Assumed Deceased: April Beth Pitzer--CA--6/28/2004

[Kathylene]

Endangered Missing Adult

If you believe you have any information regarding this case that will be helpful in this investigation please contact:
San Bernardino Sheriff's Dept. at (760) 256-4838

Name: April Beth Pitzer

Classification: Endangered Missing Adult
Alias / Nickname: Coggins or Campbell
Date of Birth: 1974-02-19
Date Missing: 2004-06-28
From City/State: Newberry Springs, CA
Missing From (Country): USA
Age at Time of Disappearance: 30
Gender: Female
Race: White
Height: 69 inches
Weight: 125 pounds
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Hazel
Complexion: Medium
Identifying Characteristics: Small round scar on left side of chest, scar on elbow, scar on lip. No upper teeth.
Clothing: Wears size 6 athletic shoes or sandals.
Jewelry: Gold hoop earrings.

Circumstances of Disappearance: Unknown. April was last seen in the vicinity of the 30000 block of Caspian Way in Newberry Springs, CA. She indicated she was going to travel to Arkansas to see her mother but never arrived. She has a medical condition and needs medication.

Investigative Agency: San Bernardino Sheriff's Dept.
Phone: (760) 256-4838
Investigative Case #: DR 080401661
NCIC #: M-314239727

Print a Poster: http://www.projectjason.org/aan/AAN_AprilPitzer.pdf

[Kathylene]

http://www.vvdailypress.com/2004/109093279397146.html

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Police seek help locating woman
Former model last seen in Newberry Springs

By IAN MORRISON/Staff Writer

BARSTOW - Where is April Beth Pitzer?

That's the question Barstow sheriff's deputies are asking after the 30-year-old former model disappeared nearly a month ago.

Pitzer, who also goes by the name April Coggins, was last seen April 28 in the 30000 block of Caspian Way in Newberry Springs by an unidentified man with whom she lived, Barstow sheriff's station Cpl. Marie Spain said.

Pitzer told the unidentified man that she planned to take a bus back to her native Arkansas to visit her mother, Gloria Denton, and her two girls, ages 3 and 5.

Denton, who last heard from Pitzer on June 22, said her daughter suffers from bipolar disorder and has used drugs in the past. In addition, Pitzer had been a model for a variety of clothing stores in Arkansas and Texas, Denton said.

On July 16, Pitzer's mother contacted an unidentified local woman, with whom Pitzer had resided in the past and who reported her missing, Spain said.

Pitzer is described as a white woman, with dark brown

shoulder-length hair. She stands 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs between 120 and 130 pounds. She has no upper teeth. She has a scar on the left side of her stomach, Spain said.

Anyone with information regarding Pitzer's whereabouts is asked to call the Barstow sheriff's station at 256-4838, or the National Center for Missing Adults at (800) 890-3463, Ext. 107.

[Kathylene]

http://www.vvdailypress.com/2006/113750561792728.html

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Missing woman's clothing found

By SCOTT SHACKFORD

Staff Writer

Clothing belonging to a woman who disappeared from Newberry Springs in 2004 has been discovered in a mine shaft in Ludlow, prompting her family to renew efforts to find her.

April Beth Pitzer, who was 30 years old when she disappeared, had moved to Newberry Springs from Texas in 2003, according to a report from the North Carolina-based Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons.

On Friday, the missing woman's mother, Gloria Denton identified the clothes as having belonged to Pitzer, according to Monica Caison of the CUE Center. But there was no sign of the woman herself.

In June 2004, Pitzer made plans to visit her mother and her three children in Arkansas. However, Pitzer never arrived. When Denton investigated, she discovered no friends had been in contact with Pitzer since June 20, according to the CUE Center.

In 2004, Denton said Pitzer, who also went by the name April Coggins, suffered from bipolar disorder and had used drugs in the past.

The owner of a mine in Ludlow came across some abandoned clothes when he was giving a tour in December. Caison said the unidentified owner was familiar with the case and made contact with missing persons organizations. Eventually this information was relayed to Denton, who flew out to California last week.

Pitzer is described as a white woman with dark brown shoulder-length hair. She is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs between 120 and 130 pounds. She has no upper teeth and a scar on the left side of her stomach.

Anyone with information regarding Pitzer's whereabouts is encouraged to contact the Barstow Sheriff's Station at 256-4838 or the National Center for Missing Adults at (800) 890-3463 ext. 107.

