Podcasts · The Final Hours with Sarah Turney and Kourtney Nichole

Michaela Garecht: Taken Pt. 1

5 Oct 2026 · 22 min · Episode 36

On the Saturday before Thanksgiving in 1988, nine-year-old Michaela "Kayla" Garecht and her best friend rode their scooters two blocks to a Hayward, California corner store for candy and soda. Minutes later, in a busy parking lot in broad daylight, a stranger grabbed Kayla, forced her into a car, and drove off. What began as an ordinary morning became one of California's most haunting disappearances: an eyewitness account that should have cracked the case, a crucial early mistake that sent police chasing the wrong man, and a trail that went cold before it ever got warm.

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