Remembering the Missing

Candles light up the darkness in memory of missing loved ones. LaQuanta Riley’s mother says she is still working to find answers in her daughter’s disappearance.

“There are more questions than they are answers even after 16 years. But yet we have faith and believe that something will come about. Somebody’s gonna speak up. Somebody will look a little deeper, somebody will knock on a door that hasn’t been knocked on. Somebody will join us and will be a voice to these instead of being taken away,” said Riley’s mom, Pam Riley Boldin.

Many of the family members represented feel the same way. Shirley Birl lost her son to gun violence in 2016.

“Not that there are people out here in my situation, but we are searching for answers and we can grieve together because it’s a never ending process. One day it may be good, the next day it may be bad. We are all here with difference issues, but we all grieve the same,” said Birl.

And they want the community to know it’s time to change.

“We gonna stop the violence. We gotta stop the silence. We’re gonna talk about things and stop being so afraid to say what we saw,” said Birl.

That’s why they come together carrying the torch for their missing loved ones and each other.

“Because it’s us today and it will be somebody else tomorrow… but as long as we stand together, we will have hope!” said Boldin.