By Andrew Dys
06/16/06
Opal Phillips never saw her daughter again. Maybe, 29 years later, somebody knows what happened to Eva DeBruhl.
Her family clings to a cliff of hope. Eva was 15 when she disappeared from her home southeast of Rock Hill on June 29, 1977.
Her grandmother saw a white man on the porch, police say, but nobody saw anything else.
York County deputies have investigated the case time and again through the years.
First was a massive police and community search. Leads through the years, like links to a serial killer, ended unfounded.
Bones found turned out to belong to somebody else. Two skulls found as recently as last summer were male. More dead ends.
The search consumed the family for years. Every corpse police found, the DeBruhls hoped. Every arrest, they prayed. Nothing.
Detectives have reopened the case several times. Sheriffs Lt. Tim Hager said all crimes against persons officers are required to review the case file each year, hoping fresh eyes see something new.
Recently, the State Law Enforcement Division created a computer enhanced image of what Eva might look like now, at age 44, if she were alive. Willard DeBruhl, Evas father, died in 1997, long after he quit his auto mechanic job and sold his house to spend his money and life in a fruitless search.
My daddy died of a broken heart, said Tami Settlemyer, one of Evas two sisters. The family blames no one for 29 years of shattered hope.
Not law enforcement. They just have no idea what happened that summer day.
If someone kidnapped Eva, even killed her, Evas two sisters and mother say each has forgiven that person.
But we are no closer to knowing what happened now than we were then, said Elaine Tyre, Evas other sister. On Saturday in Rock Hill, one organization that specializes in trying to find missing people will come to York County to shine another light on the case.
Tyres daughter-in-law recently contacted the Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons after doing Internet searches about Eva. Monica Caison, who has run the Wilmington, N.C.-based center for 13 years, is in the midst of a multistate tour covering 74 missing people. The group tries to help law enforcement get the word out about cold cases.
Caison researched the case and agreed to help. Evas case is the second-oldest the organization is working on, she said. It gives us hope, said Opal Phillips, Evas mother.
Hope isnt hope that Eva is alive. Her mother does not believe her daughter is alive. Her sisters dont, either. But they can hope to finally find out what happened.
Evas mother and sisters are devout Christians. Each has forgiven whoever took Eva if she was kidnapped and killed. But they want to know why ,why a 15-year-old girl disappears near Rock Hill without a trace.
Lt. Hager is a parent. Like Opal Phillips. I cant imagine what its been like for 29 years, he said. I cant claim to understand how they feel. But what we can do is keep trying.
Along with the age-enhanced photo, the two sisters and Phillips recently gave the sheriffs office DNA samples so if any evidence is found a bone fragment, anything detectives can use the newest technology to try and match DeBruhls DNA, Capt. Jerry Hoffman said.
Evas enhanced picture also is on file also with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Hoffman said. Saturday, the family will be there at a rally. Hoffman will be there, too.
A family hopes that somehow 29 years of suffering can disappear with a thread of information. A tip. A lead. Anything, Phillips said. We just want it to be over.