Each morning as I check my email, there is a Google alert for missing persons from South Carolina, my home state. Usually I know about most of the missing because of networking on Facebook and various missing persons sites, however, I had not heard of Rebecca Lynn Simmons who has been missing since May 8, 2011 from a WalMart parking lot in Anderson County.
Two things bothered me about this particular missing mother. The first thing I do is check the news stories, other missing persons sites, Google and Facebook to see if there is further information about the case. As I found the page on Facebook that her family members put up (with only 55 "likes") I was struck by something sounding familiar. One of the members posted a response from one of their local news outlets:
"
...investigators say they don't believe foul play is involved or that she is in any danger. Please know I realize you and your family are still concerned about her well being. Because she is an adult and investigators don't believe she is in harms way (at this time) there's nothing I can do story wise." (June 30)
Unfortunately, this is a typical response when an adult goes missing. The first news reports didn't go out until July 13. This is outrageous! Two months have passed and no one has taken the pleas of this family seriously. Precious evidence is already gone which could have clues as to what happened to Rebecca Lynn Simmons.
The second thing that bothered me greatly was the last place she was seen was a WalMart parking lot. Memories of
Alice Donovan came flooding back to me. Alice was one of the first missing mothers I wrote about, the case from which this blog was born. Luckily, her family knew to check certain records immediately and were able to get investigators to react quickly. Although Alice was abducted, tortured and murdered, her killers were caught and are now on death row. Her remains would not be found for 6 years, leaving the worst nightmare for her daughters and other family members to live through.
News accounts say that Rebecca Lynn Simmons had an active warrant for a probation violation. Perhaps she wasn't on the right side of the law, and that's a reason that authorities believed she may have walked away from her life, but it's not a good enough reason not to actively look for her. Her family, as thousands of others, didn't know what to do first, she wasn't reported missing until May 31, again, losing precious time.
Simmons’ mother, Jewell Craig, said she has kept a picture of her daughter in her pocket since she disappeared. "It just makes me feel a little better. Even though I don't know where she is, I got this and I can say, 'I love you,' to her picture," said Craig. "When I change my shirt, I take it out and put it in my clean shirt."
The family of Rebecca Lynn Simmons has entered the world of the missing. It's a world where no one has chosen to be, but are thrust into it by circumstances. My hope is that they will be able to connect to the good people who will do what they can to help. They need many, many different kinds of help, from support to passing out flyers, from prayer to someone to assist them with law enforcement and media attention.
Perhaps they will contact
CUE Center for Missing Persons to get that help. Monica Caison and her group of volunteers are the best in the nation and can possibly make a change in direction for this missing mother case.
CUE Center can be reached 24 hours a day at 910-232-1687.
Rebecca Lynn Simmons had no money, and her cell phone has been cut off since she went missing. Authorities, two months later, admit there may be foul play connected with her vanishing.
Simmons is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall with blonde hair, hazel eyes and tattoos on both sides of her neck.
Simmons’ family has also set up a Facebook account dedicated to finding her.
To see the Facebook page,
click here.
Lynn was driving a 1994 Ford Ranger. The tag expired on 5/31/2011. The truck is GRAY and the bottom is spray painted BLUE.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office at 864-260-4400.
UPDATE
July 15, 2011........Rebecca Lynn Simmons has been found.
ANDERSON, SC (FOX Carolina) -
The Anderson County Coroner's Office said Friday that a body found in an abandoned well on Thursday was that of a woman missing since May.
The well was located on property in a remote area off Hurricane Creek Road.
Chad McBride, of the Anderson County Sheriff's Office, said an investigator was at the property when he looked down into the well and saw what appeared to be human remains at the bottom.
Crews were sent into the well and determined that the investigator did indeed see a human body.
The Anderson County Coroner's Office said Friday afternoon that the remains are that of 45-year-old Rebecca Simmons.
Simmons's family said she had been missing since May 8.
Watch FOX Carolina News at 6:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. for the latest on this developing story.
