Carol Park, a schoolteacher, disappeared from the family home in Leece, Barrow-in-Furness, on the 17th July 1976. The family had planned a trip to Blackpool that day, as it was the beginning of the school holidays. Carol complained of feeling unwell and didn't go with the rest of the family.
When Gordon and their three children returned home from Blackpool, she had left. There was no sign of a robbery or a struggle of any kind, Carol had also left her wedding ring behind and had possibly taken some clothes.
Several people, friends and family had seen her, in the week leading up to her disappearance. Some of these individuals reported that she seemed down or depressed, she had also spoken of tracing her real parents as she was adopted.