‘I spent 25 years searching for my missing dad – and he was just around the corner’
Lovetta Little-Smith, 55, from Houston, Texas, was left devastated when her father, Almond Gene Little, 49, went missing in 1999 – but she’s now discovered what happened to him
A woman spent more than two decades searching for her missing dad, only to discover he had been laid to rest just miles from her home.
Lovetta Little-Smith, 55, a certified nursing assistant from Houston, has carried the burden of not knowing what became of her father, Almond Gene Little, 49, since he vanished in 1999. Following years of “emotional distress”, Lovetta’s hunt intensified in 2021 with media attention, billboards, and backing from the Texas Center for the Missing.
Earlier this month, detectives confirmed her father’s identity after trawling through old cemetery records, uncovering that he died just a year after he went missing. Now, Lovetta intends to keep supporting other families of missing people and urges them never to lose hope.
“In 1999 was the last time I saw Almond Gene Little, my father, out in Houston, Texas,” Lovetta said. “He went missing, and so then what happened was we were on a search for him as a family.”
The emotional ordeal kicked off when Lovetta was 30 years old. She didn’t report her father missing until 2011, a delay she puts down to the complex family circumstances around his disappearance. Lovetta’s mum, Lovie Sneed, 72, homemaker, from Houston, was never wed to Little and they split when she was young.
“They were still on speaker term,” Lovetta said. Little’s wife, Beverly, 73, a homemaker from Houston, was also seeking answers. “His wife is actually still living,” she explained. “Of course, I was questioned about how long it took for us to report, but again, he was married legally.”
Lovetta’s hunt ramped up when she enlisted the help of the Texas Center for the Missing in Houston. The organisation helped raise awareness of her father’s story through media appearances and community campaigns.
“They aired me on the news of Fox 26 with dad’s story, just given the circumstances surrounding his disappearance,” she said. The family’s campaign grew to include billboards across the Houston area and features on several news channels.
Lovetta even penned a book called “Dear Dad” to share her emotions and record what her father had been absent for during his disappearance. “I wrote a book, ‘Dear Dad,’ just to express my feelings and to also let him know what he has missed out on in my life within the last 25 years,” she said.
Lovetta is now a mother of three herself, with a son aged 37 and two daughters, 30 and 23. The turning point arrived in November when a detective from Houston’s Missing Persons unit rang Lovetta with possible leads.
“November 5, she called,” Lovetta said. “She gave me a few ideas that this could be dad, but she was going to confirm it soon with another call, and the second call came November 13.”
The verification demanded thorough investigation into archived cemetery documentation. “We both agreed that that was dad because they had to dig for additional archives over at the Harris County Cemetery because it was an old burial that they did here in 2000,” she said.
Little passed away on September 4, 2000, at Doctors Hospital in Houston, just one year after his family last set eyes on him.
Lovetta remembered getting tip-offs from neighbours whilst conducting her lengthy hunt for her missing father in north Houston.
“I got a few tips from the neighbours while I was looking and searching, and one neighbour told me that dad had gone to the hospital because he was turning yellowish during one of my visits,” she said.
That information later matched up with what a detective revealed to her about her father’s death. “The detective said he died at the hospital, and it made sense to me that he was buried at Harris County Cemetery under Gene Little, rather than Almond Gene Little.
“I’m still currently waiting on the death certificate for additional information,” Lovetta said. Lovetta’s bond with her father was complex yet significant.
“My dad and I had a pretty good, stable relationship as far as me and him being able to see each other,” she said, despite not sharing a home with him during her younger years. He was always involved – popped up from a graduation unexpectedly, and that was a good deal.”
The family had previously suffered a tragedy which may have played a part in her father’s difficulties. Lovetta’s 22-year-old brother, Almond Gene Little Jr, was tragically killed in 1996 during a home invasion linked to drug dealings.
“My brother was murdered on June 7, 1996, in a home invasion. He was shot in the head because of some drug deals that went bad,” she revealed. The search spanning decades took a massive emotional toll on Lovetta and her family.
“Twenty-five years of my life have been tied up searching for him,” she confessed. “It has caused me emotional distress. It includes anxiety, fear.”
This month, Lovetta and her loved ones held a memorial for Little. Lovetta brought along “one of my last gifts from dad,” which was a Winnie bear.
Now, Lovetta remains dedicated to assisting other families in similar predicaments. She intends to continue collaborating with the Texas Center for the Missing to support others in their search for loved ones.
She stated: “I still plan to be involved to go back over and help the other ones with missing loved ones – to never give up, to never lose hope.”
