Andi: April 2009

Saturday, April 4, 2009

We will never forget...

This next Friday Andi would have turned 22. Ten years ago her life was brutally stolen from her when she was kidnapped from her father's rural Arkansas home, raped and strangled. During this time of year I always struggle with these terrible facts. My heart will always have an empty space and there has not been one day since she was taken that I have not thought about her. A parent should never lose a child. It's not natural. So, as I have almost every year I am honoring her by placing her video on this blog dedicated to her memory.

I love you Andi. I miss you.

Mommy

About Rebecca

After the 1999 abduction, rape, and murder of her 12-year-old daughter Andria, Rebecca Petty chose to fight for the rights of crime victims and focus her anguish on keeping the children of America safe from predatory crime and abduction. Rebecca has worked closely with law enforcement, crime victims, children, parents, law makers and her community.
She is frequently called upon by regional media in the event of a child abduction or any issue involving child safety to offer her advice and insight on the issue. In her efforts to create a legacy for her daughter, Andi, Rebecca has worked in her community to fingerprint and photograph over 20,000 children and has handed out over 10,000 home DNA kits. She has appeared on national and local television shows including the Oprah Winfrey Show and Phil Donahue show as well as written articles for her local newspaper and periodicals. She is also a member of Team HOPE, a support network for families of missing children. Runner Up for the 2007 Jefferson Award. She is also a founding member of the Surviving Parent’s Coalition, a group formed to empower surviving parents of children who were abducted and sexually assaulted, or are still missing, to work together and present a unified voice for legislation and prevention education that will maximize efforts to stop child sexual abuse, exploitation and abduction. Rebecca was part of a private round-table discussion with President George W. Bush and lobbied for the Child Safety Act that created the National Amber Alert system.