RICHMOND, Va. -- Community members and local law enforcement marked Virginia Missing Persons Day on Saturday in Richmond by raising awareness and offering a warning for parents.
Toni Jacobs has been searching for her missing daughter, Keeshae Jacobs, since the 21-year-old vanished on Sept. 26, 2016.
“When I didn’t get that call the next morning, I knew something was wrong," Jacobs remembered. "Her phone kept going to voicemail and it’s been going to voicemail ever since."
Without closure, Jacobs said not one day does by without her wondering where her baby girl may be.
“I can’t ride down the street without looking and seeing someone's small fingers look like her," Jacobs said. "It's the not knowing, and it’s an unbearable pain.”
Carol Adams and Toni Jacobs.
However, Jacobs is turning the painful experience into a mission to help other parents never experience the loss she has experienced. .
Carol Adams with the Richmond Police Department, who has been by her side since Keeshae went missing, reminded parents to be on alert at all times.
"We want to teach parents to be vigilant about where their children are, who they're interacting with," Adams said. "Don’t meet up with strangers without knowing where you’re going because it could be a ploy to kidnap you.”
And know where your kids are going.
“Parents, when your child is going to spend the night somewhere, you need to go to that address and know who lives there...," Adams said. "We have children taking Ubers to parties. That's really, really a no-no.”
Buttons and flyers raise awareness about Keeshae Jacobs' disappearance..
Adams said keeping tabs on your kids could be the difference between life or death.
“That time lapse is time that the police could actually be looking for you, but nobody knew that you were missing," Adams said.
Jacobs' mother is hopeful that her daughter is alive and us urging everyone in the community to be on the look out.
"I can't give up. I don't have it in me to give up until I find my baby," Jacobs said.
Anyone with information about this case -- or any other missing persons case -- is asked to call crime Stoppers at 804-780-1000.
