In early October, 27-year-old Kelly Dwyer told her father that she loved him. On October 11th, Kelly Dwyer went missing.
A month later, Kelly is still missing. Efforts to locate her continue, while her family and friends worry and her parents nightmare increases daily.
As the search continues, this young woman from Chicago who was last seen in Milwaukee risks becoming a statistic. Those statistics are frightening.
According to Crime Library, 2,300 Americans are reported missing every day. This figure includes adults and children. Six times as many people are reported missing now than were reported 25 years ago.
http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html
Happy endings do not happen frequently enough. Three young girls who were abducted in Cleveland recently escaped after a decade of captivity. After being sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years, kidnapper Ariel Castro committed suicide in prison in September of 2013. The girls have been physically and mentally scarred, but they are alive.
Elizabeth Smart was another girl who was lucky enough to escape from her captor after several months in captivity.
Unfortunately, for every missing person who resurfaces, others are discovered only after it is too late. Such was the case with Chandra Levy. Levy, a 24-year-old intern in Washington, DC disappeared in May 2001. Authorities found her remains in May 2002. Seven years later, authorities arrested a suspect who was ultimately convicted in her murder.
For parents, the only thing worse than being predeceased by their child is not knowing what happened.
Authorities admit that missing persons become more difficult to find as time goes by. The first few days and weeks are critical. Leads go cold, and police departments are not blessed with unlimited budgets to pursue cases indefinitely. This leads to numerous unsolved missing persons cases every year.
Public participation is essential to increase chances of finding a missing person and maintaining pressure on authorities to continue to investigate. What one president once called “armies of compassion” need to be deployed as quickly as possible to support the effort to find the missing.
A small army of compassion is currently searching for Kelly Dwyer. Now is the time to give her a large army.
One objective is to track down leads and analyze evidence. Another task is to physically search for her.
In tracking down leads, researchers must separate facts from innuendo and focus on the main task: finding Kelly.
A 38-year-old man named Kris Zocco told police he was with Kelly Dwyer the night before she disappeared. Radio station WTMJ 620 in Wisconsin seems to have confirmed this information, reporting the existence of video surveillance of Kelly Dwyer entering Zocco’s condo building, the Park Lafayette, the night before she disappeared. There is no corresponding video showing her leaving.
Zocco told authorities he and Dwyer did cocaine in his apartment the night before her disappearance. Authorities then named Zocco as “a person of interest” in the case and arrested him on drug charges. After searching his apartment, authorities also arrested Zocco for possession of child pornography. He posted bail and was released on Nov. 6.
Authorities have not publicly commented on Zocco’s statements concerning Dwyer. The Milwaukee Police Department says the case remains open and authorities continue to investigate the possibility of foul play in her disappearance.
On November 13th, the Dwyer family put up a $10,000 reward for any information that leads directly Kelly’s whereabouts. Dwyer’s parents Tony and Maureen Dwyer, confirmed the reward amount.
Anybody with information or leads should call 414-935-7401 or 414-935-7405. The latter number is the Milwaukee Police Department’s Sensitive Crimes division.
For those wishing to aid in the search, Cheryl Burton of the Chicago ABC affiliate offered valuable location information. The Menomonee Falls landfill is where the trash from Zocco’s condo building is delivered. For those unfamiliar with Wisconsin, the neighborhood Dwyer was last spotted is located in the East side of Milwaukee.
For those who want to pray in person, there are plenty of churches in the Milwaukee area. Elmbrook Church is the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield is the largest church in Wisconsin, with weekly attendance of 7,000 people. Chabad of Milwaukee is where the city’s large Jewish contingent prays.
For those savvy with social media, the Kelly Dwyer Search Effort Facebook page is another avenue to share information. For those doing internet searches, disregard any information connected to a columnist who writes about basketball. That is a different Kelly Dwyer who is male, safe, and sound.
For anybody with an ounce of spare time, please help in the search for Kelly Dwyer and any other missing individuals.
Where there is love, there is always hope.
