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Peace: Out of reach for family
Kim Cruz and two daughters, Hannah, 5, left, and Naomi, 9, look at a family photo taken just before the disappearance of their daughter and sister, Kaelin Glazier. Cruz says the family misses Kaelin, especially during Christmas holidays, which she enjoyed. Kaelin Glazier’s mom still hopes to know truth By Jill Briskey Christmas began with the gift of a child and a promise of peace. Today, there is nothing on earth that the Cruz family of Medford wants more. A child: Their beloved daughter who vanished without a trace from Ruch four years ago.
Peace: An end, perhaps, to a mother’s agony and the opportunity to give her child a proper burial. With these two gifts, Kimberly Cruz hopes to bring closure to years of heartache and extinguish that agonizing flicker of hope that her daughter, Kaelin Glazier, is alive. "I know I’ll see my daughter in heaven. That gives me peace. But I need to know the truth," Cruz says. "Christmas is about mercy. That’s all I want. I want to bring my daughter home." Kaelin, who was 15 years old when she disappeared, was last seen walking on Upper Applegate Road on Nov. 6, 1996, on her way to a church meeting at the Applegate Christian Fellowship on Highway 238. Since that time, every effort to bring the former South Medford High School sophomore home has ended in failure. Last year, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department named a "person of interest" in the case — Bill Simmons, an acquaintance and former classmate of Kaelin’s who may have been the last person to see her. Simmons was a friend of Kaelin’s boyfriend. According to police reports, Kaelin visited Simmons at his grandparents’ home on Johnson Road the day Kaelin vanished. He has not been charged in connection with the case. Massive searches using dogs, aircraft and even psychics have yielded no results. A specialized team from Colorado brought in to probe the area this October was unable to find anything. Hundreds of leads have been eliminated — Kaelin pregnant and living in Portland, Kaelin dead somewhere along the river, Kaelin working as a model in New York. Over the years, hundreds of interviews have been conducted by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department and by the FBI. Cruz has appeared on nationally televised talk shows, such as Montel Williams, Maury Povich and Geraldo. Fliers and mailings have covered the nation. But so far, nothing: no arrests, and no Kaelin. Authorities and her family believe that she is dead. They don’t believe the teen ran away. "At this point, all the signs point to foul play," said Crime Prevention Program Manager Ed Temple of the sheriff’s department. "Right now, we’re working to find out what happened the day she disappeared and bring her home." Despite the passage of time, Kaelin’s family and detectives say they will never let this case go until the mystery is solved. Temple knows that a single phone call is all it would take to bring resolution and a measure of peace to a suffering family. "It’s more important at this point in time to find Kaelin and bring closure to the family than it is to prosecute," Temple says. "The people in this community have taken this case to heart. They want closure as well." A single phone call, a letter, an e-mail, Cruz said, even if it’s anonymous. Anything to let her know where her child’s body rests so Kaelin’s family can say good-bye. "Somebody knows what happened to her. It will only take one person with a little bit of information," Cruz says. "It’s been a tremendous heartache around the holidays, digging up memories. But because it’s Christmas, I’m hoping somebody, somewhere will tell me where she is." Despite Kaelin’s absence, life moves forward, Cruz reflects. That’s possible, she adds, only with her strong faith in God. Inside the family’s home that is bursting with constant chatter and reverberating with the pounding feet of the family’s six children, Kaelin is not forgotten. There are photographs of Kaelin as a grinning, blond-haired youngster. Seated around the cheerful Christmas tree, Kaelin’s siblings reach out to handle the fading Christmas decorations made so long ago by their older sister. "She made this one," Kaelin’s 7-year-old sister Naomi says, pointing at a tattered cloth stocking. "You helped her with it, Mom, remember?" And then there are the memories. Cruz recalls the stories Kaelin loved to read to her siblings, the responsible way she cared for them. "She loved Christmas, very much," Cruz recalls. "She was such a beautiful young lady." Although missing, Kaelin managed to send her family a present this year, Cruz says. On the surface, it was simple — only a short note scribbled on scrap, tucked away and forgotten. But to Cruz, the little note — written 10 years ago by Kaelin and lost until this week — was a blessing. "It said something like, ‘I’m having fun ... I love you ... good-bye,’" Cruz says. "It gave me peace, the only kind of peace you can hang onto at a time like this. I think it was her way of telling us good-bye." For Temple and the dozens of law enforcement officials who have taken this case to heart, hope is walking hand-in-hand with the holiday season. "This will never end until she comes home," Temple said. "We know the answers are out there. We won’t stop until we get them. Period." |
