Dana and Karen Bobo try to eat. But it’s hard when they don’t know if their 20-year-old daughter is able to eat.
They try to sleep. But when they lay their heads on their pillows, they ache for Holly, said Kevin Bromley, the spokesman for the family.
Holly Bobo has been missing since April 13. Her 25-year-old brother told the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that he saw an unidentified white man leading his sister into the woods that morning. Detectives are still looking for the woman, but the massive communitywide searches have stopped.
Nearly two months later, pink bows decorate every store, every tree on the main drag in Parsons. Kim Carrington, owner of The Fabric Garden, sells bright pink T-shirts reading “Foot Soldiers for Holly.”
The marquees in front of Bill’s Men’s Shop and Jerry’s Pit BBQ and nearly every shop and restaurant and town are all either “Praying for Holly,” “Praying for the Bobo family,” or asking passers-by to “Bring Holly home.”
Most every day, Dana Bobo searches wooded areas, fields and ponds. Karen Bobo, for the most part, stays close to home in case her daughter comes home.
“We just don’t have a lot to report right now to keep it in the media every day, or even every week,” said Bromley, 34, a pastor and family friend of the Bobos. “Every passing day that we don’t find Holly is more difficult for the family. But they have not lost hope. They believe their daughter is alive.”
Family's accountThe family won’t talk about the case, but TBI spokeswoman Kristin Helm said investigators have gotten this account from interviews with relatives:
The day she went missing Bobo put on her bright pink shirt, jeans and black flip-flops and packed her lunch for another day of nursing school at the nearby UT-Martin campus.
Her brother, Clint, was still asleep. Their parents had already left for work.
At 7:40 a.m., Holly walked to her black Ford Mustang on the long, winding driveway leading to the Bobo family’s rural Decatur County home.
Minutes later, the family’s dog barked, waking Clint. He walked to the kitchen window that faces the expansive, treelined backyard to see what the ruckus was about. A man dressed in camouflage had his sister by the arm, leading her into the woods, he later told the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
The psychology student went out to his sister’s Mustang. She was supposed to be on her way to school, he knew. Next to her car, pooled a small puddle of blood and a spilled Coke can.
Wide awake now, Clint Bobo ran into his house and called 911. He called his mother, Karen, a second-grade teacher who usually chatted by text with Holly several times a day. Panicked now, he ran into the woods where he had last seen his sister.
Nothing. She was nowhere. No more blood.
No one ruled outJust after 8 a.m. that April 13 Wednesday, police surrounded the country home. Within hours, dogs, helicopters, horses joined in the search.
Underwater cameras searched ponds in the area. News of her disappearance swept through the 800-person town of Darden and the nearby town of Parsons, with just more than 2,000 people.
“When we found out Holly was gone, people took off work and life just stopped around here,” said Tammy White, a family friend who checks up on the Bobo family daily. “Something like this had just never happened in this area before. I think it was a shock to everyone that someone had come into our little community and taken one of our own.”
The next day, Holly Bobo’s packed lunch was found about six miles north of her home toward Interstate 40.
More of Holly’s belongings were found. Investigators with the TBI aren’t saying how many, or what the items are. They’re also not saying whose blood was next to Holly’s Mustang.
Helm said no one has been ruled out as a suspect but added that investigators believe Clint Bobo’s account of that morning.
For the first time, homes in Decatur County are installing security systems, said Don Franks, the pastor of Corinth Baptist Church.
“Before Holly, we were a very trusting town,” Franks said. “We felt like we had our own little world here. Our bubble is kind of busted now.”
They try to sleep. But when they lay their heads on their pillows, they ache for Holly, said Kevin Bromley, the spokesman for the family.
Holly Bobo has been missing since April 13. Her 25-year-old brother told the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that he saw an unidentified white man leading his sister into the woods that morning. Detectives are still looking for the woman, but the massive communitywide searches have stopped.
Nearly two months later, pink bows decorate every store, every tree on the main drag in Parsons. Kim Carrington, owner of The Fabric Garden, sells bright pink T-shirts reading “Foot Soldiers for Holly.”
The marquees in front of Bill’s Men’s Shop and Jerry’s Pit BBQ and nearly every shop and restaurant and town are all either “Praying for Holly,” “Praying for the Bobo family,” or asking passers-by to “Bring Holly home.”
Most every day, Dana Bobo searches wooded areas, fields and ponds. Karen Bobo, for the most part, stays close to home in case her daughter comes home.
“We just don’t have a lot to report right now to keep it in the media every day, or even every week,” said Bromley, 34, a pastor and family friend of the Bobos. “Every passing day that we don’t find Holly is more difficult for the family. But they have not lost hope. They believe their daughter is alive.”
Family's accountThe family won’t talk about the case, but TBI spokeswoman Kristin Helm said investigators have gotten this account from interviews with relatives:
The day she went missing Bobo put on her bright pink shirt, jeans and black flip-flops and packed her lunch for another day of nursing school at the nearby UT-Martin campus.
Her brother, Clint, was still asleep. Their parents had already left for work.
At 7:40 a.m., Holly walked to her black Ford Mustang on the long, winding driveway leading to the Bobo family’s rural Decatur County home.
Minutes later, the family’s dog barked, waking Clint. He walked to the kitchen window that faces the expansive, treelined backyard to see what the ruckus was about. A man dressed in camouflage had his sister by the arm, leading her into the woods, he later told the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
The psychology student went out to his sister’s Mustang. She was supposed to be on her way to school, he knew. Next to her car, pooled a small puddle of blood and a spilled Coke can.
Wide awake now, Clint Bobo ran into his house and called 911. He called his mother, Karen, a second-grade teacher who usually chatted by text with Holly several times a day. Panicked now, he ran into the woods where he had last seen his sister.
No one ruled outJust after 8 a.m. that April 13 Wednesday, police surrounded the country home. Within hours, dogs, helicopters, horses joined in the search.
Underwater cameras searched ponds in the area. News of her disappearance swept through the 800-person town of Darden and the nearby town of Parsons, with just more than 2,000 people.
“When we found out Holly was gone, people took off work and life just stopped around here,” said Tammy White, a family friend who checks up on the Bobo family daily. “Something like this had just never happened in this area before. I think it was a shock to everyone that someone had come into our little community and taken one of our own.”
The next day, Holly Bobo’s packed lunch was found about six miles north of her home toward Interstate 40.
More of Holly’s belongings were found. Investigators with the TBI aren’t saying how many, or what the items are. They’re also not saying whose blood was next to Holly’s Mustang.
Helm said no one has been ruled out as a suspect but added that investigators believe Clint Bobo’s account of that morning.
For the first time, homes in Decatur County are installing security systems, said Don Franks, the pastor of Corinth Baptist Church.
“Before Holly, we were a very trusting town,” Franks said. “We felt like we had our own little world here. Our bubble is kind of busted now.”
