The pain - and hope - never ends

By Tracy Tjaden

Judy Nicholls knows the pain that is part of talking to reporters about her missing daughter Lindsey.She's been doing it for more than two and a half years now. But what wrenched her heart when she took out the folder of newspaper clippings this time was the yellow tinge that now covers the corners of the articles, seeming almost to creep across the entire page. Not knowing is her biggest fear, she said. Her eyes fill with tears and her voice cracks when she talks about the unthinkable possibility. She knows she's heading into a difficult time as Missing Children's Week, May 19-25, approaches.

The Comox mother is going to keep busy that week by organizing a volunteer campaign to raise public awareness for the Missing Children's Society of Canada. "I have not given up," Nicholls said. "One thing that keeps me going is that I know I've done everything I can."

She has to keep busy. It's a coping technique that helps her go on in the midst of a search the society embarked on which hasn't turned up a concrete lead into finding her runaway daughter. Lindsey - 14-years old when she left her Comox home on August 2, 1993 - wasn't happy when her family moved away from their Delta neighbourhood when her RCMP father was transferred to the Courtenay detachment.

But Nicholls said she never expected this. Now, she said she just needs to know her daughter - 5'3" with blonde hair and green eyes - is all right. "I have so much to tell her," she said. "I miss her. I love her. I need to know she's safe and happy." Nicholls' other daughter, 14­year-old Kim, also desperately misses her sister, she said. When asked how she goes on, Nicholls' response is that she has no choice.

She said she doesn't know what she would have done if the Calgary-based society that investigates cases of missing children hadn't stepped in when they did. "You just can't imagine what it is like sitting at a computer putting together your own child's `missing' poster under that kind of stress," she said. “...changing the font so it looks right, finding the right photo...". She phoned the society after seeing a poster of Michael Dunahee - a missing Victoria boy - in a corner grocery store. "Within hours they had taken over," she said. "The faxed me a registration and I sent it by courier back immediately and they were on the case."

The Society launched a massive poster campaign across B.C., hired the reputable Vancouver private investigative firm which employs ex­Mounties like Fred Maile, who worked on the Clifford Olsen case, and put its own team of investigators on the job. The non-profit organization dedicated to the professional, active and ongoing search for runaway and abducted children works to help the police and the parents in their search for the missing child. It also gives ongoing hope and moral support to the searching parents and their families, and is dedicated to setting up a network of professionals in related fields to assist in the search and recovery of missing children.

"I'm doing what I can to find her but I never could have had the money, know-how or resources to embark on this kind of investigation," Nicholls said. An investigation like the one for Lindsey can cost upwards of $150,000. For funding, the Society - with 11 employees - relies only on the generosity of the public. Donations are put towards actively searching for missing children, keeping up the toll-free tip line used to receive tips and collect information relevant to cases and to distribute identification posters. The Society has found 201 children since it was founded 10 years ago. Lead investigator and founder of the Society Rhonda Morgan said Lindsey's is the hardest case she's tried to crack. "We went into this case feeling it would be resolved quickly and it has not turned out the way we expected," Morgan said, from her office in Calgary.

The Society interviewed friends and family, covered parts of the United States and Eastern Canada with posters and arranged media interviews in an attempt to drum up possible leads, but they all turned up empty. "This has turned out to be the hardest run-away case I've ever worked on," Morgan said. She and another Society investigator have scheduled a trip to Victoria in April to launch another massive poster campaign.

"This is still a very active file," Morgan said. "Our files remain open until the child is located."

For her part, Nicholls said she's getting geared up for Missing Children Week coming up in May, when she plans to organize a local public aware­ness campaign combined with door to door fundraising for the Society. Volunteers are needed to help during the campaign.

For more information, phone 339-9965.

Lindsey Nicholls ran away from Comox August 2, 1993, when she was 14­years old. If you know any­thing about the 5'3", blonde haired, green eyed teen, call the Courtenay RCMP immediately.