I was pregnant with my third baby when two local girls vanished within days of each other in 1993. Saint Louis feared for a short time that there was a child serial killer in the midst. Angie Marie Houseman was only nine years old when she disappeared November 18. Angie rode the bus home to her school bus stop after a full day of 4th grade. From her school bus stop, Angie had to walk eight or nine houses to her home. She never made it to her house. No one saw anything that fateful day. Nine days later a deer hunter found her naked body duct taped to a tree in the Busch A. Wildlife nature preserve. Angie had died of exposure. Angie's killer remains unidentified.

Cassidy Senter was 10 years old when she disappeared on December 1, 1993. She was walking three blocks to a friend's house to play. Nine days later, Cassidy’s body was located in a Saint Louis alley wrapped in two comforters eight days later on December 9. Cassidy fought to the end of her life. Thomas Brooks beat Cassidy when she refused to allow him to rape her. My daughter was born the same day they found Cassidy Senter's body.

Having buried my first two babies, I truly felt the death of a child was the worse nightmare a parent could face. I was wrong. This reality hit me hard the year my Earth Angel turned 10 years old. I realized with an aching heart that my daughter had now been alive longer than either Cassidy or Angie. I cannot begin to imagine the anguish a parent faces when a child is missing. When a child is missing, a family's life goes into a holding pattern. There is no final chapter until the missing child returns home. A parent has many unanswered questions. They wonder what if. What if, what if, what if. The imagination is a parent’s worst enemy.

Over the years, I have had the names and stories of America’s missing children engraved and embedded into my heart. I can tell you the names of the missing and unsolved murdered children most people, except close friends and family have forgotten. I use to wonder what I can do to help a missing child. Then I realized the answer arrives in my mailbox every week on my coupon mailer. Previously a little white rectangular card pictured a missing child on one side and coupons for a local business on the other side.

A company called ADVO in cooperation with the NCMEC (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) sends out millions of mailer homes weekly sends out these mailers. How many people see the missing children? Do they quickly flip the card over, never giving that child the time of day? I challenge everyone to look into the child’s eyes, remember you may hold the key to reuniting a missing or exploited child with their family.

I always show the picture of the missing child or missing children to my own two children. If a missing child was attending the same school as my children, it is possible my children would recognize the face faster than I would. Perhaps the missing child is a schoolmate sits across the desk that my child faces in a classroom. My child may have played with the missing child in our neighborhood park or at his father’s home. Please look at the faces of America’s missing children and look around you. You may be the key to helping a child get back home to his or her family.

For additional information on Missing and Exploited Children, please visit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at the link provided at the bottom of the screen. If you have any information on the identity of Angie Marie Housman’s killer, please contact the St. Ann Police at 314-428-6868 or go to the Saint Louis Major Case Squad website for more information.