Trace Christenson

Battle Creek Enquirer

MARSHALL — For a dozen years, the family of Mary Lands has searched and waited.

"It has been a struggle," Anita Marshall, Lands' mother, said Saturday. "She didn't just walk away. We knew she would never do that to us."

Lands was 39 when she disappeared from Marshall in 2004. Her fiance at the time, Chris Pratt, told Marshall police they had argued and at about 10 p.m. on March 12, 2004, she left the apartment. Pratt called Lands' parents, Anita and Clifford Marshall in California, 44 hours later to say she was gone.

Despite police investigations, searches, rewards, psychics and pleas, she has never been found and no one has been charged in her disappearance. Lands has been ruled legally dead, but she hasn't been forgotten, and the family wants to find her remains and learn what happened.

"I believe she can be located within 10 miles of the (Marshall Brooks) fountain," said Jim Carlin, a private investigator, who has worked on the case with the family for years. "She can be found with just one tip."

About 20 friends and family gathered Saturday at Craig K. Kempf Funeral Home at 723 Old 27 in Marshall to mark the 12th anniversary of her disappearance.

"We are here to celebrate the life of Mary Denise Lands," Carlin said. "This is the 12th year and we will continue to do this until we bring her home."

The Rev. Jim Cody prayed for peace for the family and said, "as you struggle through this time, remember she may be gone from your sight but not from your memory."

Carlin said both Marshall Chief Jim Schwartz and Calhoun County Prosecutor David Gilbert, who both attended the vigil, are committed to solving the case.

"You have to have hope that we are going to bring her home," Carlin said.

Sally Miller-Cheek, volunteer and training coordinator at SAFE Place, a Battle Creek shelter for victims of domestic violence, said she didn't know Lands but in her honor she attended to speak about the problem.

The family of Lands learned after her disappearance that she had been a victim of domestic violence.

Miller-Cheek said 85 percent of people in the United States are affected by the problem and that there are 24 victims of domestic violence in the country every minute. Eleven 11 are killed each day.

She urged people to speak out.

"Help the victims of domestic violence," she said. "Abuse thrives in silence, so please don't be silent."

Carlin told the group he believes one person with some information can call, even anonymously, and help solve the case.

"Why does that one person not pick up the phone just to bring her home," he said. "We just want to bring her home."

Contact Trace Christenson at 966-0685 or tchrist@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter: @TSChristenson.