[Kathylene]

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/148550/
Clarksville : Mom helps dig for clues of missing daughter, 30

BY DAVE HUGHES

Posted on Monday, March 13, 2006

CLARKSVILLE: Gloria Denton got on her knees to dig in the Mojave Desert to uncover clothing of her daughter that was strewn about the ground, buried in a pit and hidden under a shack.

Denton, of rural Johnson County, knew the clothes belonged to April Beth Pitzer because she had mailed much of it to San Bernardino County, Calif., two months before her 30-yearold daughter disappeared on June 28, 2004.

She recognized her daughter's white suitcase, her desert boots, swimsuit and underwear, the only physical connection left of the daughter she feels certain she will never see again.

Recovering April's possessions brought a little comfort, but it didn't get Denton any closer to finding her daughter, whom she believes was murdered the day before she was to return to her family in Texas.

She thinks her daughter's body was dumped in one of the hundreds of played-out mines that dot the desert outside Barstow, Calif.

Denton traveled to California in January to look for April after becoming frustrated with the lack of progress from the San Bernardino County sheriff's office in finding out what happened. She said she came to realize that she was April's voice and had to have determination and faith to find her daughter. The investigators in California didn't have the bond she had that would motivate them to continue searching.

"That case will be a cold case unless you, the parent, pull yourself together and persist for answers because they have too many live cases," Denton said of the overworked detective in charge of April's case. To the sheriff's office, she said, April Pitzer was just one of hundreds of missing people in the county and Denton was just a voice on the telephone. "I have 307 bodies under my care now," said Dave Van Norman, San Bernardino County supervisory deputy coroner and unidentified persons coordinator. Van Norman said the county, which covers 22, 000 square miles, most of it desert, gets about 100 unidentified deaths a year. An average of 10 to 15 of those people are never identified.

SITES TO SEARCH Van Norman searched with Denton when she was in California in January. He said there were specific rumors about a particular mine that may have been used to deposit Pitzer's body. A cave explorer since he was a child, Van Norman said he believed Pitzer was not in the mine where Denton found her daughter's clothing. But another mine, called the Red Dog Mine, had possibilities. It lies seven miles away and 13 miles south of Ludlow, a small town east of Barstow on Interstate 40. "I couldn't see the bottom, but it had promising features," Van Norman said. Texas EquuSearch Mounted Search and Recovery Team run by Tim Miller will search for Pitzer's remains in those and possibly other mines in the area in mid-April, Miller said. EquuSearch gained notoriety last year when a team went to Aruba to search for missing Georgia teenager Natalee Holloway. Holloway was last seen May 30. Her body has not been found, according to The Associated Press.

Since then, Miller said, EquuSearch has been deluged by calls for help. But he decided to take on Denton's case because "every family deserves to have their child back." Miller can sympathize with Denton. His daughter, Laura, was abducted and killed in Texas in 1984. His ordeal led him to establish EquuSearch in 2000 to find lost and missing people. "After talking to Gloria, how could we say no ?" Miller said. He said EquuSearch will take whatever equipment and people it needs to search the mines. He said he didn't believe Pitzer was still alive, but even recovering remains gives some comfort to families, as it did in his case. The expedition could cost $ 6, 000 to $ 9, 000, which is covered by donations to the organization, so it won't cost Denton, Miller said.

[Kathylene]

Petruski said she was touched by Pitzer's story and by Denton's spirit and determination. She also regarded Pitzer's case as a high priority because of the specific locations of Pitzer's remains and the high probability they would be found.

"When there's a high possibility of bringing someone home, I jump on it," she said.

MANY STILL MISSING Petruski, Miller and Van Norman know first-hand the problem of missing adults in the United States. The FBI and National Crime Information Center said that as of August 2004 there were nearly 48, 000 active missing adult cases with 30, 622 missing for more than a year, according to the Web site for the National Center for Missing Adults. Pitzer is listed in the center's database. "It's a problem that is not being highlighted at all," Van Norman said. There are other missing adult organizations, such as the Doe Network, a volunteer organization that helps law enforcement solve cold cases involving unexplained disappearances and unidentified victims from North America, Australia and Europe. The Doe Network, begun in 2001, has 1, 400 volunteers, according to the network's Web site. One problem for families is they don't know what resources are available to help them find their missing loved ones, Petruski said. The police often are overworked and can spend only a short time and a few resources on each case.

