Family holds rally to announce $5,000 reward to find Lititz woman who vanished mysteriously over a year ago
Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Lancaster New Era
Updated May 01, 2013 10:09
Lititz
Originally Published Jan 01, 2013 10:08
Editor's Note: This story was originally published on July 12, 2003.
They gathered for a rally today, but it was no celebration.
Instead, more than 100 people filled the middle section of the modern, airy Lancaster Evangelical Free Church just outside of Lititz to remind others that a woman is still missing.
Church members, family and friends also came to publicize a $5,000 reward that will be given to the person who has information on the mysterious disappearance of Brenda Heist, 42, from her Lititz home more than a year ago.
"There is somebody out there that does know where Brenda is and does know what happened to Brenda," said Lititz Borough police Detective John Schofield, who has been investigating the case.
The last time her two children and the husband she was divorcing saw the missing woman was on Feb. 8, 2002.
Four days after her disappearance, police found her car near a York bus station.
Mrs. Heist's husband, Lee Heist, said today that he hoped the rally would accomplish two things: prompt some information from someone who knows something about his wife's disappearance and expand awareness of the case beyond Lancaster County.
"There may be somebody who says, "you know what....' No matter how little the information is, it could be important," Heist said.
A $5,000 reward from the Carole Sund/Carrington Foundation of Modesto, Calif., is being offered to anyone with information about Mrs. Heist.
Francis and Carole Carrington established the foundation after their daughter, granddaughter and a friend of their granddaughter were reported missing and later found murdered near Yosemite National Park in February 1999.
Although Mrs. Heist's case is not on the foundation's Web site (www.carolesundfoundation.com) at this time, it will be as soon as photos of Mrs. Heist are submitted, said her husband.
It was the second Friday in February, 2002, when Brenda Heist dropped her two children off at school near Lititz, as usual. She and her husband were preparing to get divorced and she was going to spend the day looking for new housing.
The children returned home from school that day to an empty house and have not seen their mother since.
Lititz police said there were no signs of a break-in or struggle at the family's home. Also, there was no record of her buying a ticket at the station or staying at a hotel in the area.
Since then, the police have interviewed more than two dozen people, asked for help from the FBI and from detectives from the county district attorney's office but have not been able to determine what happened.
"Nothing here suggested any foul play, in both the home and her vehicle," said Schofield. "Which suggests that if foul play occurred, it was somewhere other than those two places."
He added, "We haven't been able to officially rule out anyone as a suspect."
Heist said he's accepted that his wife probably is gone, but he still holds on to a "one-percent hope" that she may reappear.
His family is dealing with his wife's disappearance but "they have many unanswered questions," Heist said.
Heist said the couple's two children, Lee IV, 13, and Morgan, 9, continue to talk to their father about the tragedy.
Although Heist hasn't worked since his wife's disappearance, he is currently interviewing for a truck-driving job.
In the past year, the Heists moved from their home in Lititz to Denver. The children have enrolled in new schools.
The family has continued to attend the Lancaster Evangelical Free Church, which has supported the three of them "emotionally, financially and spiritually" in the last 18 months, Heist said.
It was a member there who contacted the Sund/Carrington Foundation about the case.
The foundation has paid $72,500 in rewards for information that helped police solve 15 murders and missing-persons cases.
While pictures of Mrs. Heist with her children at the beach and in front of a Christmas tree flashed on the large screens at the front of the church, the woman's friends fondly remembered her.
Next-door neighbors Bill and Arlene Bingeman, 204 Swarthmore Drive, Lititz, are hoping the rally brings some closure to the case.
"We would like to find an end to this," said Mrs. Bingeman said, "She was our neighbor. She was always friendly, always playing with the children."
Fellow church members Mark and Ellen Campbell, of Manheim Township, came with their three children to the rally.
"We came mostly to support the Heists," Mr. Campbell said.
According to Detective Schofield, there are several different possible theories, including that Mrs. Heist had a chance encounter with someone that she ran into the day of her disappearance; someone she knew was involved in her disappearance; or she just left on her own.
"Every single person we spoke to has strongly suggested that (third possibility) is against her character," Schofield said. "She would have never left her children. Her children are her world."
After the rally, people held a prayer vigil outside the church, led by a member of On Eagles Wings, a Christian motorcycle association.
Holding hands, a member of the association prayed that the Lord would shed light on the investigation and that the family would be reunited.
But police admit that at this point they have exhausted every possible lead, including a brief hope a DNA match existed with a hair sample held by police in New York.
Even though that did not pan out, Lititz police are not giving up. They hope the rally spurs a new focus on the case.
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