Tuesday, May 10, 2011
About 500 people attend event at Ford Field in Detroit to help find missing persons
Saturday was an emotional day for hundreds of people at Ford Field in Detroit.
No, the Detroit Lions didn't announce the return of Barry Sanders.
The Michigan State Police held its first-ever "Michigan Missing Persons Day."
"I don't have an official word that we will be doing it again next year, but I can't see it not happening again," said Det. Trooper Sarah C. Krebs, organizer of the event. "I think the event opened a lot of eyes and has really gotten the ball rolling in our state."
Krebs said about 500 people, including 40 families of missing people, attended the event, designed to help family members who are searching for lost loved ones.
Participants were able to give DNA samples and meet with others who are missing loved ones.
Krebs said she hopes some of the data collected Saturday will help law enforcement solve a number of the cases.
"If anything we gave these families a day of remembrance and recognition," Krebs said. "Some of them had a bad experience with law enforcement in the past, some haven't had any contact with us since they made their initial report.....for some this was 20-30 years ago!"
Each family of a missing person at the five-hour event was guided by an volunteer escort.
Krebs said one of the most memorable moments at the event was a candle light vigil.
"Tears were shed by these escorts when the photos were shown in a slideshow during the candlelight vigil," she said. "I heard some of the escorts that have no affiliation with law enforcement or a missing persons family prior to this event whisper 'oh, there's MY missing person.' It was a great thing."
Source: http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2011/05/about_500_people_attend_saturd.html
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