She said families need advocates like missing adult organizations. Amber Alerts, which are issued immediately when a child is abducted or reported missing, should be extended to adults as well, she said. She also said families should hire private investigators who can devote the time necessary to find missing adults.

While the police are limited in the time and resources they can devote to finding missing adults, Van Norman said, they can take some steps to aid in identifying missing adults if their bodies are found.

"We need to cast the widest net we can," he said.

Fingerprints; DNA from family or from items left behind from the missing person, such as hair from a hairbrush; dental records; and even photos can help. Van Norman said experts sometimes can match teeth of a person's remains by comparing them with a photo of the person smiling. Denton has received help from her community. She said several Clarksville and Johnson County businesses raised money for her last year so she could travel to Los Angeles to represent Pitzer in a National Center for Missing Adults fundraiser. "I am so bonded to the support I have here, it'd be hard to leave," she said. "I just made so many friends. They encourage me every day. And there's not a soul that I have met who has not embraced me."

THE JOURNEY WEST Pitzer moved to California in fall 2003 from Fort Worth, where she had lived with her husband, Chase Pitzer, and their two daughters, Bradley Elisa, now 7, and Kennedy Marie, now 4.

Denton said Pitzer suffered from bipolar disorder, but her husband's family didn't accept that. Pitzer also was distraught over calls she continued to get from an old boyfriend in Arkansas.

When Pitzer's marriage broke up in mid-2003, she took friends' advice that distance would help her sort out her life and moved to California, Denton said. Pitzer settled in the Newberry Springs area east of San Bernardino on the edge of the Mojave Desert.

Denton said she stayed in touch with Pitzer through a long-distance phone card she bought for her.

Pitzer told Denton she was working as a waitress, was caring for an elderly invalid named Barbara Killebrew in Newberry Springs and was taking medication for the bipolar disorder. But after nine months, she confessed in May 2004 that she had been lying to her mother. She wasn't a waitress, wasn't taking her medication and was living on the street with people whom Denton called "thugs."

Killebrew persuaded Pitzer to come clean with her mother about how she was living and to try to get home.

Denton said she was angry that Pitzer had lied to her but afraid for her as well.

"I was so worried and angry at the same time, and helpless. She was so far away," Denton said.

She spoke to Pitzer on the phone shortly after the confession and the two agreed that Denton would try to raise some money to get her back home.

"I'll never forget, the weeping," Denton said. "' Oh, Momma, I won't be hungry no more. Oh, Momma, I won't have to look for a place to sleep and I won't be cold. I can't wait to come home. '"

Pitzer made arrangements for an acquaintance, Chuck Hollister, to drive her to the bus station in Barstow on June 28 so she could catch a bus back to Texas. She stayed at Hollister's home the night of June 27.

That was the last time anyone saw Pitzer, but Denton wouldn't discover her daughter's disappearance until days later. When Denton finally reached Killebrew by phone July 4, Killebrew asked her was how she felt about her daughter being back home.

"' Barbara, I haven't heard from her, '" she remembers responding. "' Something has happened to my April. '"

Pitzer's missing person case was assigned to police detective Marie Spain, who checked, once with the help of a dog trained to find cadavers, some mine sites where Pitzer's body could have been placed.

The next few months saw little progress, but Denton said she tried to remain patient, realizing Spain was limited in what she could do. Spain has interviewed Hollister, his friend Daniel Dansbury and others suspected of being involved in Pitzer's disappearance but she lacked evidence to tie anyone to it. No arrests have been made so far.

"I have no physical evidence to show me who killed April," Spain wrote to Denton in a January e-mail. "All I have is her clothing and a mattress cover, which I hope will tell me what I need."

The mattress cover found at the mine where Pitzer's clothes were dumped had a stain that Denton said authorities are testing in the hope it will yield DNA or some other clues. It could take six months before they know the results, she said.
Truckingboards.com

[Kathylene]

http://www.desertdispatch.com/2006/115427262554901.html

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Missing but not forgotten

By GUS LAMBERT / Staff Writer

BARSTOW April Beth Pitzer has been missing for more than two years, but her mother still hears her voice every day.

Gloria Denton of Clarksville, Ark., is April's mother, and she has been working with a variety of people to help find her missing daughter.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's deputies are still working the case, and independent organizations have come forward to assist, but the most compelling help is likely to come from a new DNA method that has been helping the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Coroner solve missing and unidentified persons cases.

Denton said her daughter went missing on June 27, 2004, shortly after they spoke on the telephone.

