The 8th Annual National Missing Persons Conference 2012

THEME 2012  ” In Support of the Journey “

Thursday, March 22, 2012

State Outreach Coordinators Meeting: Closed for directors 2:00 pm

Class Times: 6:00 pm

The Road to Becoming a Search and Rescue Technician

This class will be conducted throughout the conference and other than thursday evening will run with conference class schedules. If you take this class on “Thursday” you will be in this class only for proper certification. For details please call our center anytime.

Registration packets and check in: 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm and  7:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Note: The back half of the ballroom will remain open all day and evening for any participants to set up items, informational handouts, missing person information or visuals, table display, banners, etc. When checking into the conference please request the person in charge for this area to help you in whatever you may need for a smooth process.

Date: March 22nd – 25th of 2012

Join us for our upcoming national conference for missing persons and all who work in the arena from advocating, volunteerism, investigation, search and rescue and identification process of those who are lost. This event is open to all who support the mission of finding a resolution for families who have suffered a missing loved one and been left a victim of crime.

Please share this information to anyone in this line of work and or a family of a missing person or homicide victim. To learn more about CUE Center for Missing Persons please visit us at our web site www.ncmissingpersons.org or email us cuecenter@aol.com

NOTICE: (This conference is a pre – registration conference, ONLY) please contact our center for details

Download and print registration form below

    
Submit Registration: Mailing Address (CUE) PO Box 12714 Wilmington, NC 28405
Ph: (910) 343-1131 or (910) 232-1687 Fax: (910) 399-6137
Location: Holiday Inn Hotel Conference Center 5032 Market Street, Wilmington, NC 28405 (910) 392-1101

Note: CUE will arrange the hotel accommodations  for conference  registered attendees.

Want to become a sponsor?

  

Download and print forms above and mail them with with your check  payable to:
CUE Center For Missing Persons
PO Box 12714
Wilmington, NC
28405

Meet The 2012 Sponsors…more to come!

    

                          

Training Sessions, Certificate Classes

Training: The Road to Becoming a Search and Rescue Technician

Patricia Totillo is a founding member of K-9 Search and Rescue of Orange City, FL. She has been involved in search and rescue for ten years. She has certified canines thru NAPWDA, NASAR, NSDA, NNDDA and L.E.T.S. She is a lead evaluator for NASAR and NSDA and has instructed at numerous seminars across the country.

The class is designed to provide knowledge concerning the general responsibilities, skills, abilities, and the equipment needed by persons who would be participating in a search or rescue mission. It provides a common starting point in training for the new person to search and rescue.

Focus will be on providing the necessary knowledge to pass the NASAR (National Association Search And Rescue) SARTECH III written exam. Persons who are interested in becoming involved with search and rescue operations.

Emergency response personnel who belong to organizations who provide resources and assistance during search and rescue missions.

Managers of emergency response organizations who want to understand the state-of-the-art skills and knowledge needed by the SAR workers.

Experienced SAR people who want to refresh their knowledge base.

This is the first step on your road to becoming a fully operational SARTECH II. Additional information will be provided to people who want to continue on this journey.

Training: Death Declaration & Power of Attorney and Missing Persons

Jenna Butler, her practice experience encompasses various areas of civil litigation in both the federal and state courts and before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. She advises clients and litigates cases involving all forms of commercial disputes, including contract breaches, trusts and estates litigation, insurance litigation, and securities litigation. Ms. Butler’s practice also involves representing and advising community associations, including litigating civil disputes on behalf of community associations and their members. Prior to joining the Firm, Ms. Butler practiced in Atlanta, Georgia, and from 1995 to 1996 served as law clerk to the Honorable Malcolm J. Howard, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

 

Training: Document the Abuse

Susan Murphy-Milano is often praised as one of the most dynamic and engaging speakers of our day in the intimate partner violence prevention field.

As an expert in the area of intimate partner violence and the prevention of homicide, Susan has created specific tools and procedures which the abused need to safely leave a violent relationship.

