It's been three weeks since Lillian High was last seen, and family and friends have been desperate to find her. There have been searches and a reward has been offered, but there's still no sign of her.
Now, there's a new push to get the word out about her disappearance. It includes new billboard on Interstate 45 North and South as well as the Eastex Freeway.
High would rarely go outside the four-mile radius from her home and always checked in with her family. Monday nights were bridge nights with her neighbors, but she hasn't been seen in weeks.
Inside High's home, it's like time has stood still. Her slippers are where she left them. No one has opened her latest book of crossword puzzles and even her children have barely been back.
"It's hard not to walk in and not feel her," said Lillian's daughter, Amy McClure.
Now if they could only find her.
"I can't tell you what it's like, Jessica. It's like a nightmare that you can't wake up from," said her son, Earl High.
The 82-year-old has been missing since October 3. Since then, volunteers with the Laura Recovery Center and Texas Equusearch have passed out thousands of flyers and covered many miles. High's family has also done what they can, and this weekend Clear Channel Outdoor pitched in, putting digital messages on three billboards in the area. You would think there'd be something.
"We know no more today than what we knew then," Earl High said.
"You go to sleep with it on your mind and wake up with it and it doesn't go away," McClure said.
Not only is High missing but the rental car she was driving at the time is, too. Though there has been no activity on her credit card and bank accounts, her children now fear she's a crime victim.
"It's just been too long," McClure said.
And their pleas for help still stand.
"It is just unimaginable that a person and a car can drop into a crack in the Earth never to be seen again," Earl High said.
They aren't giving up hope but sadly are preparing for the worst.
"You can't imagine the things that run through our minds," McClure said.
At least they'd know something...
"I just want closure for the family so that we can know what happened," Earl High said.
The rental car she was driving was a dodge Avenger with the license plate number CD6 J492.
This is an active Houston Police Department missing person's case, so anyone with information is encouraged to contact the police department. Her family is still offering a $5,000 reward for information.
