fact that she’d run away previously was an added factor.
But 40 years later, the probability of her returning has decreased significantly, and it still doesn’t appear that much is being done. She was just a kid, and she and her family deserve so much better.
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