Susan witnessed her father, a decorated Chicago Violent crimes Detective, brutally and violently attack her mother repeatedly. The words “if you leave I will kill you,” turned into reality the night Susan walked into her childhood home and found her mother murdered and her father in the next room dead from a self-inflicted gun-shot wound to the head. Susan vowed then, and has, since the murder-suicide of her parents, carved out a road making changes in the way the world looks at violence in and outside the home.

Susan uses humor, passion, and all her years of experience to motivate her audience to become more effective first responders, advocates and professionals in their work to stop family violence.

Susan’s quest for justice was instrumental in the passage of the Illinois Stalking Law and the Lauternberg Act. She has been prominently featured in newspapers, magazines, radio and television including: The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Radio, ABC’S 20/20, Justice Files, E-True Hollywood, CNN, Sunday Today Show Profile, Women’s Day, Family Circle, US News and World Report to name only a few.

See more: http://imaginepublicity.com/clients/susan-murphy-milano/

Training: Sonar 2012, Improvements and Usage Deliveries

Chuck Elgin, Chief of North Carolina Underwater Response Team since 1991, NC Community College Instructor, Operations Chief in the county Emergency Management Operations Center, and am often called upon to utilize sonar in searches for missing people, mapping and bottom bathymetries thru out the South-East.

 

 

 

 

Speakers and Presentation

TOPIC: Gangs, Forgotten Youth and the Missing

Michelle Guarino earned a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and a Masters of Social Work from New York University. Michelle is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has worked with gang affiliated / at-risk youth since 1996.

She worked as the Youth Intervention Counselor for the New Hanover County / Wilmington City Gang Task Force; a first of its kind position employing a civilian within a law enforcement entity to intervene with gangs, gang members and families. Michelle has received Gang Counseling Techniques training from the National Gang Crime Research, as well as, Primary Gang Specialist Certification.

Michelle has trained agencies such as ROCIC Gang Conference, NC Governor’s Crime Commission, National Gang Crime Research Center Gang Conference, Project Safe Neighborhoods, NC Parks and Recreation, NC Association of Substance Abuse Counselors, Camp Eckerd, The North Carolina University system, Department of Juvenile Justice and various law enforcement agencies.

Michelle has also worked as an outpatient therapist specializing in children and youth with a focus on adjudicated youth and gang affiliated youth. Michelle is co-author of Best Practices Manual: The Wilmington Youth Violence Intervention Program, New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office Lower Cape Fear Gang Task Force Assessment and “A Second’s Chance”- Gang Violence Task Force Prevention Program published in the American Surgeon journal. Michelle serves as the Director of Program Development for The North Carolina Gang Investigators Association and has assisted the association in implementing Gang Free NC.

Michelle currently serves on the Governor’s Gang Task Force as the Chair for the Intervention sub-committee. Past recognitions include; New Hanover County Human Relations Woman of the Year 2000, for program development and services provided to at-risk and gang affiliated youth. Recipient of the Walter Lawson NOBLE award and The Governors Crime Commission “Excellence in Juvenile Crime Prevention” award, as well as, recipient of the “Cape Fear Peace Prize” for contributions made to at-risk and gang affiliated youth.

Michelle is currently employed as the Gang Counselor/ Program Director for the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office Gang Task Force. Michelle is also a part time instructor for the University of North Carolina at Wilmington School of Social Work.

TOPIC: Through the Window; The view from a “Crime Writer”

Diane Fanning is one of America’s premier Crime novelists and True Crime authors. At the top of a genre that often gets a rap in the literary world, Fanning brings esteem, doing due diligence when presenting a criminal case in book format.

At a young age, Diane had a brush with danger, coming close to being abducted, she became attuned to crime and wondered just what makes a criminal tick. What kind of questions could be answered for a child about the psychology of the criminal mind? The story of Krystal Surles and her part in ending the 20 year killing spree of serial killer, Tommy Lynn Sells, inspired Diane to write her first true crime book, “Through the Window,” an accounting of the courage and bravery of a 10 year old, not so much unlike herself.

