Mother, daughter of missing women to search the desert

May 3, 2009 - 8:30 AM

By ABBY SEWELL, staff writer

BARSTOW • The mother of one missing woman and the daughter of another will join forces this upcoming weekend to search for traces of their family members.

For the eighth time since 30-year-old mother of two April Beth Pitzer went missing in June of 2004, her mother, Gloria Denton, will travel to the Barstow area from Arkansas to join searchers May 9 and 10 in looking for her daughter’s body or any evidence that might explain what happened to her.

Stephanie Thompson, whose mother, Catherine “Cathy” Lique, disappeared from Barstow in November 2003 at age 44, joined in the search for Pitzer last year, hoping at the same time to find some trace of her mother. This year is the first time that the search will officially be for both women.

Thompson said Friday she and Denton found out just recently that Lique and Pitzer had met before, at the home of a woman in Yermo with whom Lique was staying for a while, and who also knew Pitzer’s boyfriend at the time.

Denton said Pitzer went to Newberry Springs in 2003 on what was intended to be a short trip after her marriage fell apart. Instead, she ended up stranded there, homeless and associated with unsavory people, Denton said. However, before Pitzer disappeared, Denton said she was planning to come home to start fresh with her estranged husband and two daughters, then three and five years old.

Lique was a truck stop prostitute who drifted around Barstow, Thompson said. Although Thompson had moved to Oregon with her father after her parents divorced, she tried to keep track of her mother. When her brother told her that no one had heard from Lique in a while, and then no one reported seeing her for another week, Thompson filed a missing person’s report.

Lique’s boyfriend at the time said she had left one morning with nothing but a red San Francisco 49ers jacket and never showed back up, Thompson said. Authorities may have initially assumed that Lique had just skipped town, she said.

“My mom wasn’t some pretty young girl who just crazily went missing,” she said.

Search for April Pitzer and Catherine “Cathy” Lique:
When: Saturday May 9, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday May 10, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Where: Meet both days at The Barn in Newberry Springs, 44560 National Trails Highway. Search will cover area around Interstate 15 and around a mine in Ludlow where some of Pitzer’s clothes were found in December 2005.
Bring: snacks/lunch, water (organizers will provide water as well), large stick in case of encountering snakes
Off-road vehicles are also needed for the search
Burgers and hot dogs to be provided after the search Saturday
For more information, call 479-774-2410.

Still, Thompson said her mother would have eventually contacted the family if she had been able to, especially when Lique’s own mother died.

Thompson got in touch with Denton about a year and a half ago, after hearing a rumor that Lique had been killed and her body dumped in Newberry Springs, which led her to wonder if the case was connected to Pitzer’s disappearance. The two women have stayed in contact ever since.

“I get very discouraged a lot, and having Gloria on my side, she has definitely been a godsend,” Thompson said.

Barstow police never named a suspect in Lique’s disappearance. Pitzer’s case has also stalled, Det. Steve Pennington with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department homicide unit said. Some of Pitzer’s clothing was found in a mine shaft in Ludlow in December 2005. A message on the
wall of a truck stop in Oregon discovered in September 2004 read, “Want to find missing girl from Arkansas? I-15 3 miles east of Barstow.”

However, the leads came to dead ends.

“There’s people out there that have information, but they’re just not coming forward,” Pennington said.
To report information relating to Pitzer’s disappearance, call the Barstow sheriff’s station at 760-256-4123. To report information on the Lique case, call the Barstow Police Department at 760-256-2211. To remain anonymous, call WE-TIP at 1-800-78-CRIME.

Shon Pernice, Looking for a Life Partner!

It's been recently reported that Shon Pernice put up a profile with the online dating service "Plentyoffish" listing himself as "divorced" and looking for a "life partner." He mentions his children, born to his missing wife, Renee Pernice. Is he trying to find a mother for his children or a companion for himself with his wife vanishing just a mere 8 weeks ago?  Of course, he has since deleted his membership, but obviously he's announcing that he is available!

Since local Kansas City prosecutors have declared that Renee is dead and her case is now being investigated as a homicide, wouldn't Shon garner a little more of a potential partner's sympathy if he listed himself as a widower instead of divorced? Even Drew Peterson is able to find love by playing that game. 

