Linda Zapata

It's starting to sink in now, what I've missed.

Did I even have a mom?

Do you know that for the last 30 years, I've been waiting and watching every day, waiting for mom to come home?

I know people always tell me she's strong and independent and a pioneer, but for me, she was just mom.

I remember flying with her while she taught people how to fly.

Her smile, I remember, a big, big, big smile.

I was a baby in the family, so I always got spoiled and just fun to be with.

As I got older, I would go with her to the air races with my dad.

The last time anyone had seen her, she was sitting there having coffee in the dining room, sending the kids off to school.

And then, according to Eugene, half an hour later, he gets to the house and she's not there.

I remember that she wasn't home, but that was typical.

I mean, she was off at work.

And my next memory is

The three of us kids together saying, you know, where's mom?

It's getting late.

The very fact that somebody called 28 years after she went missing, and her best friend still wanted answers and had the guts to call the police department, say, what are you doing here?

Anything happening?

I had the feeling that nobody else had ever asked the police department to do it.

I took the case and gave it a read.

There were a number of red flags that were raised on the initial reading of the reports.