According to Denton, Pitzer was living at a home in Newberry Springs, and she had packed her bags to leave for the Barstow bus station.

Denton had arranged for her daughter to take a bus back home to the Fort Worth, Texas, area and was told that "Uncle Chuck" was going to drive her to the station.

But Pitzer never made it to Barstow, and her bag and clothes were found in the desert near Ludlow along with a mattress and sheet that had blood and body fluids on them, Denton said.

She said that San Bernardino County Sheriff's investigators recently confirmed that the blood and fluids were human and that DNA testing is pending.

According to Denton, Pitzer was 30 years old when she left her family in Texas to travel out to California for a short hiatus.

She left her husband, Chase, and two daughters, Bradley Elisa, now 7, and Kennedy Marie, who is now 5 years old, on the advice of an acquaintance.

"She came to Barstow to get a new life, but that advice that may have cost her life," Denton said.

Denton said that Pitzer traveled to Barstow with several people, including a man named John Lopez, who abandoned her in Barstow shortly after arriving in December of 2003.

Without a job or friends, she began living on the streets and eventually became friendly with a woman named Barbara in Newberry Springs who allowed her to stay for periods of time.

Denton said it was during this time, May 4, that Pitzer called her, and she was upset about being diagnosed bipolar. She never told her about her poor living conditions until late June, she said.

"After talking to her daughters on the phone one day when they were here with me," she said, "then she became homesick and decided that she wanted to come home."

SBC Sheriff's detective Steve Pennington is now working the case, and he recently sent all information to the producers of America's Most Wanted in the hopes that they will run a feature about Pitzer's disappearance.

"The local talk is that she was killed, and the case is still active," Pennington said.

He said that he has interviewed four people in the last two months and has been working at contacting other people who knew her.

Every piece of information has been investigated, and there continues to be hope that something significant will come to light.

Such as the recent discovery of human blood on some material found in one of the mine areas investigated.

"We are waiting for DNA analysis results, and if it is positive for Pitzer, a more thorough search of that area will be conducted," Pennington said. According to SBC sheriff's coroner spokesperson Sandi Fatland, DNA is becoming a more useful tool in missing persons investigations. It has brought closure to many families, she said And it's closure that Pitzer's mother is seeking.

"I know she's gone and that someone did something to her out there in the desert." she said "We just want to bring her home and put her to rest with us." While awaiting the DNA testing results, Pennington is working the case from other angles as well. He recently sent an appeal to WeTip with the hope they will offer a reward for new information regarding Pitzer's disappearance.

Anyone with information about this case can contact Pennington at (760)-256-4870, or to remain anonymous, call WeTip at 1-800-78CRIME.

For more information about missing and unidentified persons, go to the California Department of Justice's Web site at http://caag.state.ca.us/ missing/index.htm.

[Kathylene]

http://www.doenetwork.us/nampn/cases/pitzer_april.html

April Beth Pitzer

Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing Since: June 28, 2004 from Newberry Springs, California
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: February 19, 1974
Age: 30
Height: 5'8"-5'9"
Weight: 120-130 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Hazel/Green
Race: White
Gender: Female
Distinguishing Characteristics: Small round scar on left side of chest, no upper teeth, scar on elbow, scar on lip. Medium
complexion.
Medical Conditions: Bi-polar and needs medication.
Clothing: Size 6 athletic shoes or sandals.
Jewelry: Gold hoop earrings.
AKA: April Coggins
NCIC Number: M-314239727
Case Number: DR 080401661

Details of Disappearance
April was last seen in the vicinity of the 30000 block of Caspian Way in Newberry Springs, CA. She told her roommate that she was leaving on a bus to visit her family in Arkansas. She has a history of drug use. Pitzer had also been a model for a variety of clothing stores in Arkansas and Texas. She left behind two young daughters, whom she reportedly doted upon.

In December 2005, clothing was found in a mine shaft in Ludlow, California. In January 2006, April's mother positively identified the clothing as belonging to her daughter. There was no other sign of April at the scene.

Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
San Bernardino Sheriff's Department
(760) 256-4838

Source Information
National Center for Missing Adults
Desert Dispatch
Racing West
CUE Center For Missing Persons

[Linda]

April has been missing for 3 yrs.. Our thoughts and Prayers are with her family..

