Kelly Currin Morris – One Year Later

September 03, 2009

One year ago today, Kelly Currin Morris, a 28-year-old mother of two, vanished from her Stem, N.C., home. Despite an ongoing police investigation and multiple large-scale searches, Kelly has yet to be found. The reality of the situation is all too familiar for her friends and family members. Time, in this case, does not heal all wounds. Instead, it eats away at one's very soul, overshadowing all hope and replacing it with a sorrow that, no matter how hard one may try to ignore, simply won't go away.

"It has been a terribly frustrating year," Kelly's step-mother, Juanita Currin, said in an interview with Investigation Discovery. "Not only with Kelly's disappearance, but also in doing what is right for our family and children. I think that, while a lot of our focus has been on the search effort and continuing to keep the story out there, our efforts have also been to make sure her children are ok.  The balance is difficult. I don't think any of us thought when this happened that it would go on this long. Initially, I was thinking no more than a week or two. Never in our wildest dreams did we think it would be a year."

Not only is the passage of time difficult, but, add to that the multitude of promising tips and discoveries that turn out to be nothing – such as the case with a recent discovery of human remains in a nearby county that turned out to be those of another missing person.

"Every time that happens, it all resurfaces – everything we have been through the last year," Juanita said. "We get our hopes up and then we are left disappointed. It's very sad when the best you can hope for is to find her remains. It is very emotionally draining to have close calls or potential finds."

In an effort to make sure the community does not forget Kelly, her family has scheduled a vigil for 7 p.m. tonight in the daycare lot of Creedmoor Baptist Church at 119 South Main St.

"We are going to have music, speakers, the reading of a poem and a dove release," Juanita said. "We are determined to keep the story out there and we are determined to follow up on anything we need to follow up on in our ongoing search. I understand from law enforcement there are still things that they are following up on, so that brings us a relief that the investigation is still fairly active."

Officials with the Granville County Sheriff's Department and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation will not comment on the case, other than to say that it is an "ongoing investigation." The most recent developments occurred last month, when Superior Court Judge Robert H. Hobgood authorized the search of a Road Runner e-mail address that belonged to Kelly. What, if anything, was found in it remains unknown.

In regard to the ongoing search effort, search coordinator Al Mignacci says that, despite having searched every area within a 15 mile radius of Kelly's home, he is not yet ready to give up.

"We continue to revisit areas that have already been searched, while, at the same time, expanding into new, unexplored areas," Mignacci said in an interview with Investigation Discovery. "In addition to wilderness areas, we have also searched lakes and streams, and over 100 wells. We sonar the waterways, whereas, with the wells, we drop a camera down inside and check if there is any loose stuff down in there. We also have a probe we can use if they are not too deep."

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Despite having searched an extensive amount of varying terrain, Mignacci said he is surprised that they have not turned up anything of interest to Kelly's case or, for that matter, any other unsolved cases.

"It is surprising that we have not run across anything that is out of the ordinary," he said. "We have found a couple of wallets, a pocket book and stuff like that, but, you know from all the shootings around this way, and people getting lost in the woods, we ain't found nothing like that. We have ran across a lot of bones, but they all turn out to be deer bones or dog bones. We haven't run across human bones of any type."

The ongoing searches may not have borne any fruit yet, but Mignacci doesn't waste much time looking back. In fact, during our interview he was actually out in the middle of the woods searching with a team of trained bloodhounds.

"I continue the search all year," Mignacci said. "I go out to search a lot of different places either by myself, with Pat [Kelly's dad] or I'll gather some people together. I recently had dogs out on the water to search out some quarries. That didn't turn out to be of any significance, but you gotta eliminate them. You know, you can't say, 'We should search these 20 places,' and then don't do it because it will nag on you. You gotta eliminate all of them."

Mignacci said he has quit publicizing the search effort because the volunteers simply aren't there anymore.

"It was getting to where I would only get four or five people to go out on a weekend," he said. "It is tough to get people to come out after a while. People want to get on it when it starts - they want to do their civic duty and go out and search - but that gets old after a while, and people don't want to stick with it."

In regard to Pat Currin, Mignacci said he continues to spearhead all the efforts to find his daughter, despite the grief that he is obviously suffering.

"You know just as well as I do that Pat is a strong man. He keeps a lot inside. I know he's hurting badly, but he keeps himself busy. I think he is probably doing all right outwards, but you never know how you are being eaten up inwards."

Click here to read: "Daddy's Little Girl," Kelly Currin Morris, Needs You!

So, while today's vigil is intended to be a remembrance of Kelly and the fact that she remains missing, perhaps it will also serve to reinvigorate the community to become involved in the search effort. At any given moment, any of us could find ourselves in a similar situation, and, in the event that were to happen, we would want and need the support of each and every person around us.

Don't forget Kelly, and please help her family to keep hope alive whether it is through active participation or by other means. To find out how you can help, please contact the Kelly Currin Morris Command Center at 919-812-2310 or via e-mail at helpfindkelly@gmail.com.

The family of Kelly Currin Morris is offering a $30,000 reward for information on her whereabouts. Anyone with information is asked to call 919-812-2310.

Discuss The Kelly Morris Case

Related Links:
Full Coverage: Kelly Currin Morris Case

Photo Credit: Kelly Currin Morris: Currin Family; Al Mignacci and Barbie Tarr: Carla Lohr; Pat Currin and Kelly Currin Morris: Currin Family

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission from Discovery Communications. All quotes must include a link back.

Comments

[Carol]

Thank you David!

Perfect words for a terrible nightmare!

[RJ the Fiction Writer]

My best wishes to her family and children. I hope they find peace soon.

To the person who made Kelly's disappearance happen- you may be scared, but don't for a second think that feeling will ever go away. Kelly is someone's daughter, someone's mother and most of all- someone special. Please give this family peace. You may be seperated from loved ones when you share the information- but you are already emotionally seperated from them. Please do the right thing for yourself and Kelly's family. Help bring her home.

[barb]

Thank you David, for continuing to keep Kelly's story out there. As you said, this unimaginable nightmare could happen to any of us, and we would all need help. This family has been through so much, and they remain in my prayers on a daily basis. God bless them for all they have done, and I pray that Kelly is found soon.

[Joe]

How awful for those children to just have their mother vanish. I can't imagine what that's like. Not to know for certain that she died, or even that she's sick in the hospital or something. But to know nothing. Horrible.

[Sofia]

Thank Nice Post..

[praying4girls]

Check the local news station websites. There are new developments.

[david burnett]

I came to Creedmoor from Cary on 11-14-09 to do a roof repair - the only time I've done that except for a friend. On the way home I saw the sign about praying for her and wondered if that was part of the reason I had made this trip so I prayed. Now it is obvious to me that it was God's timing for her to be found.

dave