| | As Mother's Day approaches, our thoughts turn to gratitude for the incredible women in our lives—mothers, grandmothers, wives, partners, and all the outstanding women who brighten our days. We hope you have a wonderful weekend planned to celebrate the special women in your lives. However, Mother's Day isn't a joyful occasion for everyone. This year, we also recognize and send extra love to mothers and families enduring the unimaginable pain of a missing or exploited child. As you celebrate this important day, please take a moment to think about and honor these brave mothers. At the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, we are committed to reducing the number of families who face such heartbreak. We're making strides every day, but we need your help. Donate to support NCMEC's efforts to bring children home. With a gift of any amount you can select "dedicate my donation" to send an eCard to your mom or in honor of a loved one, showing them how they've inspired you to help families in need. Make your Mother's Day gift a donation to NCMEC. A Mother's Dying Plea: Find Your Little Sister On a warm Saturday in June 2003, after spending the day with her mom and older sister Karlee, 5-year-old LeeAnna Warner took off to play with a friend before dinner. When she was late coming home, her mom sent Karlee to look for her; she had seen LeeAnna walking to her friend’s house just a block over. Unfortunately, that would be the last time her family ever saw her.
Today, nearly 21 years later and despite intensive efforts to find LeeAnna and national publicity about her disappearance, no one has figured out what happened that day. Here at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), we’ve just released a new age progression (featured here) of what LeeAnna might look like today. Now her sisters, Karlee VanLoo and Whitney Schupp, 31 and 30 respectively, who were just children themselves when their sister disappeared and weren’t even sure what being kidnapped meant, have taken over the search for LeeAnna, who would now be 26 years old. Their mother, Kaelin Warner, died of Stage 4 lung cancer on Dec. 10, 2022, just 42 days after she was diagnosed. Finding LeeAnna was her dying wish. The sisters said LeeAnna’s disappearance completely broke their mother, and she was never the same. “I remember she was crying hysterically,” Whitney said of her mother, who expressed her wishes before she went to the hospital. “I’m not dying. I'm not dying. But if I do die, I need you and Karlee to find your sister. Give us the answers that we need. Don't stop searching. Bring her home. That's all I want from you. That's all I need from you.” This new age progression will be featured on billboards in the sister's hometown of Chisholm, Minnesota, in the hopes that someone who knows something will finally come forward. If you have information about LeeAnna’s disappearance, call 1-800-843-5678. Read this full story online. |
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