You Tube tribute to April.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQKPZfMaH9o

[Kelly]

Please sign the guestbook for April:

http://kimberlyb.homestead.com/april.html

[Kelly]

http://www.desertdispatch.com/news/search_1842___article.html/pitzer_missing.html

October 30, 2007 - 5:19PM

Weekend search for missing woman planned


FROM STAFF REPORTS
The three-year-long search for a woman who went missing from Newberry Springs continues this weekend.

Gloria Denton, the mother of the missing April Beth Pitzer, and a group of volunteers from across California, will search the desert area around Elephant Mountain near Interstate 15 outside of Barstow. The search will concentrate on an area where articles of Pitzers clothing were found. Denton said the search will include special equipment and spelunkers.

Detectives from the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department and volunteers have searched desert areas around Barstow before and mine shafts near Ludlow hoping to turn up information about Pitzer.

According to reports, Pitzer, a mother of two, went missing on her way from Newberry Springs to Arkansas, where she was originally from. Pitzer was last seen in the vicinity of the 30000 block of Caspian Way in Newberry Springs.

[Linda]

http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_7357404

100 to assist mother in hunt

Woman seeks daughter's fate

11/02/2007


BARSTOW - Gloria Denton has had plenty of time to accept that she may never see her daughter again.
Three years of searches through rugged terrain and hazardous mine shafts have yielded few clues to where 30- year-old April Beth Pitzer might have gone.

To Denton, it's no longer a rescue mission, but that hasn't affected her drive to find her daughter's remains.

Today and Sunday, a group of about 100 volunteers from private organizations, including spelunkers and paramedics, plan to gather for another search in the desert. This time, Denton contends they'll be successful, either through the search itself or the right tip.

"There's no doubt in my mind that people here know exactly where April is. I can take her home this weekend if one of the many who know would come forward. It's as simple as that," she said.

Pitzer, who was having medical problems and newly divorced, came with some friends to Newberry Springs in 2004. Denton said she believes Pitzer was wrongly diagnosed with bipolar disorder and given medications for it, but she was actually suffering from postpartum depression.

Six months later, her friends abandoned her in Newberry Springs. She called her mother, saying she was going to take a bus back to Arkansas, but she hasn't been heard from since.

Pitzer's two daughters, who are 6 and 8 years old, have also come to realize they likely won't see their mother alive again. But the young children, who don't fully understand death, believe their mother is physically intact and not skeletal remains.

Denton, a Clarksville, Ark., resident, has her hopes high that searchers will find her daughter's remains, but great challenges lie ahead.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department has conducted four organized searches for the woman. Detective Steve Pennington, who retained the missing persons' case even though he has since been transferred to the department's homicide unit, said he has spent about six months of his own time trying to find her.

"There's literally thousands of mines in San Bernardino County and we have no idea which one she was dumped in," he said.

Pennington believes the woman was murdered, even though she's still classified as a missing person.

A mine owner in the desert discovered some of Pitzer's clothing while giving a tour of the mine. He also discovered blood and other bodily fluids on a sheet and mattress in the mine shaft. Then deputies discovered someone had scrawled a cryptic message on a truck stop bathroom wall in Oregon:

"Want to find a missing girl from Arkansas? I-15, 3 miles east of Barstow."

Denton said the handwriting and the bathroom tile are being examined by sheriff's officials. So far, nothing has led investigators to Pitzer or an arrest.

Those with information are asked to call the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department at (760) 256-4838. Callers may remain anonymous at WeTip, (800) 78-CRIME.

[Linda]

http://www.desertdispatch.com/news/search_1906___article.html/denton_bones.html

Bones, hair found during weekend search for missing woman

November 6, 2007

BARSTOW  Gloria Denton returned to her home in Arkansas on Monday evening tired, sore and with a reinvigorated hope that she would find her daughter.

Denton and about 75 to 100 other volunteers spent last weekend searching the desert along Interstate 15 and in Ludlow for clues as to what happened to her daughter, April Pitzer. Pitzer, a mother of two, went missing from Newberry Springs in 2004.

The search concentrated on an area around Elephant Mountain replete with mines where Denton believes her daughters body could have been stashed. Search teams also combed the Ludlow area. During the weekend, Denton received an anonymous tip that Pitzers body was somewhere in the Ludlow area.

Its amazing how many people came out of the bushes talking, Denton said.

Searchers found bones and other evidence at the bottom of one mine and a possible grave site nearby. Many bones and a small clump of hair were found at another site. Most of the bones were determined to be animal bones, but a questions remain about a few, said James Price, a volunteer with the search. Price said some of the evidence was turned over to the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department for analysis.

