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I-TeamI-Team: Missing ChildrenBy John Mercure
The next time someone in your family leaves for school or work - imagine how horrible it would be if they never came home.
That's reality for dozens, perhaps hundreds of Wisconsin's families who have lost a family member... and have no idea where they are.
A crowd of more than 100 people gathered in our state capitol today for a special ceremony honoring those who have helped find Wisconsin's missing... and remembering those who are lost.
Among them was Charlotte Marsh of Milwaukee. On Easter Sunday, her granddaughter Eden disappeared. She'd run away before. But she always came home. This time, there's been no word.
"You don't think it's gonna happen to us, but it could happen to anyone," she said tearfully.
Runaways like Eden particularly concern Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen.
"They're the most vulnerable victims because they're the ones looking for a sense of belonging, they may have problems and they're looking for the grass being greener on the other side of the fence," he said.
Exploitation and abuse worry Charlotte Marsh. "There should not be a public out there and a community, an industry exploiting our children when they run away."
A poster of 60 photographs hung in the state capitol during the ceremony. Those 60-- represent a very small number of the 1000 people who are missing in Wisconsin every day. Fortunately, many are found quickly. But some of the missing on the poster have been gone for decades.
"It's real important that as long as there's a chance that we can find these people, that we continue to look for them," Van Hollen said.
That search keeps Charlotte's hopes alive. "I trust in the Lord and I ask him, that's what keeps me going moment by moment, minute by minute because when your baby is out there and you don't know who has her and what's going on, it's very difficult, that's all I can say, very difficult."
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