ST. LOUIS — Investigators with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department confirmed on Sunday that Daisa Allen, whose body was found in North St. Louis, suffered multiple gunshots wounds.
Allen’s family told police they discovered her body in an abandoned lot at Scranton and Riverview Drive Sunday night after searching for more than a week.
Some of her family members told 5 On Your Side they were upset because they were the ones to find her body.
Theda Person, who assisted in the search, knows the pain of missing someone and feeling unheard.
She founded ‘Looking for an Angel,’ a non-profit to assist others in missing persons cases, after the disappearance of her son, Christian Ferguson.
Ferguson went missing on June 11, 2003. His father was later charged in his death, but the body has never been found.
“This year we have the trial coming up. So, we're just trying to be encouraged but as we do that we're also advocating for missing persons," Person said.
Eighteen years later, the mother, who still wears a pendant with her son’s picture on it around her neck, has continued to push for her son and others.
“The perpetrators need to remember this is a life that you're taking away. You're changing people forever. Even if justice is administered. You still are changed forever. You'll never be the same,” Person added.
According to the National Crime Information Center, there are more than 1,200 active missing person cases in Missouri.
Person expressed that while law enforcement and investigators play a significant role in solving a crime, the community is the real key with reporting what they know.
“Think of Dasia as if she was your own. She is because she's a member of this community," the missing persons advocate added.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Homicide Division at 314-444-5371 or Crimestoppers at (866)-371-TIPS