Candlelight vigil for Mandy
By: Megan Brilley/WCIA-3 News
Updated: February 26, 2013
WATSEKA -- A man's daughter has been missing nearly three weeks. With leads going nowhere, he doesn't know where to turn. Her family says she disappeared.
33-year-old Amanda Walters-Pentecost was last seen in Hoopeston February 1. A camera spotted her walking around town, and she hasn't been seen since.
Police found her purse with lot of her were belongings inside, but her phone was missing. That clue gives her family mixed emotions about what has happened to her.
"It's a tremendous baring on our minds and hearts," Tim Walker said.
Walker has been wracking his mind for weeks, trying to figure out where his daughter could be.
"It's something that I thought would never happen to me. We just don't know where to turn, what to do."
People are taking search parties beyond the streets of Hoopeston and friends are sharing pictures on Facebook; getting the word out any way they can.
"There's no words that can say how much I thank them."
Amanda's family says when they try to call her, it goes straight to voice mail. No one has been able to get in contact with her. It's something her cousin says is completely out of character.
"I know Mandy wouldn't have set her things down and just walked off. She would've called somebody she would've told somebody," Misty Kottke said.
"It's just not like her," Walker said.
After weeks of searching, they're preparing themselves for the day she doesn't come back; one of the hardest things they've ever had to do.
"We're not oblivious to the fact that the weather conditions were not good on the days she went missing."
"Just say my prayers to the good Lord. That's all I can say, that's the only one I can turn to."
That's who the community is also turning to. Watseka's local church is having a candlelight vigil.
"We're coming together in unity, and believing in God for the impossible."
All this family says they can do now is lean on each other and memories.
"She wrote poems a lot. She always read them to me. I told her she should be a poet. God bless you guys I can't talk no more, I'm sorry."
33-year-old Amanda Walters-Pentecost was last seen in Hoopeston February 1. A camera spotted her walking around town, and she hasn't been seen since.
Police found her purse with lot of her were belongings inside, but her phone was missing. That clue gives her family mixed emotions about what has happened to her.
"It's a tremendous baring on our minds and hearts," Tim Walker said.
Walker has been wracking his mind for weeks, trying to figure out where his daughter could be.
"It's something that I thought would never happen to me. We just don't know where to turn, what to do."
People are taking search parties beyond the streets of Hoopeston and friends are sharing pictures on Facebook; getting the word out any way they can.
"There's no words that can say how much I thank them."
Amanda's family says when they try to call her, it goes straight to voice mail. No one has been able to get in contact with her. It's something her cousin says is completely out of character.
"I know Mandy wouldn't have set her things down and just walked off. She would've called somebody she would've told somebody," Misty Kottke said.
"It's just not like her," Walker said.
After weeks of searching, they're preparing themselves for the day she doesn't come back; one of the hardest things they've ever had to do.
"We're not oblivious to the fact that the weather conditions were not good on the days she went missing."
"Just say my prayers to the good Lord. That's all I can say, that's the only one I can turn to."
That's who the community is also turning to. Watseka's local church is having a candlelight vigil.
"We're coming together in unity, and believing in God for the impossible."
All this family says they can do now is lean on each other and memories.
"She wrote poems a lot. She always read them to me. I told her she should be a poet. God bless you guys I can't talk no more, I'm sorry."
