Missing Hope
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There may finally be some answers for nearly 200 Alabama families with missing loved ones.
Missing persons cases usually start at police departments. But when leads grow cold and years pass, families are left wondering whether answers will ever be found.
For one local family who’s pushed for action the answers may be closer than ever.
The Riley family says they’re stuck.
Stuck without answers about their missing loved one.
Stuck back in time to December 7, 2003.
“When I got in the house, everything how we left it was like that. The pot of spaghetti was still on the stove. All her close, her purse and everything was still here,” Said Stacey Riley. She’s talking about her then 19-year-old cousin, LaQuanta Riley.
Stacey Riley says she left LaQuanta alone at the home. She says LaQuanta told her she was on her way out as well, to get her hair done.
“So I called my auntie I said auntie, you know ‘Quanta ain’t call or said nothing or hear nothing and that ain’t like her,” Said Stacey Riley.
The days passed without any word from LaQuanta; the worry grew.
Two weeks later, the only lead her family had was a voicemail, one they believe was from her.
“She was just crying and you can just hear that. You didn’t understand what she was saying, but she was just crying, crying, crying,” Said Stacey Riley. “Then you hear a man get in the background and he calls her name and one thing that we do know is that nobody calls her by Quanta, but close family, a person that really got to know her.”
“Or somebody close to the family and picked up the name from them,” Said LaQuanta’s mother, Pam Riley.
Now, 11 years later, what happened to LaQuanta Riley is still a mystery. She’s one of 169 missing people in Alabama — 11 of them are from Montgomery County.
But Alabama is trying to bring those families loved-ones home.
LaQuanta Riley’s family came to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office to ask for help.
Now the Da’s office is teaming up with the Alabama Attorney General’s Office to give law enforcement and families training and resources on how to investigate a missing persons’ case.
It’s called Bring Alabama’s Loved Ones Home: Montgomery Never Forgets. Law enforcement officials, forensic scientists, coroners — all in the same room — and they’re calling for every missing person’s family to join them.
“Quite honestly, I don’t think police officers are really trained on that,” Said Montgomery County District Attorney, Daryl Bailey. “They’re trained on homicides, and how to solve a theft case, but what about a missing person case? And we’re going to be training law enforcement officers on how to handle those cases.”
The point of this event: to identify every available tool and create others to solve missing persons cases.
“The initial process will be to collect DNA samples, collect information that will go into a database so that if someone is discovered missing or a body is discovered somewhere then there’s a database to check against,” Said Alabama Attorney General, Luther Strange.
Families are asked to bring:
– police reports
– investigative leads
– photographs
– dental and/or medical records
– doctor information
– family members (to provide DNA)
Statewide Missing Persons’ Day have a history of being successful — last year’s Oklahoma Missing Person’s Day, nine families were able to get answers about their loved ones.
The hope is the families of the 169 missing people in Alabama will one by one get answers.
“If we can solve just one case, if we can find just one missing person, that’s a tremendous success. We have to have much more success than that,” Said Attorney General Strange.
It’s an event Pam Riley has pushed for so long. With an 11-year vision finally turning into a reality, she says she’s still holding out hope to find her daughter.
“It’s going to take a whole state of people getting together and coming up with ways and hopefully prevent a lot of this [from ever happening],” Said Pam Riley.
Now — a whole state is finally coming together to ask questions, get answers and to never forget all of those who have gone missing.
If you have any information with leads to finding LaQuanta Riley, there is a $11,000 reward. You can call CrimeStoppers at 215-STOP.
Bring Alabama’s Loved Ones Home: Montgomery Never Forgets Event Information:
WHEN: February 17, 2015
WHERE: Attorney General’s Office, Multi-Purpose Room
TIME: Law Enforcement: 8 a.m.-12 p.m.
Families: 1 p.m.- 4 p.m.
HOW TO REGISTER: E-mail Samantha Stephenson at samanthastephenson@mc-ala.org.
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: February 10, 2015
Event is free. Families of missing victims will also get to meet each other. Counselors will also be available.
