When Time Doesn't Move On

Saturday, November the tenth, I was CONSUMED with a renewed interest in some missing persons cases that I have followed for a few years. The bad thing was that I neglected some of the other responsibilities. That got me to thinking, what do you do when someone you love is missing? I mean, how do you go on when you have lost someone you love? How do you function?

For folks like Natalee Holloway's mom, Beth Holloway Twitty, the loved one's disappearance turns into a test of endurance, will, and strength. For the family of Stacy Peterson, and for the family of Kathleen Savio, there may be some resolution to the mystery.

What if, instead of a theory on what happened to your loved one, you have no real leads? What if you have no one that you suspect is responsible? How do you go on?

A few people who have disappeared without conclusive leads have had a great deal of attention, such as the three missing women who disappeared in Springfield Missouri in 1992. Suzie Streeter, Stacy McCall, and Sherrill Levitt disappeared from Sherrill Levitt's home. She was Streeter's mother, and Suzie and Stacy were best friends. Fifteen years after their disappearance, there is still a great deal of interest in the case.

My heart goes out to folks like the family and friends of Wallace Richards, and William "Billy" Smiolinski Jr. Other than the websites dedicated to them by family and friends, there is no media. There are no forums dedicated to finding them. There is no discussion of them in any of the crime blogs.

Wallace Richards went missing on November 10, 2005. There was no known reason for him to disappear.

Billy Smolinski went missing in August of 2004, after a rough breakup with a girlfriend.

Steve Huff, an awesome true crime blogger, states in a recent post that he believes the discrepancy in coverage exists because women receive more compassion due to a perceived sense of helplessness. I have a less optimistic view of human nature, and feel that more coverage goes to the attractive. Especially amongst the main stream media, where ratings are number one. If ALL women received more coverage, then I might believe it. I think it is the job of folks like us to highlight the cases that the MSM will not.