Miracles Happen…
Carole Moore
Missing Persons Contributor
Officer.com
…And Amber Pennell is living proof.
When Amber Pennell disappeared on her way home from work one night, her husband and family feared the worst. The 21-year-old mother of two wasn’t the type to pull up stakes and move on. She had a job in Lenoir, N.C., and worked hard to help support her two children, 3-year-old Gracelyn and 1-year-old Cameron. She had a strong marriage and no reason to leave. Everyone suspected the worst.
But then Amber Pennell had the luck to cross paths with a man named Tommy Courtner, who spotted car tire tracks and broken leaves leading into a ravine on the side of a highway. When Courtner went to investigate, he found Pennell alive, but badly injured. Despite five days pinned under her vehicle without food or water, authorities say Pennell will recover from her wounds.
Here is the moral to that story – and it’s one the families of those who have gone missing understand and know better than anyone else: Never stop. Never give up. Miracles happen. Amber Pennell is one of them.
Good job, Mr. Courtner!
Here’s my missing person spotlight for this post, from the Web site of Missing Persons Throughout the World, operated by a retired Coroner’s Officer in the UK:
Make sure that you make a thorough search of the area that the missing person went missing from! When I was working with Suffolk PD we had a 9 yr old girl that was missing in a shopping center from her parents expanded van. After making an initial search of the van and then the whole area and stores fro over an hour the little girl was found hiding under the back seat of the van and said she had heard her parents calling but was scared she would be punished if she came out from hiding. What a night. Try to hold on to your emotions and excitement and do a thorough search and workup of the area first.
This is so true, Darrel. A neighbor’s child once went missing and we actually found him in our garage, hunkered down and giggling, thinking he was playing a big joke on his parents, who were frantic. Look right under your nose while simultaneously spreading the search. Thanks for the insight.
Carole