White resided with her mother in Kodiak, Alaska in 1998. She was hired to babysit Sharon Dawson Raikoglo's young child while the latter attended a music festival in July 1998. Raikoglo and her then-boyfriend, Roland Scott Tennison, camped overnight with White and the child at the Pasagshak Bay State Recreation Site on July 18. The area is approximately 40 miles north of the city of Kodiak. The couple stated they planned to drink alcohol at the music festival and planned to use White as a designated driver if necessary. White had worked for Raikoglo several times before.

Tennison told authorities that White accompanied him to collect firewood from the beach at approximately midnight on July 19. Tennison stated that his four-wheel drive Ford pickup truck became stuck in the sand near the Narrow Cape area, three or four miles from the campsite, shortly afterwards. He claimed that he and White decided to sleep inside the vehicle, since neither of them were dressed for the chilly weather. They both went to sleep at approximately 4:00 a.m. Tennison stated that she had disappeared by the time he awoke at 10:00 a.m., and at first he assumed she had walked back to the campsite. White has never been heard from again.

Raikoglo contacted authorities when Tennison and White failed to return several hours after departing the campsite. Officials had launched a search by the time Tennison arrived later in the morning. No evidence related to White's whereabouts was found inside the park. When authorities searched Tennison's truck and the area around where it was stuck, they found fire marks in the sand but no firewood in the truck. No traces of blood or semen were found in the truck or on Tennison, and no alcohol or drugs were located.

In July 2000, a state coroner's jury concluded that White died as the result of undetermined causes on the night of her disappearance. No physical evidence was discovered linking anyone to her case. White's mother filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit against Raikoglo and Tennison in February 2001. The suit alleged that Tennison may have been intoxicated on July 19 and injured White while they drove along the beach. White's mother stated she did not believe Tennison's story and thinks White probably died at the campsite. She stated Raikoglo apologized to her after White's disappearance and said she hadn't meant for it to happen.

Raikoglo was declared liable for White's presumed death in June 2003. Tennison, who now lives in Arkansas, did not defend himself against the suit. He refused to answer any questions about the night White disappeared, citing his Constitutional right against self-incrimination. A judge ruled in White's mother's favor in August 2003, ordering Tennison to pay her her $1.5 million in damages.

Neither Tennison nor Raikoglo have been charged with criminal wrongdoing in White's case. She had dropped out of high school by the time of her disappearance, and was trying to get a job. She wanted to save enough money to move in with her boyfriend in their own home. White's boyfriend was away on a fishing trip at the time of her disappearance, but due back soon, and White wrote many hopeful journal entries about their relationship and her future. She did not drink alcohol in 1998, but she did occasionally smoke marijuana.

White's disappearance remains unsolved.