Delilah's Page

In almost EVERY missing person case I have researched referring to a missing mother, these words are spoken by someone close to the victim. Good mothers don't just up and leave their children without knowing that they are in a safe place and able to be taken care of. That is a fact.

Yes, there are some cases where there is an anomoly to this fact, but there are usually other circumstances involved that allow that the mother just walked away, leaving her children to fend for themselves. It's not the norm.

How many times have we heard this when faced with police and investigators saying the person probably just walked away to start a new life? How can anyone prove anything differently if there is no body and no hard evidence of foul play, but that mother is gone without a trace and she didn't even say goodbye to her children!

Every single one of the vanishing mother cases I have featured on this blog makes that statement again and again.... "She would NEVER leave her children!"

Now there is something YOU can do about it. There is an amazing new document available to everyone. It's called The Living Will for the Missing:

Are You Prepared?
No one ever thinks it could happen to them. No one expects they will ever go missing. But what if you do? Are you prepared? Are your family members or close friends prepared to provide the authorities with enough vital information to begin an immediate search for you? And will they have enough vital information on hand at this time of crisis when this information is so important to have? Who better to supply my own vital information other than my own self?

Most laws require a waiting period before a report of a missing adult can be filed. The problem with this is; we all know, the first 24 hours are the most vital in a search, therefore providing the authorities with a written request on your behalf to by-pass those laws and begin a more immediate search may prove helpful. Already, some laws require a missing persons report be taken, but that doesn't mean an actual search is started until much later.

Rescue or Recovery?
If I do not come home tonight -- I am sick, dead or otherwise in trouble beyond my control -- and I want someone to come and find me. I might be trapped in my car, crashed over an embankment, unconscious and bleeding. A few days later it will be recovery rather than rescue.

This type of document isn't for everyone -- not all of us fill out our donor card or the standard living will. But this can help some folks, maybe save a few lives -- I hope. Its wording would provide vital data needed as well as an authorization to begin an immediate search.

Please go to the following link to get all of the details, print a copy and share with your attorney to be sure it is all legal in your state or jurisdiction.

http://blogs.discovery.com/sleuth_truth/2008/06/living-will-for.html

One of our special members at Peace 4 the Missing posted this excerpt and I felt that it is so appropriate for this blog where I try to bring the readers the stories of motherless children. I seem to run across more motherless daughters than sons, probably because this blog is written from a woman's perspective, but I think it also applies to sons who have lost their mothers also.

I hope that it brings you the comfort that it brought to me and to others in our group.






An excerpt from the book entitled: "Motherless Daughters: The Legacy of Loss".

Nature often offers metaphors more elegant than we can manufacture. In the redwood ecosystem, all seeds are contained in pods called burls, tough brown clumps that grow where the mother tree's trunk and root system meet. When the mother tree is logged, blown over, or destroyed by fire the trauma stimulates the burls' growth hormones. The seeds release, and trees sprout around her, creating the circle of daughters. The daughter trees grow by absorbing the sunlight their mother cedes to them when she dies. And they get the moisture and nutrients they need from their mother's root system, which remains intact even after her leaves die.

Although the daughters exist independently of their mother above ground, they continue to draw sustenance from her underneath. I am fooling only myself when I say my mother exists now only in the photograph on my bulletin board or in the outline of my hand or in the armful of memories I still hold tight. She lives on beneath everything I do. Her presence influenced who I was, and her absence influences who I am. Our lives are shaped as much by those who leave us as they are by those who stay. Loss is our legacy. Insight is our gift. Memory is our guide.


Please visit us here, take a look around, and if you feel like it is a place where you can find comfort or support from others, please join us.
http://www.peace4missing.ning.com

Missing since 1990, Jeri Duvall's family is still searching for anything that will put her to rest and bring closure for them. There have been no traces, no clues to her whereabouts and the day she disappeared, Jeri and Robert Duvall were to close on the sale of their house.

Bob Duvall did not report Jeri missing for 4 days, and then only at the insistance of Jeri's mother.


Jeri and Bob often had violent arguments with threats of bodily harm and at one time threats to burn down the house. This is the memory of little girls, Heather and her sister Lisa, of the time before their mother disappeared while she and her sister were in Michigan visiting their grandparents. She remembers that when an argument ensued between her parents, Jeri would hide her purse. Months after she vanished, Heather found her mother's purse hidden in the pocket of a snowsuit.

All of these memories are located in Shorewood, Illinois, where the Duvall family lived in 1990. Located in Will County, it is the same area where Stacy Peterson and Lisa Stebic vanished under similar circumstances. Bob Duvall was not a stranger to law enforcement in the area and Shorewood police will not give up investigating the case where Bob is the only suspect.

Bob Duvall moved on with his life, moved to Florida and daughter, Lisa, stayed with him. Heather went to live with her grandparents at the age of 16 and is now a married mother herself. "I have a 4-year-old daughter and have a baby on the way," she said, her voice breaking. "She wasn't there for my wedding. That's the hardest part. I can't pick up the phone and call her and ask for advice."

Jeri's family grieves for her, but on the other hand, will never give up hope that she will be found. They are steadfast in their search for their daughter, sister, and mother. She comes to many of them in vivid dreams, spends time with them, and when they awake she is gone again.



http://www.projectjason.org/forums/index.php?topic=1309.0
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldn...VALL_S1.article
The Doe Network:
Case File 2421DFIL

Ask the governor of Illinois to sign the hearsay bill and make this a law!

Spend 10 minutes of your time making the call, writing the note, telling your friends, posting it on forums or blogs or myspace, or just sending it to your email list.

Drew Peterson goes to court on Wednesday, if this law is signed in tomorrow an arrest could possibly take place on Wednesday, away from the children, and in a safe and controlled situation, allowing justice to be served!

You can make a difference, even if you aren't fully aware of the situation, or even if you haven't heard about it at all, just know that there are two women, and four children who need your help.

For those of you who have followed the case, now is your chance to put your money where your mouth is! Take a few minutes away from watching the stories on television, from reading the blog posts or articles written, and do something!

Not everyone can be there to search, can be there to help take care of the children, some can't send money, some aren't able to hand out pictures or put up signs, but anyone who is receiving this email can click that link and ask that the hearsay law be signed.

Tomorrow is go day. An effort is being made to have everyone call or write today and tomorrow, if the governor is listening we want to be heard loud and clear.

Sign the hearsay law. Let Kathy and Stacy be heard.
No one listened when they were alive, let them have a voice now!


Ask the governor of Illinois to sign the hearsay bill and make this a law!

217-782-0244 or 312-814-2121

http://www.illinois.gov/gov/contactthegovernor.cfm