According to Babcock's sister, Pat Foy, Babcock contacted her family for the last time sometime during June 1968 from her hometown of Venice, California. Babcock called her mother from a pay phone and said that she planned to have a friend drive her to her mother's residence the following day, which was located approximately 20 miles from Babcock's Venice apartment. Babcock never arrived at her mother's home and has not been seen again.

Babcock was employed as a barmaid at Fred's Tavern and on an assembly line at a Plastic Glide factory (now out of of business), both in Santa Monica, California, at the time she vanished. Foy visited the bar when she failed to track down her sister within a few days. The owner of the bar says that Babcock did not report to work as scheduled during the first week of July 1968 and did not contact him. Foy and their mother stopped by Babcock's apartment on Flower Street in Venice later in the week. The landlord allowed them to go inside Babcock's residence and they discovered all of her personal belongings had been moved out. The landlord was unaware of any activity in the apartment during the preceeding days and he did not realize Babcock had disappeared.

Foy and their mother contacted the authorities in Venice by mid-July 1968 to report Babcock as a missing person. Law enforcement was apparently unconcerned about her disappearance and believed Babcock left of her own accord. Babcock's case has been filed with several missing persons' agencies since that time. Her family says she was close to them and it is uncharacteristic of her to leave without warning.

According to Foy, Babcock was abused by one of her former husbands. Babcock was twice married and divorced at the time of her disappearance, and has four children. She did not finish high school. Foy continues to search for her sister.