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In Becky's Memory

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In Becky's Memory

By Courtny Gerrish

MILWAUKEE - After losing her child, a Wisconsin mother is using her pain to spread a powerful message. Karren Kraemer's daughter disappeared almost five years ago. Karren is convinced that Becky was murdered. Karren's been greeted with love and prayer, from complete strangers, in her four year search for her daughter. It's a tiring, never ending task for this Wisconsin mother, especially since Karren believes she's looking for Becky's remains. "It's disappointing in a sense," says Karren "because no one has come forward. We know there's people who know." Becky Kraemer disappeared in December of 2003. She was 23-years-old. "My daughter was a beautiful, beautiful little girl. She didn't deserve to die at the hands of the man who claimed he loved her." Karren believes Becky's boyfriend killed her. He committed suicide last October, taking his secrets to the grave. So Karren continues to search. Finding out what happened to Becky is still this mother's first priority but now she's also reaching out, in Becky's memory. She's now a familiar face at Wisconsin prisons. Karren is talking to inmates, as a victim. "I don't put on any fronts. They get it from my heart. They get the true story," says Karren. And the inmates listen, to her story, to what Karren believes is her experience as a victim. Before she disappeared, Karren claims Becky was battered by her boyfriend. She's asking the men in prison to stop the violence. "It gives them the opportunity to think about what it is they're doing here, what got them here," says Karren. "A lot of them are here because of domestic violence." Helping others has given Karren new life, "It gave me a reason to say Becky's death was not a senseless waste of a human being." She leaves inmates with a copy of a poem she wrote, for her daughter. A mother's love, reaching out with her story and hoping to change the course of many other lives. Karren will not rest until she finds some answers. As part of her restorative justice, Karren founded the Broken Wings Network, a way to help victim's families and promote change.

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