Before writing her first true crime book, Fanning wrote for magazines,television, radio and ad agencies in Virginia, earning many awards, before she moved to Texas where her career in true crime blossomed, along with her work with several non profit organizations. She has served on the executive committees of the Writers’ League of Texas and the Heart of Texas chapter of Sisters in Crime and is also a member of Mystery Writers of America.

See more: http://imaginepublicity.com/clients/diane-fanning/

TOPIC: Bringing Jon Home; A father’s journey of loss and discovery

David Francis is president of the Jon Francis Foundation (JFF), a non-profit organization with the mission to provide support and empowerment to the families of people missing in the wilderness. The Foundation was created as a tribute to David’s 24-year-old son, Jon, who went missing in July 2006 while climbing the Grand Mogul in the Sawtooth Mountains of Central Idaho.

Authorities had abandoned their search for the young man after just two days, but David and his family refused to give up. They mobilized hundreds of volunteers who spent more than a year searching the wilderness.

David Francis is a retired Minnesota businessman, former nuclear submarine officer and retired U.S. Navy Captain with 30 years of naval service. His business experience includes several years with 3M and IBM and sales, marketing and management at five high technology startup companies in Minnesota.

David and his wife, Linda, live in Stillwater, Minnesota. They have been married for more than 40 years and have one son, Jon; three daughters, Robin, Jocelyn and Melissa; and six grandchildren, Taylor, Katie, Stephen, Audrey, Charlie and Camille.

David is the author of Bringing Jon Home – the Wilderness Search for Jon Francis. Bringing Jon Home is a national award winning inspirational memoir that tells the story of Jon’s remarkable life, sudden loss, and inspiring legacy and describes, in compelling detail, the long and relentless wilderness search for his son.

In 2010 The Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote, “David Francis has emerged as a leading advocate for missing adults.” Patty Wetterling, in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, commended his efforts by saying, “Francis’ work is invaluable. It’s not just his persistence; it’s his reasonableness… He’s solid…”

JFF received the 2011 Outstanding Support Award from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

TOPIC: Exploring Human Identification

Midori Albert is a professor and forensic anthropologist in the Department of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), where she joined the faculty in 1995. She received her doctorate degree in anthropology from the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU Boulder, 1995);her master’s degree in anthropology and bachelor’s degree in psychology are from the University of Florida (UF, 1993 and 1990).

Dr. Albert’s educational background involves human skeletal identification methods and techniques as well as an understanding and exploration of normal human skeletal variability. These specializations led her to link with colleagues in computer science, statistics, and mathematics, where her primary research focus since 2003 has been on adult age-related craniofacial morphological changes and their effects on computer automated face recognition technologies.

Together with her colleagues, Dr. Albert collaborates on research within the university’s newly established Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies in Identity Sciences (I2SIS). Students often actively engage in research learning opportunities with Dr. Albert as interests in human biometrics and identity recognition continue to evolve.

Victims Hours Presentations

“MISSING” Dori Meyers – Donajean Kapp

“MISSING” Alonzo Williams – Family Member

National Candle Light Service – Honorees

March 24, 2012 @ Riverfront Park, Downtown Wilmington Waterfront – 7:30 pm, the public is welcome
Mistress of Ceremony – TBA
Guest Speaker – David Francis  ”Living After Death”
Reading of the Poem Dedication - Sheree Justus
Vocal Tribute – TBA
National Prayer – Pastor Angie Davis
Unveiling of the Wall – Honoree Families
Service Dedication ~ In Loving Memory of TBA

Kirshonda Townsend – Mineral Wells, Texas

Michelle Haggadone – Leland, North Carolina

The Search For Hope

 

Throughout all stages of a missing persons investigation, up to the point of its positive or negative resolution, there is only one verifiable victim: the family of that missing person. The missing person might have been abducted, or worse, but from the moment that someone considers the absence of a loved one to necessitate a 911 call, the family that makes that call is going to be caught in a whirlpool of fear, panic and helplessness that most people dont understand and law enforcement officials rarely have the resources to address in any sustained way.

