MARSHALL, Mich. (AP) - Relatives and friends of a Michigan woman who vanished 14 years ago plan to honor her with a memorial stone at a cemetery.
Mary Denise Lands was 39 when she disappeared in March 2004. Christopher Pratt, her boyfriend at the time, told authorities that she’d left their Marshall apartment wearing medical scrubs and a leather jacket following an argument, The Battle Creek Enquirer reported .
Lands was declared dead in 2011 after searches, rewards, pleas and a police investigation failed to uncover information leading to her whereabouts. Pratt was named as a person of interest in the case, but no one has ever been charged in Lands’ disappearance.
Private investigator Jim Carlin said that friends and family are working to raise $3,000 to purchase a stone and a plot for Lands at Marshall’s Oakridge Cemetery by Sept. 3, which would have been her 53rd birthday.
The original plan was to create a marker if Lands was ever located, but the new goal of putting it up by her birthday will offer her family another form of closure, he said.
“It would be nice to have a monument. It would help our hearts a lot,” said Clifford Marshall, Lands’ father.
Friends and relatives have gathered annually at the Brooks Memorial Fountain to support the search for Lands. Carlin said the gatherings are important for keeping the focus on the investigation.
“But we can’t keep doing this. People go on with their lives. But this has got to be solved,” he said. “We are going to bring her home and somebody is going to pay for it.”
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Information from: Battle Creek Enquirer, http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com
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