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CNN Sunday Morning
Families of Missing Persons Organize Support Groups
Aired August 12, 2001 - 08:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The family of Chandra Levy today appears no closer to finding out what happened to her than when the intern disappeared about a trace -- without a trace, rather, over three months ago.
Police have disclosed no new leads or clues in this baffling case, so what's next? As CNN's Rusty Dornin reports, families like the Levy's typically turn their heartache into action.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Not knowing, families and loved ones of the missing describe it as torture.
DONNA HALEY, STEPMOTHER OF MISSING WOMAN: If you haven't been in our shoes, you don't understand what we're going through. It is -- it is a black hole in the middle of your heart.
DORNIN: A black hole that drove Susan Levy and two other families of missing women to create a support group for the families and friends of the missing.
(on camera): In missing person cases, it is often those left behind feel compelled to do something, anything to keep the memories of their loved ones alive and help others in their same situation.
LES WEIDMAN, STANISLAUS COUNTY SHERIFF: I think for a lot of the, I think it's desperation. I mean, they, they're feeling frustrated because they're not getting the kind of information that they're hoping for. A lot of these cases are protracted. They go on for months and months and these poor people, they just live this pure hell where they're just looking for any opportunity that might finally bring them the kind of news that they're hoping for.
DORNIN (voice-over): When the three Yosemite tourists disappeared and were found murdered, their loved ones started the Sund Carrington Foundation. It helped Chandra Levy's family put up part of the reward.
KIM PETERSON, SUND CARRINGTON FOUNDATION: Our organization puts up reward money for families who have missing or murdered loved ones, but don't have the resources to put up a reward.
DORNIN: When his daughter, Polly Class (ph), was kidnapped and then found murdered, Mark Class (ph) also felt compelled to do something.
PETERSON: The Class (ph) kids foundation by Mark Class (ph) helps get the word out and fingerprints kids and he's travelled all over the nation bringing this to the forefront.
The Amber Foundation by Kim Schwartz (ph) -- there are several organizations that have been founded.
DORNIN: One of the most famous advocates of the missing and other crime victims, John Walsh, not only started his own TV show, he also founded the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
His son Adam was abducted in 1981 and later found murdered.
Along with the high profile organizations, there are many groups most people never hear about.
PETERSON: I know families whose faces haven't been profile and have started their own search groups and things that they need to do. It helps in their healing, as well as feeling like they're doing something in honor of their loved one.
DORNIN: The need to reach out to others, others going through similar anguish.
Rusty Dornin, CNN, Modesto, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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