On the evening of August 24, 1951, ten-year-old Beverly Potts disappeared from Halloran Park in Cleveland after attending the Showagon festival. Beverly and a friend had ridden bikes to the event, returned home to drop them off, then walked back; Beverly was allowed to stay until the show ended. The last confirmed sighting was about 9:30 p.m. as the festival was ending, when a teenage acquaintance reported seeing a girl he believed was her walking across the park toward home. When she did not return by 10:30 p.m., her parents began a search and then reported her missing.

Thousands of volunteers and police searched parks, fields, and waterways but found no trace. The investigation produced false leads, a later ransom demand that proved a hoax, and suspects who were never linked to the disappearance — including a man who left town soon after and a carnival worker with a history of child molestation. In the early 2000s, letters claiming to be from her killer were sent to a local paper but were judged a hoax when the writer did not turn himself in.

Beverly’s family were deeply affected: her mother died in 1956, her father in 1970, and her older sister continued searching until her death in 2006. Foul play is strongly suspected and police believe she was likely abducted by someone she knew and trusted.