In Wilmington, however, these families have an advocate, a fierce, hands-on assistant in the search for missing loved ones. Her name is Monica Caison, and shes the founder and director of the Community United Effort (CUE) Center for Missing Persons, a nonprofit organization based in Wilmington, which, since 1994, has been aggressive in its attempts to keep missing person cases from going “cold” or “inactive.” By marshalling nationwide resources that include law enforcement personnel and an army of volunteers, the CUE Center has been instrumental in returning loved ones to their families, creating a sort of template for families confronted by such a loss, a blueprint for action that combines elements of the actual search process with a powerful family support tool hope.

“Shes tops, as far as Im concerned,” says Marc Benson, a private investigator, former detective in the New Hanover County Sheriffs Department, recent candidate for the sheriffs job and the host of Blue Line Radio on The Big Talker (106.3 FM). “I first ran into her 16 or 17 years ago, when I was a detective sergeant in the Sheriffs Department.”

Bensons first impression of Caison left him thinking she was just a “soccer mom,” doing what she could to find people whod gone missing thinking, too, “Good for her, but were the professionals here, so dont call us, well call you.”

In the spring of 1998, Benson found himself re-assessing his original impressions of Caison and her organization. In April of that year, 32-year-old bride-to-be Peggy Carr was abducted from a mall parking lot in Wilmington. One day, she was here; the next day, she was not. Shed disappeared quickly and completely, and lacking evidence to the contrary, law enforcement officials considered the possibility that her disappearance, in spite of her impending marriage, was voluntary. Without a clue to work on, the investigation languished. Displeased with this sort of response from law enforcement officials, Peggys mother called Monica Caison, whose private phone remains the direct line to what was then the fledgling and relatively unknown CUE Center for Missing Persons. Seven months after Peggys disappearance, Caison and her volunteer army were instrumental in discovering the whereabouts of Carrs remains in Bladen County.

“It became a multi-state investigation, a national media case,” says Caison, “and it taught us everything. We worked side by side with law enforcement, set up a 24-hour tip line. The FBI would pick up our logs. We were learning, too. It was the first time, really, that the full weight of the resources (we had) came to bear. We kept (the case) in the public eye, just kept plugging and plugging, constantly searching. It was our landmark case.”

More important than Caisons literal presence beating the bushes, actually searching was the support she gave to the family.

“Monica would just sit for hours and comfort me,” said Peggy Carrs mother in an interview for People magazine in March 2009, months after her daughters body had been discovered.

“My respect for her increased because of the presence she had with that family,” says Benson, who, at the time, was looking on from the Sheriff Departments sidelines, because it was a Wilmington PD case. “She went up there (to Bladen County) with volunteers and canvassed the area with pictures. She made sure that everybody up there looked at every little detail (coming out of the investigation). I was quite impressed with the resources she was able to pull together.”

What is so striking about Monica Caisons work with the CUE Center is the individual, up-close-and-personal effort she invests in countless, physical searches for these people, and the tireless campaign she wages to keep families in the loop of any ongoing investigation. Law enforcement agencies, from the local to the national, may falter during an investigation, due to a lack of either resources or will, but from the moment the CUE Center and, specifically, Monica Caison steps aboard, families are assured that their missing loved one will not, in Monicas lifetime, be forgotten until theyre found. In most cases (though not all), the outcome is not good. Caison is more often than not searching for a body, and she is known for a stubborn, relentless and often un-appreciated approach to any obstacles in her way.

Wrightsville Beach Magazine

“Our world is becoming an open graveyard for missing people,” Caison says, “because nobodys paying attention. You can bet that if people heard on the news that four airplanes were crashing every day in this country, somebody would be doing something.”

