Marianne Chapman tied a green ribbon around the big tree in her front yard Saturday - the 11th anniversary of her daughter Angie's disappearance.
Green was Angie's favorite color and she loved nature. Chapman said her daughter was born in the wrong decade as she knotted the green ribbon around a green peace sign.
She smiled as she stepped back from the memorial, and stood with friends for a photo.
The picture will be pasted into a notebook - one of 24 - Chapman has written in for her daughter. After Angie's disappearance, Chapman felt compelled to write to her daughter even though, she said, she had nowhere to send the letter.
But she kept writing as a way to document her journey. Chapman also purchases birthday presents for Angie and keeps them stored in a trunk.
"I always do something," she said. "I refuse to let her be forgotten."
In 2007, Chapman co-established Missouri Missing, a nonprofit organization that supports loved ones of the missing, advocates for them, collaborates with law enforcement and connects families to resources.
When Angie went missing, Chapman said she had no one to console or advise her. Through Missouri Missing, Chapman is filing that void for others searching for brothers, husbands, sisters, mothers, etc. or those who are simply searching for answers.
Chapman still searches for Angie, who was the victim of domestic abuse and went missing in Ivy Bend. Her abuser served four years in prison, although sentenced to seven - an amount of time Chapman said she's not satisfied with.
Chapman said her daughter's abuser accepted a plea deal due to lack of evidence. That evidence was Angie's body, and only he knew where it laid.
"Angie had such a horrible, shoddy investigation," she said. "It's almost as if she was dismissed from the beginning. I won't give up my fight."
Her fight, while motivated by Angie's disappearance, is continued with other families joined together through Missouri Missing. When asked how many people Missouri Missing has helped since its start, Chapman said, "I can't even begin to count."
One of those Missouri Missing has comforted is Judy Courtney of Liberty, who helped tie green ribbons around Chapman's mailbox and decorate the front yard with other green items.
Courtney's sister, Carol Thompson, went missing on June 15, 2012, and was found dead 10 months later on April 7, 2013.
Courtney said the organization has provided her with strength and love.
"It's knowing I can pick up the phone and they'll answer night or day," she said. "...Missouri Missing has never left me. They're my family."
Missouri Missing is also in support of the Help Find The Missing Act, also known as Billy's Law. The federal legislation will strengthen the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, NamUs. Missouri Missing Victims Advocate Maureen Reintjes said the law will consolidate and streamline missing persons information, allowing more matches to be made between a person and unidentified body.
She said it will also give require law enforcement to undergo training and education that is not currently available to all.
The women present on Saturday encouraged people to speak up when someone goes missing and not to wait to file a missing persons report because timing is critical in these situations.
"All we can do is be a voice for our missing," Courtney said.
Missouri Missing has also partnered with the Missouri Department of Conservation to educate hunters. Chapman said hunters can be a key to finding the missing because that's where many are discovered.
She believes her daughter is in the woods, and still actively looks for Angie.
"There's not a sinkhole, cave in the woods I won't go," she said.
Courtney said she's been told numerous times to step away from Missouri Missing and helping others in a situation she was once in.
"It's a world nobody want to go into, but once you're there you can't leave it," she said.
Chapman said Missouri Missing grows stronger with each year, aiding more people who love someone who has vanished. The mysteries surrounding the disappearances keep the organization going, and hope keeps it flourishing.
"We are frantically desperate, in general; We really are because the not knowing keeps that instilled," she said.