TX TX - Deanna Merryfield, 13, Killeen, 22 July 1990 - #1

[LionRun]

Missie, that is great! Best to you, and please keep us posted. And, you are welcome, friend. Please let me know what else I can do.

Lion

 

[Jaded]

Yes, definitely keep us posted. Hopefully someone will respond to you.

 

[lostwithoutyou]

hi - i just wanted to say that i really admire your courage, MissieMT. i think you are very brave and strong for keeping up the fight for justice for your sister. i know that it is hard to remain strong and positive in a situation like this. i really hope you will receive closure soon, and deanna and your family will be in my prayers.

 

[Anita Richman]

Hi Missie! Throughout the day I was able to read about your sister and your brave search for answers. God bless you with strength and keep you until you find what you need!!!

 

[MissieMt]

I can't believe it, I have not heard back from a single person I wrote to! I guess there is other stuff going on, or they are trying to get ducks in a row to write a story. I think if it were the latter someone would have written back, but ya gotta keep hoping! I will still hold off before looking into purchasing an ad, but I think that will be my next step.

 

[LionRun]

Awe shucks, Missie:blowkiss:. Let's hope that there is still hope and someone writes you back expressing interest. Please let me know if you need help with the ad, as I will be glad to help you. Keep the faith, dear friend.

Lion

 

[LionRun]

BTW, are you feeling any better today?

Lion

 

[MissieMt]

Hi Lion, thank you sooo much-you are too kind! I'm starting to feel a little better!
I just had a light bulb go on about 20 mins. ago and got so excited I called my sisters right away. We are gonna work on planning a remberence service for Deanna in Killeen. Perhaps that would be news worthy. And even if it isn't, well people who still live there and knew her would probably show up! I'm so excited! Not sure when this would happen, since it will probably take a few months to figure it all out. I'm not even sure where we would have it, shoot I haven't even asked my husband if we could make a trip there, but I know he would say yes. I will post more as it's planned!:woohoo:

 

[petra]

Hi Lion, thank you sooo much-you are too kind! I'm starting to feel a little better!
I just had a light bulb go on about 20 mins. ago and got so excited I called my sisters right away. We are gonna work on planning a remberence service for Deanna in Killeen. Perhaps that would be news worthy. And even if it isn't, well people who still live there and knew her would probably show up! I'm so excited! Not sure when this would happen, since it will probably take a few months to figure it all out. I'm not even sure where we would have it, shoot I haven't even asked my husband if we could make a trip there, but I know he would say yes. I will post more as it's planned!:woohoo:

Great idea Missie.....what a lovely thought.

Hope this brings some answers to your sister's whereabouts!!!

 

[MissieMt]

Forgive me guys, I'm going to try to keep this short because I'm really too sick to be on here, but want to get this info posted somewhere before I forget. A lot has happened today. A friend from porchlight international thought she had a possible match for Deanna so she submitted it to Sgt.Davis and the north carolina le involved. It was this one:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/558ufnc.html

I was pretty certain it wasn't Deanna, but get this: Within 2 hours of her emailing that to them Sgt.Davis calls me! He had spoken to the LE in North Carolina (Tim Horne) and got his personal numbers for me to call him. Sgt. Davis said he has not forgotten about Deanna, he never will, but that he has been really busy with other cases, and he is basically being forced to work Deanna's case on his down time. He made a personal promise to me that he will work his hardest on Deanna, and said he wants her case solved before he retires (not sure if thats in 5 days or 50 years, but still, good news). I also spoke to Tim Horne, and found out that Doe did in fact have a fracture in one of her lower arms, he can't remember which, but he will find out. The scar is on her leg not an appendix scar which was my first impression when reading her discription. With all of this being said, we still are not convinced it's a good match for Deanna.
Anyways, I now know what gets Sgt. Davis moving though-and that is possible matches. He will be away for the next 2 weeks, which gives me some time to look into more possible matches and all of that.
For now-I'm gonna go!

 

[MissieMt]

Great idea Missie.....what a lovely thought.

Hope this brings some answers to your sister's whereabouts!!!

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner.
Thank you so much Petra for your kind words, everyone is so encouraging here and it really helps to keep me inspired!

 

[sloane]

Wow, Missie!! :dance:
This is all good news. I was going to post and tell you what a lovely idea I thought the remembrance service is...PLEASE keep us informed as to the where and when, you never know which one of us may show up!!:blowkiss:

Now this call from Sgt. Davis is also good news! (I don't know why he couldn't have at least touched base w/ you all those weeks you were waiting, just to let you know he's available to you...how long does an e-mail take to write?) But anyway, I am sooo glad that you two made contact again. I am sometimes surprised the more I find out just how small some agencies are, at how few resources and manpower they really have (or don't have). So I always try to give them the benefit of the doubt. Sounds like you did, too. I'm encouraged that he let you know a little about his personal stance on her case. you must feel re-energized!

Were you able to ask him about the status of getting your family's DNA kits started? If leads are going to start coming in, then he'll need to have that on-file. One of my other UID cases (not on WS) was recently confirmed by DNA for a positive match, so I guess it's fresh on my mind.