On The Road To Remember “National Tour 2011″

The following names below will be featured on this years tour; keeping the tradition of the tour our Honoree for 2011 is TROY MARKS, missing from Louisiana.

Count Down Until The Tour!

Al’Quon Flowers	Dori Myers	Jonathan Holley	Rachel Cooke
Allison Jackson Foy	Emillie Victoria Hoyt	Joseph Pike	Raymond G.Walker
Angela Ramsey	Ethan Ellis	Joshua Smith	Ricky Bethea
Angela Rothen	Eva DeBruhl	Juliann Spates	Robert Leo Fremont
Benjamin Lund	Felipe Santos	Kelly Rothwell	Robert Tyrl
Beverly Meadows	Floyd Price	Kimberly Lagwell	Roger Chambers
Brandi Wells	Fransico Cuevas	Kimberly Thrower	Roger Scott Dunn
Brandy Hanna	Gail Palmgren	Krishonda Townsend	Ronald Paul Cabana
Branson Perry	Garrett Hughes	Leah Roberts	Roxanne Paltauf
Brittanee Drexel	Gaston Callum	Lelia Lewis Bryan	Rozalind Wall
Brook Henson	George Skip Zelaya	Lisa Stone	Samantha Smith
Bryan Hayes	Gregory Vice Jr.	Lucely Aramburo	Sarah Kinslow
Cathy Parrott	Hailey Dunn	Lynitta Hargray	Sherri Swims
Chasity Starr	Hope Meeks	Mark Degner	Shirley Hunt
Chris Bartholomew	Jamie Lynn Southgate	Mary Rachel Bryan	Shonda Stansbury
Christina Lynn Lewis	Janie Lindsey Grooms	Mauricio Arcia	Stephen Wolcok
Clartha McLeod	Jarrod Johnston	Megan Maxwell	Tabitha Franklin
Clinton Nelson	Jason Bolton	Melinda Harder	Tamara Toy
Crystal Soles	Jeffery Combs	Michael Austin Davis	Tammy Ferguson
Darryl Miller	Jennifer Kesse	Michael Rustin	Terrance Williams
Deborah Lowe	Jennifer Patterson	Monica Appleton	Timothy Jason Smart
Debra Asbury	Jessica Lowery	Monica Carrasco	Timothy Johnn Schiavo
Dedrick Smith	Jessica Schreiber	Pam Biggers	Troy Lee Jacobs
Delores Melton	John Dial	Pamela Bradshaw	Virginia Wood
Delwin Locklear	John Rowan	Patrick DiFranseco	Wesley Dale Morgan
Donna Michele Barnhill	Jon Shadden	Patti Vaughan	William Pounds
Donnie Payne	Jonathan Brackett	Priscilla Rogers	Yvonne Belcher

    CLICK HERE TO  DOWNLOAD & PRINT OUR 2011 PRESS RELEASE FOR THE TOUR

The national tour is slated for October 21-29, 2011 and the route will be update daily. If you would like to attend a rally stop, be a sponsor, volunteer or get involved, please contact our center at cuecenter@aol.com or call 910-343-1131 anytime. Thank you

The following list of rally stops and host 2011:

Date & time of Stop/Hosted By	Address	City
Friday, October 21, 9:30 am	120 Legend Rd, 28358	Lumberton, NC
Family of Delwin Locklear
Friday, October 21, 11:30 am	3631 Army Road, 28376	Raeford, NC
Family of Roger Chamberlin
Friday, October 21, 4:00 pm	505 Weisner Street, 27127	Winston Salem, NC
Family of Dedrick Smith
Friday, October 21, 6:30 pm	18 North/ 101 NW Market Place 28659	North Wilkesboro, NC
Family of Jeffrey Combs
Saturday, October 22, 1:30 pm	Pruett’s Signal Mountain Market	Signal Mountain, TN
Friends of Gail Palmgren	1210 Taft Hwy, 37377
Saturday, October 22, 4:30 pm	Smith Lake Park	Cullman, Alabama
Family of Tabitha Franklin	416 County Road 385, 35057
Sunday, October 23, 3:00 pm	3916 Pine St., 75401	Greenville, TX
Family of Sarah Kinslow
Sunday, October 23, 7:00 pm	Mineral Wells City Park	Mineral Wells, TX
Family of Krishonda Townsend	1200 West Hubbard Street, 76067
Monday, October 24, 9:30 am	City Lake Park	Mesquite, TX
For the Love of Lisa Org.	403 S Galloway Avenue
Monday, October 24, 2:00 pm	St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church	Killeen, TX
Family of Ben Lund	1000 Florence Road
Monday, October 24, 7:30 pm	4011 Ted Trout Drive, 75904	Hudson, TX
Family of Hope Meeks
Tuesday, October 25, 10:30 am	Claiborne Park (Front Pavillion)	Vidor, TX
AMALP & Family of Kimberly Langwell	4105 North Street, 77662
Tuesday, October 25, 4:00 pm	19202 Highland Road, 70809	Baton Rouge, LA
Family of Troy Marks
Thursday, October 27, 9:30 am	Courtney Campbell Causeway	Tampa, FL
Friends & Family of Kelly Rothwell
Thursday, October 27, 2:00 pm	Fort Pierce City Marina	Fort Pierce, FL
In Memory of Nick Halliday	1 Avenue A, 34950
Thursday, October 27, 7:30 pm	The Church at Argyle	Jacksonville, FL
Family of Austin Davis, Finders HOPE	6823 Argyle Forest Blvd, 32244
Friday, October 28, 2:00 pm	Florence Co. Sheriff’s Office	Effingham, SC
Family of Clartha McLeod, FCSO	Law Enforcement Complex
	6719 Friendfield Road, 29541
Friday, October 28, 4:30 pm	McDonald’s	Georgetown, SC
Family of Garrett Hughes	near: Brittanee Drexel’s Billboard
	307 North Fraser St, 29440
Saturday, October 29, 10:00 am	Chapin Park	Myrtle Beach, SC
Image Publicity	1400 North Kings Highway, 29577
Saturday, October 29, 1:15 pm	Britt Motorsports	Wilmington, NC
Grand Finale	6431 Market Street, 28405
CUE Center for Missing Persons

 

WHAT ARE SOME IDEAS FOR A RALLY STOP?
Candle Light Vigils
Balloon Release
Display Board, Banners, Signs, Marques
Guest Speakers; law enforcement, town/state dignitaries, community leaders, pastor, etc.
Tribute Performances
Tables set up for displays of missing persons photos and information
Public event or safety activities
Invite the public, family, friends and media (our team will aid in media coverage)

WHAT TYPE OF LOCATIONS HAVE BEEN USED FOR RALLY STOPS?
Police – Sheriff Departments
Government Agencies, i.e. Mayor, Town Hall
Parking lots of stores that have frontage or businesses alike
Home of the families of the missing
Parks of any kind or large grassy areas
Local churches, Schools, Community Buildings

National Tour Purpose and Inspiration

The annual tour was created to generate new interest in cold cases of missing people across our nation. The inspiration came in 2004 from the case of North Carolina college student Leah Roberts, who had gone on a cross-country trip of self-exploration. Her wrecked and abandoned vehicle was found, but Leah is still missing. Leah’s case went cold and interest faded until CUE volunteers set out on a grueling 14-day trip to retrace her route and inform the media of all those who were missing in the path of the tour. In the years to follow, it only seemed right to keep hope alive after families across the country voiced the need for more help and supported the tour idea.

National Tour Objective

The national road tour, called “On the Road to Remember,” is an awareness campaign that focuses on missing persons cases that have gone cold or have not received appropriate media coverage on the local level – much less the national level.. The tour, which travels through many states annually, provides that attention.

