Nov 8, 2007 10:26 pm US/Central
Search Team Founder Inspired By Personal Tragedy
Texas Equusearch Founder Tim Miller Created The Organization In Memory Of His Slain Daughter
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Texas Equusearch founder Tim Miller created the organization in memory of his daughter, who was missing for months before she was found dead.
CBS
The drive to find Drew Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, is now leaning on the skills of a man from Texas who is on a personal crusade. As CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports, the man who founded Equusearch never forgets what gave him a new mission in life.
"Every day I think about Laura," said Texas Equusearch founder Tim Miller. "Every day I miss Laura and again, the grieving process is very long and painful."
On September 10, 1984, Miller's daughter Laura was abducted while walking home from a payphone. Seventeen months later, the 16-year-old would be found dead in a field a short distance from her home. Laura's killer has never been found.
"I made a promise at that time to God and the Lord, never leave another family alone again, so I just didn't know there'd be this many families," Miller said.
In his daughter's memory, Miller founded Texas Equusearch in 2000. To date, the organization has taken part in more than 850 search efforts and located close to 250 people, reuniting them with their loved ones.
"All the families we've helped because of her death, I look back, and her death wasn't in vain," Miller said.
With more than 840 volunteers nationwide, Texas Equusearch members look for missing people on horseback, on foot and by air. They even have their own infrared equipment and use sonar. Among the high profile cases they've been involved in are the Natalee Holloway disappearance in Aruba, the search for pregnant mother Jessie Davis in Ohio, and missing college graduate Stepha Henry in Miami.
"I know this for a fact, there's one thing worse than having a murdered daughter, a murdered loved one, and that's knowing they're probably out there dead somewhere and never being able to say goodbye," Miller said.
Miller says the best feeling he's ever had was reuniting with their families three children that were the focus of Amber Alerts. The organization is supported solely through donations and volunteers.
For more about Texas Equusearch,
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