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Somebody knows.

It was the common theme throughout a prayer vigil Sunday to remember the missing of Halifax County.

Family, friends and law enforcement gathered at Open Door Baptist Church to pray for them — Shonda Stansbury, Jalesa Reynolds and Amy Wells Bridgeman — and their families.

They also paused to remember John Jermaine Ausby, a 42-year-old Weldon man, who had been missing since December 5 and was found deceased from a gunshot wound in a wooded area of Sycamore Street Monday. The discovery of his body came as first responders conducted an intensive search for him. 

(Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Roanoke Rapids Police Department at 252-533-2810; Halifax County Sheriff's Office at 252-583-8201 or Crimestoppers at 252-583-4444)

Kim Wallace, a friend of Bridgeman and an advocate for the missing, organized the vigil.

Stansbury has been missing since December 8 of 2006; Reynolds since February 22 of 2010; and Bridgeman since June 24 of 2013.

“There are $5,000 rewards in each of these cases,” Wallace said, rewards which have been established through the governor’s office.

Before family members spoke, Wallace said there is a fundraising effort underway for a memorial to honor the missing. There is $200 being held in reserve for the memorial. “We need to earn $1,600 for these ladies.”

As highway signs soliciting information on the missing women begin to fade, Wallace said, “We need to get new posters up. We’re worried about the community forgetting.”

She said Reynolds’ mother has told her, “‘I think everyone has forgotten about my baby.’”

James Bridgeman, Amy’s husband, told those gathered, “I know somebody knows something. It’s not just about Amy, but all of them.”

Wallace said she refers to the day of Amy’s disappearance as “nightmare on Elm Street,” because she was in her yard at 1409 Elm Street in Weldon.

Wallace believes Amy was taken away. “She had a daughter and son. Amy didn’t leave those people. I like to say Amy was taken. She was taken from her friends, family and loved ones.”

For Michael Hines, Jalesa’s uncle, “It seems like we don’t get a lot of information.”

He said February will mark the tenth year Jalesa has been missing from the Scotland Neck area. “That day she was in the library. That was the last time she was seen. There was a lot of activity for a period of time. It seems like she just went away. Our hearts are heavy each and every day. It’s just a void. It’s painful.”

When he reads of abductions, Hines said, “It just brings that pain back to me. We don’t know. That void is there.”

Jackie Stansbury, Shonda’s sister, said, November 23 of 2006  — Thanksgiving Day — “was the last time I laid eyes on my sister — the last face to face conversation, the last hug, the last holiday we got to spend together.”

Shonda faithfully called her family, Jackie said — to let them where she was and that she was OK.

On December 8 of that year, Shonda called Jackie to tell her she was at someone’s home and she would call when her sister got off her shift. “It was the end of my shift so I was rushing her off the phone. The last thing she said was, ‘I love you, sissy,’ and I said, ‘I love you, too.’ Little did I know that would be the last time I heard her voice, the last call she would make to check in and let me know she was OK. She never called later that night to talk to mamma.”

A missing person report went out on December 14 of that year.

Since that time there have been more questions than answers, missed birthdays and holidays. The searches have led the family from the Roanoke Valley to Greenville, Goldsboro, Wilson and Rocky Mount.

Her children at the time were 2,4,6 and 7. “They’ve had to go through practically their whole lives without a mom — graduations, boyfriends, girlfriends, all their life problems. They’ve had a great support system and have now (at ages 15, 17, 19 and 20) become amazing young adults and teenagers but have always had their pain there of not having a mother.”

Shonda’s father, Jack, said, “Somebody out there knows what happened. If someone just speaks up, someone is helping my daughter.”

Chief Deputy Scott Hall of the Halifax County Sheriff’s, who has a file on each case, said, “I pray that God will place healing hands on you.”

The Roanoke Rapids Police Department has been investigating new leads in the Stansbury case, Chief Bobby Martin said after the vigil. To the ones who might know something, he said, “If they feel compelled to come and speak to me, I have an open door policy. It may be 13 years, but we haven’t stopped looking.”