In all cases of missing people, it is vital to inform the public of the missing person’s circumstances quickly and to disseminate that information to the media and the public. In most cases where details are released immediately to the public through an organized campaign, the public brings forth information that aids in the investigation and or the location of the victim. The media plays a significant role in getting the word out on the behalf of the missing person and should be recognized as a vital resource to any investigation.

Interest in many of the cases we have featured in previous tours has been renewed. The media has learned about local cases they were unaware of; case investigations have been renewed, and searches conducted. Information has resulted in new leads in some cases, and has even helped identify an unknown decedent and in 2008 solved a cold case of twenty eight years. And finally, each tour some of the missing featured have been found from various efforts, which is the main reason we conduct the tour despite the toll it takes on our all-volunteer staff.

It is the belief of the CUE Center for Missing Persons that all investigations, the public, volunteers and the media should work in collaboration on cases involving missing children and adults; until this happens, their will continue to be cases of the missing labeled “cold” or “inactive.”

 

WHAT DO I NEED TO SUBMIT MY MISSING PERSON
Photo
All vital stats on missing person
All agency and law enforcement contact numbers and web sites concerning missing person
Written consent for your missing person to be featured for CUE Center for Missing Persons
Video or other content to be included in the DVD distributed during the tour

CUE Center For Missing Persons Online Campaign

CUE’S SEARCH EFFORT

You can help make a difference by supporting the CUE Center for Missing Persons in its online campaign in an effort to raise funds for their continued search effort for missing children and adults; CUE (Community United Effort) is a 501(c)3 tax exempt national organization.

In 1994 the CUE Center for Missing Persons was founded to aid cases of missing persons; funded entirely by donations, and staffed by volunteers. CUE Founder Monica Caison, has dedicated her life to the plight of missing people; which is focused on finding the missing by way of investigation and active search efforts, advocating for their causes, and supporting their families. Since its inception, CUE has helped more than 9,000 families in what is often the most confusing and desperate times of their lives.

Thank you for any consideration.

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Readers Digest-”Real Hero”

October 26, 2009 by Linda  
Filed under Featured, General

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Building on her experiences as a troubled teen, Ms Caison has developed an unsurpassed reputation as a vigilante for justice in the quest for missing persons. She has built a network of support to assist families to locate their missing loved ones through CUE – Community United Effort ‘Center for Missing Persons’ which she founded in 1994 and which has as its mission – To join efforts with all concerned, seeking closure of tragedies; as we remain in search of the missing. A wife and mother, Ms Caison often sacrifices her time with her family and uses her own resources to ensure that missing family members of people who need her services are not just a statistic. …Read more here

Tags: cue center, Monica Caison, Readers Digest

Missing When people disappear, Monica Caison gets the call.

October 5, 2009 by admin  
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Readers Digest

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Alice Donovan is Found

July 25, 2009 by monica  
Filed under Featured

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Alice Donovan is Found…Monica Caison, FBI Agent Jeff Bruning and search team exit the search zone after the recovery of human remains.

Movie made by Alice Donovan’s daughter Angie.

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People Magazine – The Searcher

March 24, 2009 by admin  
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The Searcher

Article link

By Richard Jerome

When Someone Goes Missing and Clues Dry Up, Many Call in Monica Caison—a North Carolina Volunteer Sleuth Who Specializes in Cases Gone Cold

After her parents died, Leah Roberts felt lost. Inspired by the work of Beat author Jack Kerouac, the 23-year-old North Carolina State student hit the road to reexamine her life. In March 2000 she drove cross-country to Bellingham, Wash. There, that March 13, she bought a ticket to the movie American Beauty. Five days later her Jeep Cherokee was found in a park. “There was no body, no blood,” says her sister Kara, 31. “Her valuables were there—cash, guitar, my mother’s engagement ring. The car’s windows had been busted out and covered with blankets—like someone had been living in it.”

