Slaughter departed from her family's residence in Orangefield, Texas during the early morning hours of April 28, 1991. She took all of her personal belongings, including clothes and blankets, with her and emptied her parents' wallets. She has never been heard from again.

Slaughter apparently ran away from home because she was upset with her mother; her mother had taken away all the household's phones because Slaughter had been using them to talk to older men. The same night she disappeared, one of her female friends in the neighborhood also ran away. Rumors indicated the girls were dancing in strip clubs in Houston, Texas, but their mothers went to several such places and did not find them. A year later, Slaughter's friend returned home safe. She refused to say where she had been and what had happened to Slaughter.

Slaughter has a history of running away from home, but she had never been gone for an extended period of time before. Her mother believes she ran in 1991 with an older man, possibly a 19-year-old Caucasian male. She thinks they moved to the Tacoma, Washington area and Slaughter used the alias Paula Michelle Henry. Slaughter's mother has not been able to prove her theory, however. She believes her daughter may be now be living in Houston, dancing in strip clubs under an assumed name.

After Slaughter disappeared, her family received many phone calls from a caller who never said anything. The calls stopped about four months after Slaughter vanished. Authorities traced them to Galveston, Texas, but could not determine whether they were from Slaughter.

Slaugher's case remains unsolved.