Wilmington Rally Stop

Well it took forever to post on this stop as the tour ended we hit the ground running on many searches, new cases and training for the upcoming year. The holidays are always tough to even work in the schedule as people who become missing we can never schedule. So.....the final rally stop was awesome, many families attended, our mayor along side of our police department and faithful folks to the cause. Exhaustion mixed with a renewed faith is a good feeling, knowing you completed the task, but also that families and communities are even more inspired because someone show they cared, and reminded others they were not forgotten. It truly is a simple concept if you think about it. I know first hand the tour makes a difference, and have witness many miracles, small and large during and even after the tour ends, no one can ever tell me anything different.

I would like to take this time to say thanks to all of our supporters, families of the missing, communities and volunteers who took part in the effort, businesses who provide product and our donors who believe in CUE and our mission as an organization. We could have not done it without your support and rallying us on down the road.

Until next year 2013... we will conitue to fight for the victims left behind, rally communities for the cause and search for those who become lost.

Monica

Myrtle Beach Rally Stop

It was easy to wake up this morning, everyone had a new burst of energy due to we knew it was all down hill now, the tour was about to end. Their is always a sense of pride to complete the tour, knowing deep down in side you have made a small difference in the world of missing persons, their families and communities. It was bitter cold but those who needed to be heard were waiting, a voice for the missing; they had many visuals and families on hand, one who stood out was recovered, yet another still in search. Also their was those who represented Brittanee, she is still missing and her mother could not be there, but she had her supporters there. I reflect a lot today on Brittanee's case, her mother has fought so hard, many states "strangers" have become her family, they have been her true support system through all of this, most do not know the struggles she has in her day to day life, in addition of suffering a missing child. I think to myself how strong all of these families really are, to the general public never see the back biting with in families that goes on, a parent maintaining a job and raising their children on their own, the worry of a parent, the damaging words and rumors they endure...oh how the list goes on. At the end of the day as an advocate one must always remain with a clear focus, the missing person, no matter what, I find myself thinking some days that proves to be a difficult task. But, we are here now and bringing awareness to many others that are missing in South Carolina, they did a great job, we lit candles, many heartfelt words were shared and the launch on balloons were lifted, almost as to say I release this pain God, here you go...as the balloons gain air and float away. I really do feel that each time we do a release of any kind, lift up and let go, let God, even if it is for a short while. As we prepare to leave and hugs were exchanged, I know this will not be my last trip to this town, for the current missing and those over the years that will become missing, I know I have many searches plan after the tour and some in this state, so it is yet a short goodbye. Then I am distracted by an incoming text saying "you have planned it all so well, but did you talk to anyone about the weather?" I then began to worry about our final rally stop, the rain and cold...we drive only about 15 minutes and the sun begins to burst through the clouds and warmth is felt quickly. I begin to laugh out loud and text the person back saying, "FYI, spoke to God and he said he cleared up that issue, we are running on time".
Monica

