Elizabeth Smart Aids in Search for Holly Bobo, Whitney Duncan’s Missing Cousin
In April of 2011, Holly Bobo — the cousin of country singer Whitney Duncan — went missing from her home in Decatur County, Tenn. Although it’s been almost 18 months since Bobo mysteriously disappeared, Duncan and her family have not given up hope in finding her. Now, Elizabeth Smart, who notoriously survived a nine-month abduction in 2002, is getting involved in the charge to find the missing girl.
The Smarts will join Holly Bobo’s family on Monday August 27 at Holly’s Alma Mater, Scotts Hill High School, to share their story and keep Holly’s disappearance in the public eye as the two-year mark approaches.
“Miracles do happen,” Smart told the Des Moines Register in Iowa last week. She would know. Smart was kidnapped from her bedroom of her Salt Lake City home in June 2002. At just 14 years old, she was held against her will for several months until a tip led police to her location less than 20 miles from her parents’ home. Now 24, Smart is an advocate for preventing crimes against children.
“The Smarts have been in contact with the Bobo family since Holly’s disappearance, and this is something that they wanted to do for them,” Kevin Bromley, a spokesman for the Bobo family, said according to the Boot.
Allegedly, Bobo’s older brother saw a man pull his sister, then a 20-year-old University of Tennessee Martin Nursing student, into the woods after invading their home around 7:30AM on April 13, 2011. Immediately, Duncan took to her Twitter page to get the word out about her cousin’s disappearance and to ask for prayers for her broken-hearted family.
Since Bobo was kidnapped, little evidence has been discovered that could lead police to finding her. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is urged to call 800-824-3463 (800-TBI-FIND) or the Decatur County (Tennessee) Sheriff’s Office at 731-852-3714.
Monday’s awareness event with Elizabeth Smart is free and open to the public, and will be held at 7:30PM in the Scotts Hill High School gymnasium.