"Cleashindra wasn't the type of person just to run off," Rawlinson said. "She had her future ahead of her."

Her mother said her daughter was doing clerical work for Amos, who at the time was running a business that supported in-home daycares, to make some money before she set off for college in the fall. She hoped to someday become a pediatrician.

Laurell Hall said she still pictures her daughter as an 18-year-old, even though nearly two decades have passed. She and her husband keep pink bows on their porch as a sign of hope, a reminder that they're still searching. She holds out hope that her daughter is alive.

"I'm going to believe that until I find out differently," she said.

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Follow Jeannie Nuss at http://twitter.com/jeannienuss