Cold cases spotlighted in new PSAs

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Their stories are ones of grief, grief most parents -- most people -- could never imagine.

Six families are making pleas for help in solving the unsolved murders of their relatives in a public service announcement campaign revealed Thursday by Silent Observer.

Columbus and Vera Stewart's grief goes back more than 10 years. Their daughter, Sherry Stewart Brown, then 33, was reported missing in July 1996. Her family last saw her at an apartment building near College Avenue and I-196 in Grand Rapids.

In 1998, her skeletal remains were found along Butterworth Street in Walker. Going public with their grief -- their story -- was not easy.

"We know it was hard," Columbus Stewart told 24 Hour News 8. "It was like pouring salt in an open wound but we did it."

They shared it like the others in the hopes that it will trigger someone's memory, maybe their conscience. Vera Stewart said she knows her daughter might have gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd, but she said no one deserves Sherry's fate: her body was found naked, dumped in a Walker ravine.

"That's inhumane and that's what I want justice for," Vera Stewart said.

Pamela Webster made the same difficult decision to come forward. Her brother, Willie Benson, was 19 when he was murdered July 30, 2005 near Dickinson Street and Godwin Avenue SE.

"It'll never bring back my brother, change my heart, because I hurt for him on a daily basis," Webster said. But she is certain someone is out there with information. So Webster is making the same public plea Michelle DeMaagd has made many times before. DeMaagd's sister, Renee Pagel, was found murdered in her Courtland Township home on 13 Mile Road on a warm summer night: August 5, 2006.

"I'm hoping that maybe someone saw someone in, around the house at that time or going down the road at that time," DeMaagd said. "Anything anybody would have heard or overheard."

Carolyn Priester is among those featured in the public service announcement campaign. In just less a month, she will mark a most unwelcome anniversary. Her son Lee Priester was murdered July 28, 2007 in the 1000 block of Lafayette Avenue SE.

"I don't mind telling you it gets harder each time," Carolyn Priester said. "The closer we get, the harder it gets because I'm having to revisit that scene over and over and over again. I don't like it and I think what's more disturbing is the fact that someone knows who did it and they're not saying anything."

She is hoping that by speaking publicly, she will prompt someone to say something. It's the same motivation that brought Frances Molson forward. On May 31, 2008, her son, Richard Dana, was murdered in the 400 block of Adams Street SE near Madison Avenue. He was 19.

"He went to a party on Adams and he got shot in the backyard," Molson said. "As long as I can keep my face out in the public on TV talking to people, they'll know I'm still looking."

Just 10 days before Molson lost her son, Patricia McElwee lost hers. Chad McElwee was found murdered near Sycamore and Cass on May 21, 2008. It was an area where he didn't normally spend time, his mother said.

It's been more than year now.

Patricia McElwee says thinking about the good times and laughing can get her through the days. But on some days, it's not enough.

"We laughed, talked. We tell each other we love each other. I don't get that anymore," she said. "It's gone, you know, those are the things I miss in life and I'll never get them back. I'll never get them back."

Like five other Grand Rapids-area families, Patricia McElwee's hope is to find the somebody who knows the something that will solve the case.

The PSAs were produced by David Schock, best known for his documentary work on the Janet Chandler cold case.

Anyone with information about the cases is asked to call Silent Observer at 616-774-2345.