Mary Agnes Moroney (May 10, 1928^[1] – October 20, 2003)^[2][3] was an American woman who as a child was kidnapped from her home in Chicago, Illinois, on May 15, 1930. The case was heavily covered by both local and national media. Mary Agnes' kidnapping is the oldest case of this nature in the files of the Chicago Missing Persons Bureau.^[4]

In 2023, it was announced that DNA tests conducted with the participation of Mary Agnes' surviving family had determined that the girl had been given the name Jeanette Burchard. She later moved to Florida, where she had died in 2003 at the age of 75.^[2][3] Though the results are conclusive, since Burchard's body itself has not been tested, and the perpetrator(s) have not been identified, the case is still officially unsolved.

Mary Agnes Moroney was born in Chicago, Illinois, on May 10, 1928, the first of two daughters to Michael and Catherine Moroney; she had a younger sister named Anastasia, who was eleven months old at the time of the kidnapping.^[5] The Moroney family lived in poverty, as Michael only made US$15 per week passing out handbills. A relative of Catherine's wrote to a welfare agency and a paragraph on their plight was printed. The service did not normally disclose addresses but, through a slip, the family's address–5200 Wentworth Avenue^[1][5]–was learned by a woman.^[5]

On May 14, 1930, Mary Agnes' mother answered a knock at her door and was greeted by a woman who claimed to have been sent by a social worker to deal with the Moroneys' case.^[5] She was described as well-dressed, about 22 years of age, with protruding teeth and a "cultured" voice. The woman identified herself as "Julia Otis".^[1][5] After Catherine disclosed the family's many problems, the woman asked if she could temporarily take Mary Agnes to California with her, adding that she would be unrecognisable and "fat as a butterball". Catherine refused. After promising to return, the woman handed Catherine US$2 and left.^[5]

The next day the woman came back, this time with baby clothes, as Catherine was pregnant. She stated that she had arranged to get a better job for her husband Michael and offered to take Mary Agnes to a nearby store to buy her some clothes and shoes.^[5] Reluctantly, Catherine gave her consent.^[1][5] Later she commented that Mary Agnes sobbed and refused to go with the woman, but was taken anyway.^[5] Mary Agnes and the unidentified woman never returned.

In February 2023, it was announced that DNA testing had determined a link between Mary Agnes's surviving family and relatives of Jeanette Burchard, a Florida resident who had died in 2003 at the age of 75.^[3] Though Mary Agnes's adoptive mother, Jeanette Celarek Derris Anderson, has not been formally accused, Mary Agnes's daughter, Terri Arnold, said she has her suspicions about Anderson being the perpetrator of the kidnapping, and has felt "anger" towards her since her mother's identification.^[8][9][10]

• Paul Fronczak triple disappearance
• List of kidnappings
• Lists of people who disappeared