Shon Pernice is being looked at closely in his wife's death, and also the disappearance of Star Boomer, a woman who vanished from a bar ten years ago after being beaten, drugged and dragged out by, some say,  Shon Pernice. Of course, nothing has been proven, Mr. Pernice has not been charged, arrested, nor convicted.

But now we see that Shon most certainly is following the pattern of other high profile missing mother cases, Scott and Drew Peterson, who both were actively having relationships with other women before their wives were found. None of these three, and many others, have ever taken one minute of their day to search for their lost wives, the mothers of their children. They have all turned the corner on that chapter of their lives and found that there are women out there willing to be with them.

But what about the children? What about the family members who are living in a state of panicking limbo? Renee Pernice's father has pleaded several times for any clues that would solve the question of his daughter's disappearance. Like many of us, he is outraged and disgusted by the latest news of Shon Pernice looking for love!

"I think any concept of Shon being on a single's Web site, and particularly announcing himself as being divorced, is just disgusting and appalling," said Rick Pretz, Renee's father.

Like the Petersons above, Shon Pernice's behavior is puzzling to most. How can a man just erase the memory of a missing wife and mother? These three, as well as many others, seem to have absolutely no conscience and have blocked out anything to do with their wives, however, what about the children? By all accounts, the four children of Drew Peterson were quite close to missing wife, Stacy Peterson, two of them the children of dead mother, Kathleen Savio. It's also been reported that the children of Renee Pernice were "her life" and she took her role of motherhood quite seriously.

What kind of propaganda are these fathers feeding the children? Drew Peterson and Shon Pernice have both limited and controlled the children's visits with family members of their missing wives. From the outside, it looks like they keep a pretty tight rein on the children's activities and who they are in contact with. How can these children deal with the questions they must have and what kind of permanent emotional damage will they have to deal with in the future? How can they be expected to live their lives without the touch and the voice of their mothers?

Shon Pernice and Drew Peterson most likely have silenced those voices and have made up something plausible and believable to their young children, but there are those who are able to recognize certain signs and behaviors from these types of men. There are some who have actually survived leaving a relationship with these types of men and will tell you they are lucky to be alive.

Renee Pernice only has the voice of outrage from her family and the public. We can only hope that law enforcement will be able to find Renee, connect the dots, and find the evidence that will show who caused her vanishing and solve the mystery for the sake of her children. They deserve to live on with the truth.

Please be part of the effort to keep Renee's story in the forefront until she is found. If you have any information about the mysterious truck seen in the vicinity, please come forward. If there is any information at all you might have concerning Renee please call Crimestoppers at 816-474-TIPS.

Please join us at Peace4 the Missing
Network for Missing Persons and Victims of Abuse

Recipe For Hope, Stacy Peterson

Are you sick and tired of seeing the shenanigans of Drew Peterson and his merry band of pranksters constantly in the news and on your TV? Have you had about enough of this constant barrage of disrespect for the mothers of his children? What can you do about it? What can you do to bring back the respect and dignity to this three ring circus?

There is a group of people on the internet that are fighting to do just that.

This group would like to see the dignity and respect for Stacy Peterson and Kathleen Savio be restored, not only on the internet, but in mainstream media as well.

If Stacy or Kathleen had reached out to a domestic violence organization, maybe they would be here today to relate their stories.

This group would like to raise money to bolster the efforts of local domestic violence organizations and the way they would like to do that is publish a cookbook.

Not just any ordinary cookbook, but a cookbook with recipes along with safety tips for women caught in this cycle of abuse. Are you a survivor of violence, or is someone you know caught in an abusive relationship. Some of these tips you offer could save someone's life.

This is one of the easiest, no cost to you, things you can do! Just write out your favorite recipe, add your name and city, if you like, and email it to:

recipesforstacy@gmail.com

Oh! One more thing!!...Please, please include any safety tips for that someone you know who is looking to safely get out of the cycle of abuse! These valuable tips will be included in the cookbook in recipe form.....sort of like 1oz. of prevention, 1C safety, stir in a pinch of caution and don't let it boil over!

All of the printing costs are donated and ALL proceeds will go to an organization that helps women safely survive!

DO IT TODAY!






Please join us at Peace4 the Missing
Missing Persons Awareness and Support Network
http://peace4missing.ning.com

Chicagoland Missing Mothers

There is more than one missing mother in the Chicagoland area and probably more than the ones pictured here. We will not forget them and will continue to carry their messages until they are found. Someone is getting away with murder in Chicago!

