The Province
Sunday, July 31, 1994
Sad anniversary for mom
By Clare Ogilvie Staff Reporter
Judy Nicholls is living a nightmare that won't end. A year ago today her 15-year-old
daughter Lindsey disappeared. "I just can't imagine where she has been
for a year," the worried Comox mom said. "It's been very difficult.
It's been a never-ending nightmare. It just won't end."
Nicholls, her husband and their 12-year-old daughter Kim are desperate for
Lindsey to come home. "I hope she is safe," she said. "I just
wish that she would come home. She has a family who loves her and wants her
to come home." They hope Lindsey will contact them, or someone will recognize
her picture, phone and let them know she is safe. Nicholls admits her daughter
was a troubled teen who had run away before. Most of Lindsey's unhappiness,
she said, stemmed from their move from Delta to Comox in 1992.
After Lindsey ran away the first time, she came home and asked her parents
if she could go into foster care because she was unhappy. She wasn't doing well
in school and she missed her friends in Delta. "She said she wanted to
live in a foster home and, in order to keep her safe, I agreed," said Nicholls,
who has appeared on national TV to plead for her daughter to return. "I
figured she might get there and realize that life is not that much different
and that people have rules everywhere.
"The last time I talked to her was a year ago. They had just placed her
in foster care and she told me she was fine, but she didn't seem to like it.We
spoke for quite a while and I asked her if she was OK and she said yes and I
asked her if there was anything she needed and she said no. "I mean, there
was no major fight. I told her I missed her. I told her I loved her. That was
the last thing I said to her."
"We went away for the weekend and when we came back on Monday they told
us she hadn't come home the night before." Nicholls said there have been
reported sightings but she isn't convinced the girl seen was Lindsey. She said
she can't help but fear the worst. "Who knows what could have happened
to her in the last year. It's just really frightening.There isn't a kid on the
street ..that isn't at risk There is no safe place on the street."
"I just have to sit back and wait and hope the next call I get isn't from
the police saying they've found her dead."
Lindsey is about five feet, three inches tall, 115 pounds, with green eyes
and blonde hair..If you have information call police or the Missing Children
Society of Canada at 1-800-661-6160.
LINDSEY NICHOLLS
teen had run away before
