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VALDOSTA — Mary McGrath and Mary Ramsbottom have had no solutions for 20 years.
Twenty years in the past, Oct. 13, 2002, Paula Wade, then 25, and her 3-year-old son, Brandon, disappeared.
Paula was final seen Oct. 12, 2002, leaving her job on the Sam’s Membership in Valdosta.
On Oct. 14, 2002, McGrath and Ramsbottom acquired the decision that Paula had not come into work and was assumed lacking.
Twenty years. No solutions.
For McGrath, Paula’s mom and Brandon’s grandmother, and Ramsbottom, her sister and his aunt, and different household, which incorporates brother Regis, that’s not solely 20 years of missed holidays and birthdays, it’s 20 years every day.
“I used to be robbed of 20 years of rising outdated with my sister,” Ramsbottom mentioned. “We had been robbed of seeing Brandon develop as much as develop into a person. In our minds, he’s nonetheless a 3-year-old eager to play ball.”
Brandon can be 23 now. Paula can be 46 on Oct. 30.
“Similar to it’s occurred at the moment,” McGrath mentioned. “Regardless that it’s been 20 years, it by no means goes away. It’s a nightmare that by no means ends.”
Trying Again
McGrath and Ramsbottom spoke with The Valdosta Each day Occasions within the days main as much as the twentieth anniversary.
The Valdosta Police Division nonetheless considers the Wades lacking particular person case open however has publicly reported no new leads in years.
The main points stay nearly the identical as they did 20 years in the past.
Paula Wade moved to Valdosta together with her husband. Within the Air Power, he was assigned to Moody Air Power Base. They’d their son, Brandon, however the marriage failed.
Brandon’s father is just not an individual of curiosity within the case, in line with police in previous interviews. He continued serving within the navy and has served abroad, in line with police.
By the point of October 2002, he was assigned to a different navy base out of state. Brandon’s father/Paula’s ex-husband has all the time cooperated within the investigation, in line with the VPD.
Paula had labored just a few years at Sam’s Membership. She and Brandon lived with one in all her mates in an residence at The Commons. She drove a 1998 Chevy Blazer, in line with household experiences.
Paula was not identified to be a part of a celebration crowd, in line with police. She was not an individual to abruptly depart city. She was an excellent worker at work. She was planning to maneuver from Valdosta, returning dwelling to her dad and mom in Florida.
She contacted her dad and mom frequently at the least as soon as every week. There is no such thing as a identified cause why she would really feel compelled to abruptly disappear, in line with police.
On Saturday, Oct. 12, 2002, Paula labored her shift at Sam’s and was off the clock by mid-afternoon. That’s the final time anybody reported seeing Paula Wade alive.
On Monday, Oct. 14, she didn’t report for work. Her absence involved her fellow Sam’s staff. Twice, a Sam’s advertising staff chief despatched an worker to examine Paula Wade’s residence. There was no signal of Paula or Brandon, although her automobile was parked within the lot.
Police describe her residence as wanting “lived-in” however there have been no indicators of wrestle.
Valdosta police filed a lacking individuals report however neither Paula nor Brandon has been reported seen since.
Valdosta police have reported exploring quite a few leads within the case.
On a number of events, cadaver canine have explored wooded areas close to the residence complicated, discovering solely animal bones.
A number of years in the past, a forensic anthropologist visited areas, offering pertinent info concerning topography, and different specifics, whereas formulating “what-if” theories.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation have participated within the case. So have the Nationwide Middle for Lacking and Exploited Kids, the Polly Klaas Basis and the Nationwide Middle for Lacking Adults.
However relations nonetheless wake every day questioning what occurred to Paula and Brandon?
On the lookout for Solutions
Anyone is aware of one thing.
McGrath and Ramsbottom have mentioned that innumerable instances.
“Anyone someplace is aware of one thing,” Ramsbottom mentioned. “I by no means thought I’d nonetheless be saying that 20 years later however anyone should know one thing. … We by no means thought we’d see a 20-year anniversary with no solutions. Nothing.”
The Wades vanished earlier than the period of social media.
Now, there are social media networks that assist collect info in addition to lacking particular person help teams for households who’ve skilled related losses and have related questions.
“We didn’t have that community from the beginning,” Ramsbottom mentioned. “It was simply us.”
For a few years, photocopied flyers that included pictures of Paula and Brandon had been common sights on public billboards in Valdosta and Lowndes County.
Relations visited South Georgia to speak to individuals, to distribute flyers, to search for solutions.
Mary McGrath and Mary Ramsbottom dwell in Orlando, Fla., however nonetheless periodically go to the Valdosta space.
In more moderen visits, handing out new flyers, Ramsbottom mentioned native individuals say they’d believed the case had been resolved years in the past. That Paula and Brandon had been discovered. Some individuals, she mentioned, thought the story had a contented ending and are stunned to study the mom and son had been by no means discovered.
“Day by day, it’s a bit of you,” McGrath mentioned. “Some days you could have hope. You hear the tales there are individuals discovered alive years later however it’s a perpetual loss.”
McGrath’s husband, Regis, died with out having any solutions a number of years in the past.
“My husband’s up there, wanting down and he is aware of one thing now, about what occurred,” she mentioned. “We used to say to one another, in case you go first, give the opposite an indication. … Two months after he handed away, a detective known as me from California. It didn’t result in something however I hoped it’d.”
At all times Trying
So the household retains asking questions, retains wanting and retains praying as a result of they consider somebody on the market is aware of one thing and possibly this time that somebody will come ahead.
Whereas the household asks what occurred, individuals have a number of questions for relations.
“Individuals all the time ask, How do you go on? How do you retain wanting?” Ramsbottom mentioned. “Why would I cease? I’m by no means going to cease, both to my final breath or till we’ve solutions.”
Anybody with info could name the Valdosta Police Division’s investigation bureau, (229) 293-3145; or the VPD’s nameless tip line, (229) 293-3091.
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