Darleta was last seen in St. Albans, West Virginia on December 10, 1986, when she left her son's home and drove her own apartment on Kanawha Terrace. She has never been heard from again. Her estranged husband Robert, a former West Virginia State Trooper, is considered a suspect in her disappearance. He had allegedly threatened her and Darleta reported this to the police. She disappeared five days before a scheduled court hearing regarding their divorce. Robert committed suicide several months after Darleta's disappearance, and after his death authorities searched his horse farm for her body, but they found nothing. Darleta's case remains unsolved.