Denton said the Barstow community came out and supported the search. The Desert Discovery Center set up a command post for the search and other local businesses donated food and supplies. Volunteers came from across California. A search team from Temecula wrapped up their search on Tuesday evening.

[Linda]

February 19, 2008

Mother Remembers Missing Daughter

Happy Birthday - April Beth Pitzer

Newberry Springs, CA – April Pitzer vanished on June 28, 2004 and despite multiple searchers, public awareness campaigns, national coverage and pleas to the Newberry community; she remains missing. It has been a long road paved with many tears, said Gloria Denton, Pitzer’s, mother; she has two little girls and a family who loves and misses her deeply, she added. At times it can be frustrating for families to endure such a length of time with no resolution; we will continue to support Aprils loved ones and seek new efforts in the search for her and or new information, said CUE’s founder, Monica Caison.

April was last seen in the vicinity of the 30000 block of Caspian Way in Newberry Springs, CA. She indicated she was going to travel to Arkansas to see her mother but never arrived. As of November of 2006, April's case was updated from a missing person case to a missing/homicide case, more than a year ago.


THIRTY FOUR & FOUR (A Poem from April’s Mother)
 
Darling, it has been yet another year.
I think of you everyday, yearning for your beautiful face;
I have cried so much, some days I can't even find a tear.
We keep searching, seeking and praying, for finding another trace.

I keep hoping you will knock upon my door;
two little girls also sit and innocently wait.
Every night I fold my hands, and kneel upon the floor
there are those who know, but selfishly sit back and hesitate.
 
Sweetie, to everything God says there is a season,
a time to laugh, a time to cry...still we wonder why?
As your Mother there will never be any good reason
that you were taken away, and needlessly had to die.
 
Days, weeks, months, you have been missing, years now are four.
April, so many missing, you know that you are not alone.
My wish, as tomorrow your birthday, you would be thirty four;
Is that God would let you, one last time come to this place;
that you and I know as your rightful home.

I wish you a Heavenly Birthday, my sweet love,
wherever it is that you might be,
This gift we send on the wings of a dove
A bundle of hugs from the girls and me....
 
Happy Birthday my beautiful baby girl!!
You will always be here in our memories and heart.
That truth lies in my hand; your first little cut curl...
Another masterpiece from the very start.....

A Reward remains in place for any person(s) that may have information or knowledge of the whereabouts of April Pitzer; please contact:

San Bernardino Sheriff's Department at 1-760-256-4838

[Linda]

http://www.desertdispatch.com/news/pitzer_3139___article.html/denton_barstow.html

Searchers will continue hunt for missing woman

April 21, 2008

BARSTOW - For a fourth time, volunteer searchers will comb the desert near Barstow and Newberry Springs this weekend in search of clues to the disappearance of a missing Newberry Springs woman.

April Beth Pitzer disappeared from Newberry Springs in June of 2004, on her way to visit her mother in Arkansas, according to reports. She was 30 years old at the time and had two young daughters, now ages 7 and 9 years old. Clothing that Pitzer's mother identified as belonging to her daughter was found in a mine shaft in December of 2005.


Pitzer's mother, Gloria Denton, said she has given up hope of finding her daughter alive but hopes to find her body.

"I do have peace that April's with the Lord, but I want to give her a Christian burial," she said.

Denton believes that her daughter was murdered and hopes finding her body might lead to a suspect, she said. The investigation in the case is ongoing.

About 100 searchers have converged to look for Pitzer in the past, with searches taking place each year in the spring and fall, Denton said. This year she hopes to see an even greater number, thanks to billboard space on Interstate 40 and Highway 58 donated by General Outdoor Advertising company. Lamar Advertising donated design work, Denton said.

The search party will meet Saturday and Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m. at the west side of the parking lot of Peggy Sue's 50's Diner in Yermo.

A memorial butterfly garden will be dedicated to Pitzer at the Desert Discovery Center in Barstow on Saturday at 1:30 p.m., Denton said.

To report information relating to the case, call the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department Barstow Station at 760-256-4838. To remain anonymous, call WeTip at 1-800-78-CRIME or leave information on the WeTip Web site at www.wetip.com.

[Kelly]

AAN Poster Notify Sent to AAN Subscribers   Code 41

Help us find the missing: Become an AAN Member
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