September 5, 2003
Unadilla-- It's been five years since an eight-year-old Dooly County girl disappeared.
Shy'kemmia Pate was near her home when she vanished.
To this day there's been no sign of the little girl.
A mother still weeps. Veronica Pate's tears are never-ending, "I try to keep from crying, but it hurt real bad, I miss her so much."
This is a picture of Shy'kemmia Pate at eight-years-old--the way her mother remembers her, "I ask for a miracle everyday, that she'll be back."
Just before sunset September 4th, 1998, Shy'kemmia was seen walking here, at the intersection of Crumpler and West. What happened next is unknown.
"As time progresses, it makes finding Shy-Shy alive a little more and more less likely." Investigator Randy Lambert still holds out hope. This is a computer rendering of how Shy-Shy might look today. She's 13 years old, "It's almost made like she's our little girl."
Lambert knows everything about her--her likes, dislikes--everything but where she is, and it brings him to tears, "Yeah, like I said, you've got something like this, it's touched everybody."
Investigator Lambert and Veronica Pate both want Shy-Shy home, but their once daily phone calls now stretch further apart. Pate says, "Cause he be like I don't call you anymore cause I don't have anything great to tell you and it hurt me just as much as it hurt you not to know. I don't push them because I know they are doing there job."
A job that is becoming more difficult each day. Where is Shy'kemmia Pate?
Shy'kemmia Pate is still in the national data base for missing children.
Posted at 7:15 p.m. by melissa.kill@walb.com
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