For months Kara prayed for a break in the case, but police had few leads. Then someone told her about Monica Caison, a mother of five from Wilmington, N.C, who has become one of the nation’s foremost citizen sleuths. In 1994 Caison launched the nonprofit Community United Effort (CUE) for Missing Persons. Her goal is to keep unsolved cases—even long cold ones—alive by any means necessary. With help from 5,000 CUE members, Caison prints up flyers, woos the media, raises money and pressures officials to keep the heat on. She also acts as a guardian angel to distraught loved ones. “My concern is what a missing loved one does to a family—it tears them apart,” she says. “Whether they need an aspirin or a call to the governor, I’ll stay with them. Whatever will help.”

She also organizes searches-trudging into remote areas with her German shepherd Heidi. Working with law enforcement, CUE helps in about 600 cases a year; in the vast majority the missing person—or body—is found. “There will be times when there’s a dead end, but Monica never stops,” says Sheriff Hubert Peterkin of Hoke County, N.C. “We can’t afford not to use her.”

Most of Caison’s work, which is funded by donations, centers on North Carolina. But she also travels the country to help in high-profile cases and appears on national TV shows such as Unsolved Mysteries. Still, she’s careful not to give families false hope. “I won’t tell them I will find their loved one,” she says. “I won’t tell them not to worry.”

It’s a lesson she learned in her first high-profile search: the 1998 case of Peggy Carr, a 32-year-old bride-to-be from Wilmington abducted in a carjacking. After seven months in a massive CUE-led search, a volunteer found Carr’s body in a field 50 miles from where she had been taken. Despite the outcome, Carr’s mother, Penny Carr Britton, is grateful: “Monica would sit for hours and just comfort me.” But the heartbreak takes its toll: The case of a 9-year-old boy found stuffed in a suitcase sent Caison to bed for four days. “I was asked to plan the funeral,” she says. “When it came to selecting the casket, I didn’t think I could do it.” She did.

Few would have predicted Caison’s calling when she was growing up, one of 11 children, in St. Petersburg, Fla. When her parents, John, a shoe salesman, and Irene (both deceased), divorced, Caison, who remained with her father, spun out of control. “I started running with gangs,” she says. At 15, though, she went straight after joining her mother in North Carolina. There she met her husband of 20 years, Sam, 40, a subcontractor, and settled down. In 1994 she volunteered for a safety-awareness group that fingerprinted local children. When the group’s director left, Caison took over, and CUE took shape. “I felt compelled to help,” she says.

In her first search Caison helped find a teen runaway in four days. But increasingly, she has specialized in adults like Leah Roberts-whose loved ones don’t have the resources available to families of missing kids. Five years have passed, but Caison has kept working the case, taking a caravan of volunteers on a Road to Remember tour last year to trace Leah’s route west. “She won’t give up until we find her,” says Kara Roberts. And no matter what happens, Caison says she’ll keep searching for missing persons. “We do it,” she says, “because everyone is someone’s child.”

Richard Jerome. Michaele Ballard in Charlotte, N.C, and Kristin Harmel in Charleston, S.C.

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Looking for Leah

For five years Kara Roberts has held out hope that her little sister Leah will somehow return home. With Monica Caison’s help, she is still searching for her

When I think of Leah, I think of the bond we had growing up. We’re two years apart, and we took care of each other in difficult times. She blossomed into a beautiful young woman and talked of joining the Peace Corps. Leah could often be found in a coffee shop writing in her composition book, and I thought maybe one day she’d write the great American novel. Now, when I drive by a cafe, I think of her. In a weird way it’s a comfort, like when I hear the song “Circle,” by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, which she loved. Or when I see a bag of Cheetos and think how she loved them when she was little. Thinking of Leah also makes me feel lost. I always felt the need to look out for her-and it’s hard to know I can’t protect her now.

If you have information about the whereabouts of Leah Roberts, please contact the Whatcom County, Wash., Sheriff at (360) 676-6707, Det. Joseph, Ext. 50445 or CUE at (910) 232-1687.

Tags: Leah Roberts, Monica Caison, Peggy Carr, People Magazine