I hope you get to feeling better. It's probabaly taking longer for you to recover bec. you're working so hard...mom, wife, packing, Deanna's case, and whatever else...do you work outside the home as well? It is a lot to keep up with. Give yourself time to rest, okay?

warmly,

 

[MissieMt]

Thank you Sloane, so nice to see you on again :blowkiss: . I'm definitely feeling re-energized (even though I'm still sick,lol). So far the remembrance ceremony will probably be in the fall. I would love to have it July 22nd, but that's just too soon, and I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it sooner:doh: .
I think Sgt. Davis' heart is in the right place, but I get the impression that at the end of the day he is not left with much time to work on Deanna's case. I'd love to go there and demand that they assign someone to work one her case exclusively but we all know that's just not feasible. He said he will wait until he gets back in town (July 9th) to do the DNA. Amy might be the one to submit, because she has been taking trips to Killeen often to care of our Grandma.
I don't work outside of the home, which is great for doing this type of stuff. I'm also going to look into volunteering for some sort of missing person organization once we are moved, but I don't think there are too many in Mississippi. Can you believe they only have 11 people on the NCMEC? I think they are seriously lacking here when it comes to things like that.

 

[LionRun]

Missie, I am glad to hear that Sgt. Davis has contacted you. I imagine it is possible that the UID Princess Doe is Deanna, but I understand that the chances are not necessarily high. I recall seeing that Princess Doe on the doe network, and I thought it was a possible match, but not to the point where I brought it up. The age is somewhat tricky(15-25), and no mention was made of a healed fracture of the lower arm. But, now we know this Princess did have a healed fracture, so I imagine it is possible that this is Deanna. Please keep us posted, and I am here for you in any way you need fro me to be, no matter the news.

According to the doe network, this Princess Doe's wisdom teeth were unerupted. Unless the wisdom teeth are impacted(dental x-rays should be able to determine this), they erupt between the ages of 17 and 21. So, I wonder if this princess Doe is not more likely in the 15 to 2 age range--unless her wisdom teeth were impacted, and the authorities didn't mention it. The healed fracture wasn't mentioned, so we don't know what else may not have been mentioned.

Best to you dear Missie:blowkiss:.

Lion

 

[MissieMt]

You are right Lion, they could be off on the age. Tim Horne said the M.E. is pretty convinced that she is about 20, but I doubt ever ME is perfect right? The other thing that threw me off is she had 3 cavities, which had been repaired. We know Deanna had one. Tim Horne didn't mention the state of the wisdom teeth, and I didn't think to ask if they were impacted.

 

[LionRun]

Ah, if you are sure that Deanna had just one cavity, then this may help rule this out as Deanna. Chances are from July of 1990 to September of 1990 she didn't get more dental work. But, the good thing is that people are searching for matches.

Lion

 

[MissieMt]

Dear (edited out my real name),
I am sorry I am just now getting back to you, but I am working on the
story that you sent into the newsroom. I will be asking the police
questions tomorrow about the case.
However, I was wondering if you could talk to you sometime about your
sister and your search for her.
Thank you very much for providing so much infromation already.
You can call me at (edited). I should be in the office tomorrow
morning starting around 9 a.m. Feel free to call me, or if you want
you can drop me yourr number and I can call you.

Thank you for your time,
Mason W. Canales, Killeen Daily Herald police reporter.

That is an email I just recieved today!!! Thank you again LionRun for putting that letter together for me!!!!!!
:dance:

 

[MissieMt]

This sure is a roller coaster ride....
I just tried to call the reporter and it went to voice mail, but that's okay, I left my information.
The big blow: I just tried to call the NCMEC to get her listed. Since I didn't have custody of her at the time that she went missing, I can't do it. I have to get Sgt.Davis to do it. He's out of his office until July 9th. Even then I will be surprised if he does it. I have asked him previously to list her on the Texas Missing Person Clearinghouse ( I even sent him the link to the form to fill out) and he didn't do it. How am I supposed to get people to take this seriously if she isn't even listed in the NCMEC?! Ugh-I'm so upset right now I can't even think.:banghead:

 

[aj1020]

This sure is a roller coaster ride....
I just tried to call the reporter and it went to voice mail, but that's okay, I left my information.
The big blow: I just tried to call the NCMEC to get her listed. Since I didn't have custody of her at the time that she went missing, I can't do it. I have to get Sgt.Davis to do it. He's out of his office until July 9th. Even then I will be surprised if he does it. I have asked him previously to list her on the Texas Missing Person Clearinghouse ( I even sent him the link to the form to fill out) and he didn't do it. How am I supposed to get people to take this seriously if she isn't even listed in the NCMEC?! Ugh-I'm so upset right now I can't even think.:banghead:

Hi Missie! I've been following your search for your sister over the last couple weeks - you are definitely brave and an amazing sister to dedicate your time and efforts to her search. I just had a thought - if Deanna was in your grandmother's custody (maybe??) when she went missing would it be possible to have your grandmother add her to the NCMEC? I know my grandmother is more than computer-illiterate and that would be a lot to ask, but is it worth a shot? Just an idea. Good luck on your quest, I'll keep watching your journey!

 

[MissieMt]

Thank you aj1020, I had the same thought about my grandma doing it. I don't think our grandmother had legal guardianship of Deanna at the time, and her health is getting worse so I think it would be hard for her to do this.
I'm so frustrated right now, but I think most of it is with other things and this was just the proverbial "straw that broke the camels back". I just got finished speaking to my husband, and he made a very good point. There is a reporter interested in her story now, so Killeen police dept. is going to have a lot more eyes on them. Sgt. Davis will probably be more inclined to get her in the NCMEC faster once her story is in the media.
I don't blame Sgt.Davis for this case moving so slowly. It was fumbled 17 years ago, and not just by Killeen PD, but by everyone involved.