Sharon herself has been described as a "feisty" and "happy-go-lucky" child who enjoyed performing simple errands for her mother and playing close to the family home with her siblings and other neighborhood children.

On Sunday, July 17, a couple were observed in a distinctive dark-green sedan car with two children (one a freckle-faced male; one a "small" female) after Gallegos and her mother had attended a church service.

She also became visibly upset whenever she observed this same distinctive dark-green car near her home or places she visited, asking relatives to pick her up and carry her past the vehicle.

[10] Although investigators remained open-minded as to the actual motive for the child's abduction, the prospect of kidnapping for ransom was quickly discounted both due to the family's modest means and the fact no demands for money were received.

According to Badial, the female occupant had been staring intently at the Gallegos household and the actual sight of the car had greatly distressed the child, who asked to be carried as the two passed the vehicle.

[18][n 2] A friend and neighbor of the Gallegos family, Helen González, also informed investigators she had observed a dark-green vehicle matching the description provided by the eyewitnesses parked at the site of the abduction the previous Sunday.

[19] On July 31, 1960,[20] the partially buried body[21] of a female child was found in Sand Wash Creek Bed on Old Alamo Road in Congress, Arizona, approximately 48 kilometers from the town of Wickenburg and roughly half a mile west of Highway 93.

[26] Two sets of footprints were recovered at the crime scene, one of which had evidently been made by an adult; the other possibly by the sandal-footed child, indicating she may have walked to the site of her murder.

Investigators also recovered a rusted and apparently bloodstained pocket knife near the body, but were unable to definitively determine whether this utensil held any relation to the crime scene.

[27] Her hair color was brown, possibly having been tinted or dyed auburn,[29] and she had a full set of intact milk teeth described as being in a markedly good condition.

[32] Furthermore, the contemporary autopsy report states that her remains were charred, presumably from her body having been set alight around the time of her death,[33] and none of the items of clothing recovered bore any puncture holes indicative of being penetrated by a knife.

[36] Numerous individuals previously convicted of various offenses involving young children were subjected to prolonged interrogations, and the sheriff's office also received dozens of letters, telephone calls, and telegrams in response to their nationwide public appeals for information in their efforts to discover the child's identity.

[41] On August 8, 1961, Sheriff Cramer led a party of law enforcement officers and a camera crew to film the location where the child's body had been found.

"[35] The footage of this scene and the interview with Sheriff Cramer was later broadcast on television in the hope fresh leads toward establishing the identity of the child would ensue, although the program brought no significant new information.

She was laid to rest in Mountain View Cemetery, with the campaign for funds to provide a dignified burial—as opposed to anonymous interment inside a pauper's grave—being spearheaded by local talk radio announcer Dave Palladin.

[25] In interviews, Palladin stated his primary motivation was that he found the thought of a "little girl buried in Boot Hill"[25] as being "insufferable" to him; adding his insistence that the child received a decent Christian burial.

"[45] During the eulogy at the funeral of Little Miss Nobody, Dr. Parker recited a poem entitled "For a Little Girl Unknown"[46] before addressing those in attendance with a speech in which he stated: "Here is a little wanderer who has been in our midst.

[51][52] The University of North Texas Center for Human Identification also created a detailed forensic facial reconstruction of the decedent, depicting how she may have appeared in life, before her body was reburied at Mountain View Cemetery.

[57][n 11] At a press conference held to announce the formal identification of Little Miss Nobody, a spokesman for the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office informed all present prior to the actual announcement of Gallegos's identity of his hope nobody would again refer to her by the media moniker by which she had been known since 1960,[58] adding the "unidentified little girl who won the hearts of Yavapai County in 1960, and who occupied the minds and time of our sheriff's office and partners for 62 years, will now, rightfully, be given her name back.

"[10] A nephew of Gallegos then informed the media of the compassion given to his aunt by Prescott residents in the decades she had remained unidentified, stating: "[My family] were amazed how the people rallied around her.

"[59] Sharon Lee Gallegos was reburied in the grounds of Saint Francis de Paula Catholic Church in Tularosa, New Mexico, on October 25, 2022.

The child was laid to rest in the same grave as her mother and grandmother following a small ceremony attended by surviving family members and relatives born after her death.