Name of Mikelle Biggs, missing since 1999, appears on $1 bill; sister has doubts

MESA, Ariz. — A tip may have surfaced in a 19-year-old Arizona missing child case, but police and family aren’t too sure.

KPHO reported that a 2009 $1 bill has a message written along the edge that could be a tip in the 1999 disappearance of Mikelle Biggs. She went missing at 11 years old while waiting for an ice cream truck in Mesa, Arizona. The Arizona Republic reported that the girl's mother, Tracy Biggs, reported her daughter missing on Jan. 2, 1999.

“My name is Mikel (sic) Biggs kidnapped From Mesa AZ I’m Alive,” the message on the bill says.

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The note, the publication reported, appears to be written in a child’s handwriting but has Mikelle’s name spelled wrong. The bill was reported to police March 14 in Neenah, Wisconsin.

"A man came to the front lobby and dropped it off," Neenah Police Chief Kevin Wilkinson told ABC News. "He found it in a collection of money for Girl Scout Cookies."

Neenah Police Investigator Adam Streubel told The Arizona Republic he was doubtful much could be done with the message to solve the Arizona case.

“There’s no way to trace (the bill),” said Streubel, who suspects the message could be a joke.

“There was a little spring of hope for a second, and then reality set in,” Streubel said. “There is nothing you can do with it, which is rather frustrating.”

One of Mikelle’s younger sisters, Kimber Biggs, is also doubtful.

"The fact that her name was spelled wrong was, you know, is kind of discredited," Biggs told The Arizona Republic Tuesday. I don't think that would be something she'd do."

Biggs said she found out about the bill when a photo of it surfaced on a Facebook page called Justice for Mikelle Biggs.

“I was looking at the bill, trying to look at the handwriting and see if it could mean something and I got sick about it," Biggs said. “‘Is this a hoax?’ ‘Did someone play a cruel joke?’ and that made me upset or 'Is it real?' and even the thought of that upsets me if it’s real."

Mesa, Arizona, police Detective Steve Berry told KPHO that his department plans to look into the note, even though changes of finding DNA or fingerprints are low.

“Anytime we get new information that may resolve this case and give closure to the family and community we make every effort to validate or invalidate the lead,” Berry said. “If there’s any information that can be garnered from that, we would certainly find that.”

Cox Media Group