Almost a year has passed since Stacy Cales Peterson whispered to her sister Cassandra Cales that if she disappeared it was not an accident that "He killed her", almost a year since she went missing without a trace leaving behind her babies, her home, her family, her friends, and almost a year since the body of Kathleen Savio was exhumed and her once called accidental death declared a homicide. These women, one now a victim of homicide who left behind a haunting plea for help to the state begging for help before he killed her, and one who begged her sister to find her if she disappeared because she feared for her life, as different as their cases are today -do have common ground. Both women were married to Drew Peterson, both women feared for their lives, both women tried to get help and get away, and both women were too late.

We, who gathered together to remember these women, who heard their voices only after they were gone, have vowed to make sure they are never forgotten, and that their names and stories live on. We are determined to see justice served.

Both of these mothers cried for help to a combination of their communities; family, friends, clergy, the police, the state, complete strangers, and in the end there was no one who could, or would protect tthem. The only voice they have been given is the media who has made them headline news. And so they have become the faces and the stories of thousands of women the media has passed over, a reminder that this can happen to any of us, or someone we know.


Domestic violence is unacceptable in our society, a plague which haunts behind closed doors, sunglasses and long sleeve shirts, often a well known dirty secret that no one talks about. We are determined to let victims know that there are options, there are ways to get out safely, there is help. But we have to reach them before it is too late.

Had someone helped Kathleen Savio or Stacy Peterson, had they heard their cries for help instead of turning their heads and pretending not to see- had someone listened and believed- taken the time to find out what could be done, or to change what could be done- we might not ever have known their names. They would be here today and four beautiful children would still have their moms.

These children deserve the truth, they deserve justice and the knowledge and comfort of knowing their mothers loved them very much and would be here with them if they could be. These children deserve to hear their mother's voice. They deserve the truth. They deserve our help. They deserve your help.

Speak out for those who can no longer speak for themselves!

Please take the time to become involved in your community. Contact your elected officials, make your voice heard, make your vote count on election day. Find out what you can do to help these women and others like them. Find out what you can do to prevent these crimes. Find out what you can do to demand justice. Take action.

But most importantly find out what your politicians and officials are doing to protect you and your loved ones, and to seek justice for these women. Make sure your voice is one they cannot ignore, it could happen to you or someone you love.

There will be a search for Stacy Peterson this Saturday, October 25.

BRING STACY HOME!
Searchers needed Sat October 25, 2008 Stacy Peterson Hello again all! We are currently in need of volunteers to aid us in a search on Oct 25, 2008. We will once again be search for Stacy Peterson, it is not too late and it is not time to give up. We must push forward and bring this beautiful young woman home.If you are available please email me here or at fuzzbuttmom@comcast.net. We will be meeting at 9am, meeting location to be announced. Please feel free to repost this as often as you would like. Thanks again to all who have been helping in the searches and for any further help you may be able to provide.

Stacy Peterson
Lisa Stebic
Jeri Lynn Duvall
Peggy Dianovsky

Blog Action Day to Fight Poverty

Poverty is the root of so much that is wrong with our world.  Its roots reach far and wide and grab at so many in every community.  The effects are devastating, not only to the community, but to families.  So many times a family is in need of just the basics to survive, and crime sneaks in and takes over the thought processes of people who normally would never think to do the things they do.  Drug dealing, prostitution, robbery, domestic violence and child abuse are only a few things that rear their ugly heads from the underbelly of poverty.

What can one person do to end this cycle?  Many things!  I have listed only a few of the worthy sites I have found.  Please, choose one thing to do today and unite with us to put an end to poverty.

What Do YOU Want to Change?

http://www.change.org/

A place to explore issues while helping while helping you connect with a community of people wanting to make a difference

http://causecast.org/

Shop while fighting to end poverty!

http://www.agoodcause.com/index.php

Donate to the Global Fund

http://www.change.org/blogactionday

Kiva Lending Teams

http://kiva.org/

Buttons of Hope


http://www.buttonsofhope.com/createbutton/gallery_details.aspx?teamid=16


There are tons of things on the web today that all of us can do as individuals or as groups.

Choose one and participate!