Myrtle Beach, SC

We awoke the last morning of the tour to rainy and cold weather. The bleak outdoors, however, had no affect on my mood....Recharged, excited to begin our last day...I thought I would be sad but I really wasn't, maybe a little pensive is all.
The rally stop, hosted by Peggy Bettis, was held at Chapin Park. The wind was really blowing and it was all we could do in the beginning to keep things where they should be. The missing persons posters on the clothesline, the candles on the table, and the playing cards...I had heard about the cards but I don't know if I had seen them before. Decks of cards featuring the pictures of the missing. Another effort to bring an awareness to cold cases, another attempt to bring in leads.
The group today were mostly familiar to me. Some Brittanee Drexel advocates with posters, here to keep the faith and also to support Dawn. The families and friends of Lisa Shuttleworth and Alice Donovan. Taking pictures of families smiling brightly holding photos and banners of their loved ones...
Susan Murphy Milano, a specialist in intimate partner violence, spoke about the link between domestic abuse and missing women, a theme that we are all well aware has permeated our tour this year.
Lisa Shuttleworth went missing from Beech Island in 2003. A 34 year old mother of 2,Lisa had
dropped her 9 year old son off at school like any other normal day. Yet by the time he and his 14 year old sister got home she had vanished..The car still in the driveway...As a mother of a recovered missing person my eyes go immediately to her mother. Having her child missing now for 8 years, having to raise her grandchildren without their mother...her daughter...the strength that must have took..Lisa's children are now young adults and were able to express having to grow up without their mother. All she missed, all they missed.. Facing the unknown every day for 8 years. Wondering, hoping, praying for answers..
Then Angie, Alice Donovan's daughter. Alice was 44 when she was abducted from a Conway Walmart in 2002 by 2 men who had escaped from jail. The men were caught, arrested and prosecuted, and received the death penalty for her kidnapping and murder in 2004. Yet Alice remained missing until 2009. Over 6 years..There is another missing woman, Samantha Burns, a 19 year old college student who was also abducted and killed by these 2 men. They pled guilty in her case also, yet she is still missing...since 2002...The search to recover her remains an ongoing CUE case..
The rallies have run the gamut from a handful of people to hundreds of people. From full out media assaults to no media. From small, intimate gatherings to stages and microphones.Each one has been unique. This group numbered about 20, I guess, with a small media presence. As Angie spoke she directed her comments directly to Lisa Shuttleworth's family..it was as if the rest of the group melted away and they were alone. Their eyes locking, connecting, the immediate bond..I was overwhelmed by it..the I know you, what you are going through, the I've been you, I am you..It happened every day on the tour because whether your loved one is still missing or has been found we know what it's like, and most people do not. So the bonding is always fairly immediate. As a matter of fact not a lot even has to be said..the moisture in your eyes as you meet someone and let them know yes me too..there are no strangers..
As each rally stop has been different so have the balloon releases. Some shout out as they release their balloon,some quietly pray, some wonder where their balloon might land, who will find it..Some watch as the balloons begin to group together as they rise..Sometimes balloons get stuck in trees as they travel upward which different families have interpreted in so many different ways. I released my balloon quickly, as I always did, so that I could watch, listen, and take pictures. As I watched Lisa's children they were standing side by side preparing to let their balloons go. Then Lisa's daughter lowered her balloon and gently kissed it before releasing it into the sky.
Elisa

Georgetown Rally Stop

As we come over the bridge a smile comes across my face to see all the people there to support our families of the missing, to include the faithful law enforcement and press. We hit the ground with tons of energy as the ending of the tour is nearing and the excited spirit of it all overwhelms us. We all miss our loved ones at home and it has been a week of traveling; for sure a lifting feeling is in the air. Then for a moment it hits you, we will be seeing our loved ones and the reality along side this road today is these families will not, a sadness creeps in slowly as everyone is welcoming us with hugs and some tears of happiness. Most folks do not and will not ever have a clue what "the not knowing" feels like...it is a horrible place to have to live your life. We go straight into the families speaking, lighting of the candles, balloon release, desperate pleas for information to the media are made; then the families also reflect on the mother who was not able to attend, Brittanees mom. See they have been there with her all this time, they support and share in each others searches and lives, they have all teamed up together...becuase thats what we do to help our families get through. We introduce them to a support system from the start that CUE knows they will need. Brittanees mother knew she was in good hands and was grateful for these families who featured her daughter. Many do not know the enter turns of all these cases, the behind the scenes of our daily task, what we "the volunteers" endure with our familes, unless they suffer a missing loved one, I guess they may never know. I can first hand tell you it is not easy, some way more difficult then others, but you have to remain focused on the good, the victim and the end result, a resolution. I found myself thinking of the hundreds of familes we have brought together over the years, the freindships, bonds that have occured, I smile for a minute. I also find myself reminded of the journey, the years we work in place to search for these missing children, see no matter the age, they are all still missing children. In 1998 CUE realized that and a wonderful volunteer named Laura added that to our center's slogan that we adopted and live by today. The one thing I came away this day with is good does trump over all evil; we will continue this journey of hope and I am blessed everyday with loving and dedicated people who want to help make this world a better place. Those same people are making that effort in true form. At dinner we all begin to talk about the tour as a whole; I think everyone is starting to feel a sense of accoplishment, it truley is a good feeling; I silently smile again.
Monica

