Fourteen years after she disappeared and never was found, a cemetery plot and marker is planned for Mary Denise Lands.
Lands was reported missing March 12, 2004. Her boyfriend at the time, Christopher Pratt, told police they argued and she walked away from their Marshall apartment in the cold wearing medical scrubs and a leather jacket.
Despite searches, rewards, pleas, an ongoing police investigation and psychics, she was not found and in 2011 was declared dead.
Pratt was named by investigators as a person of interest in the case but no one has been charged with her disappearance.
On Monday, a dozen friends and family gathered to mark the 14th year since Mary Lands disappeared. Jim Carlin, a private investigator, said a cemetery plot and stone marker is planned for Lands.
"I talked to the family and I had the plan for a marker which we would have if she is brought home. This is the last time (for memorials) but if we can have this up by her birthday it would be somewhat of closure."
Carlin has established a collection for anyone who wishes to donate using the GoFundMe site in the name of Mary Denise Lands. He said the goal is $3,000 to purchase a plot at Oakridge Cemetery in Marshall and a stone by Sept. 3, Land's 53rd birthday, even if Lands' remains are not found. She was 39 when she disappeared.
"You will never have closure but at least on her birthday you can go over there," Carlin said to Lands' parents, Clifford and Anita Marshall.
"I was told a lot of people do this," Carlin said. "It is not unheard of."
While they know their daughter is dead, the Marshalls said they have mixed emotions about a cemetery plot.
"I told them I would go if they put it up," Anita Marshall said. "It is all I have got."
"It would be nice to have a monument," Clifford Marshall said. "It would help our hearts a lot."
Fourteen years ago about 200 people gathered at the Brooks Memorial Fountain to support the search for Lands.
Pratt attended that gathering and told the crowd, "she is a wonderful lady, she is a wonderful mom, and she is a wonderful fiance. I miss her so much. Everyday when I walk into our apartment I wish she was there."
Carlin said Monday that the annual events have been important to keep the focus on the investigation.
"But we can't keep doing this," he said. "People go on with their lives. But this has got to be solved. I believe she is within 10 miles of the fountain and there are a half dozen people who can make an anonymous call. We are going to bring her home and somebody is going to pay for it."
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