Florence Rally Stop

We arrived early to the area so we stopped and I took some pictures of the tour crew, we would do this from time to time during the tour; trying to be creative to show different areas and such, it was a mild day and everyone was in good spirits. In the parking lot we were greeted by some cue members first then we all walked into the Sheriff's Office together, it was packed with law officials, press and a very large group  representing the McLeod family.This stop was more like an official press conference type, very well put together and even little creative details to present the missing from three agencies and unsolved homicides. The Florence Sheriff Office did a great presentation, of coarse they always do in their participation in our annual road tour program. They did it all, the visuals... press conference and then they came outside to launch balloons with a prayer in support of the families. Many CUE members were on hand as they helped prepare the family side of the event and it showed. I think this was the first time for me to see how much family Ms. McLeod really had and I know if it had an impact on me, it also had one on the law officials as well. This is one of the many cases "which we all know to well", that had fallen from the news and so much time had passed, they need answers, they needed to know people care. I felt good about the stop because that was the main reflection of the day, it brought much attention to their missing loved one and other cases. It was also a day of watching my SC state directors from CUE with their family, a bond has occurred and seeing that first hand made me feel proud inside. See, this is what CUE is really all about, advocacy first...we work daily, behind the scenes with families across the nation, so much is involved that the average person looking in from the outside has no real clue what we do' the calls, organizing, involvement with communities, conducting searches, working with law officials, making things happen in every case; it is a constant task with no mercy or relief. We are on the ground with our cases and all that are involved, we get overwhelmed a lot but we get things done, when things unfold at the end of the day, you rest well that night. In most days, we might multi task on 20 different cases, several search plans and the list goes on. I reflect throughout the day on how much all of the volunteers with our organization are able to accomplish, and reflect on the ending of the tour of how much we have to get caught up upon our return. The thought is fast to leave when someone says, we have to go and get to our next stop...so we pack up saying our goodbyes, leaving I feel something will come from this stop, some tip, maybe a case solved, I linger in my thoughts on whose turn it will be next for a resolution.
Monica

Interstate 10 Road Tour

During our travels going from stop to stop we made sure to follow another mission, that was to distribute information on a man in prison for murdering females years ago. John Wayne Boyer was a truck driver and one of his routine routes he traveled was leaving North Carolina, traveling through South Carolina, picking up I-10 all the way until he would reach near Texas. It is believed their are more victims that were in his path during many years and routes of his trucking career. CUE volunteers have been proactive in the search for missing and unidentified persons that would be in these "now" known routes and areas he has lived. We are focusing on a timeline from 1984 until January of 2006, we have almost a complete time line from 1990 to 2006 and continually gathering more facts, cases and people known to this man. We did not know a year ago that the route chosen for the 2011 tour would end up being one of his routes; see a month before the tour was scheduled to leave a major break in another case of a woman who had been missing 11 years was identified and then we knew for sure, three of our case he has confessed to was CUE Center cases and it was now proven they were connected, we expressed that years ago and we were not heard. It is our opinion and belief that we will be right on many more of our unsolved cases and will uncover some that were never ours at all and that will be connected. You can learn more about our project as we discover information at a site we have built to place facts in public, hoping our effort will reveal more truth on the unsolved crimes. We hit the truck stops and hit them hard handing out information and requesting other truckers to pass it along, we have already had calls since our return and hope we will hear from even more. Learn more at
http://www.longhaulterritorykiller.com/

Jacksonville Rally Stop

Night time came quickly and we tried to get our room first since we had arrived early to our stop, this lingered feeling of sadness still present in my day. We rushed to get in our rooms and freshen up, I had planned all the time out in my head so all was good. In the bathroom, my phone on the counter...ringing off the hook - I look to see who cannot wait to leave a message, it is a law official, I figured I could call him back when we finished the day out. Then another call, then another, it was important because I knew deep down he would not call over and over unless it was important, so I finally answered...I said out loud before picking up "this is not going to be good", hello? It was the call we all dread...we got her! A million questions flooded through my head but the only one that came out of my mouth was "does the family know yet"? Reply...they are on their way now with a pastor...came from the other end. Then from the room yelled we gotta go, its time, I asked a few questions and advised I would call back; all of a sudden I felt rushed, we are late, I have to call them but I can't, I knew as soon as the family knew my phone would blow up. I felt so many things at one time but now had to get to the last rally stop, and fast, we left. The ride over was just a few miles, I was pleasantly surprised to see some searchers their to support the family and the stop, and was greeted by many upon entering, so I really had no time to process all that had took place in the last 20 minutes. But now, the calm comes, the event begins with Austins sister struggling through her pain to speak and holding the burden for this event for her mother, in a sense to show her mother "she has it" but also because she knows her mother needed to be relieved of the task...I look as her mother had a gleam of admiration in her eyes, a deep love and respect for her daughter, you can just see it. Maybe I can see it more, I think to myself because as an advocate you learn about your families, each look, words that never have to be spoken, you just know, and you know them, a bond occurs over time and you really just know. So as each speaker graces the front to talk about their missing loved one, and then a lighting of the candle ceremony moves forward...I am more than emotional, this is where I hate this part of me. I keep thinking to myself, just focus on the task "soon I would be called to light the candle of HOPE and speak", do not think about anything right now. Well.....then it hit! Right now at this very moment, this child's family is hearing the news that she has been found, it is a homicide and so much more; it hit me hard. See, because I knew right at that moment what that house looked like, and I knew ever detail of the happenings, because I no our family...and well. I also knew they would be calling, just as I had that last thought my phone began to ring on silent, and then the texting...call me, came flooding in. Then as if someone was waking me up from a sleep, my name was called out to come to the front and light the candle. I felt like I was in a dream, foggy for thoughts, surely during the lighting I would regain the things needed be said...yeah, that did not happen. I stood their not able to speak, looking at the crowd, not really seeing anyone, trying to focus but then, I looked into the eyes of Austins mother, that look of encouragement, she knew, because as we learn about our families...hummm, they learn about us, she knew this time it was different. Her eyes filled with tears, and I began to cry, I was mad at myself, I barley could get a thought or words out, I had only cried in public one time before and it had been years, I was so mad at myself. She kept her eyes focused on me and I seemed to draw from her a will to speak, I really did not know what I said, but I know my thoughts were on ever case, the suffering families and yet I could see the road ahead, it appeared to have an ounce of light, enough to get through. I knew all day this would happen, something inside of me just needed to release the sadness, and at the end of the day their was no fighting it anymore. The event was over, I reflected on all the extra details of the organization of it, looking around and saying goodbye to those in attendance, a large group of us decided to go and eat, we spent some quality time, it was nice. Upon returning to our hotel I found myself sitting with a searcher and Austin's mother, telling funny stories like we always do, laughing hard and looking at maps for the next upcoming search plan. I fell asleep fast that night. I knew deep down inside that she came to my room to pick my thoughts on the search, but also to make sure I was my normal self again before she went home, kinda like a mother tucking in her children at night; I did not mind in fact if I confess, I needed it. The next morning hitting the interstate, the chatter begins about the next rally stop, we are all excited because we are getting closer to the end of the tour and closer to home, no one ever speaks about last night, no one in the bus has ever saw that side of me, then I see "welcome to South Carolina", now I feel better and begin to think of all the folks that will be at each stop...my phone rings and it is a new missing person being reported, it's okay I know we can help them.
Monica