18. July 2009 by admin.

Hello Nadi,

Happy 24th birthday wherever you are!  We want you to know you have been on our minds constantly since you disappeared last November.  Mom and Pop are doing all we can to find you and many people have come forward to help us in our search.  We want you to know there are a lot of people looking for you, hoping and praying we will find you soon.  Folks from all over the world have sent their well wishes, hope and support. 

I’ve come across many people who tell me about how happy you were working at the market and how you were always so positive and willing to help others.  It’s warms my heart to hear those things about you and makes me miss you even more.  No one could be more proud of you than your father and I.

I want you to know the family has come up with $10,000 to put toward the reward monies to help find you.  The Homewood Police Department announced it yesterday.  We’re hoping someone will step forward and fill in the few remaining pieces of the puzzle we need to find you.  The police said they feel pretty certain they know who was behind your disappearance and they have a lot of evidence to support their theory.  I’m not sure how you came to be involved with folks that would want to do something wrong to you.  After all these months it’s still hard for me to imagine anything has happened to you.  I keep thinking it’s all a dream and that you’ll appear and everything will be fine. 

Mom and Pop didn’t realize how urgent your situation was when you told us you wanted to come home and start over.  We thought we had plenty of time to plan a move.  We were wrong and for that I’m so sorry.  We didn’t know you needed to leave Alabama right away. 

We’d love to be able to talk to you about your little man but given the sensitivity of the circumstances we can’t do that yet.  Just know we are doing all we can to give him a brighter future.

Nadi, we want you to remember the Lord will take care of things here for you while you are away.  It will all be okay.  Do you remember the words to the song your cousin David sang?   It went like this: Good Night, Sweetheart, sleep tight wherever you are.  God hold you in His arms when we’re apart.  Though you’re far away your love will stay tucked away here in my (our) heart.  Good Night, Sweetheart.  Sleep tight wherever you are.

Happy Birthday Nadi!!!

Love you,

Mom, Pop, Ryan, John and Charlize                                                                                                       

Posted in Homewood Alabama, Missing Person, Nadia Kersh | Print | No Comments »

3. July 2009 by admin.

Some say over time things get easier.  I can tell you they do not.  It has been eight months now since our daughter Nadia disappeared.  Our loss is as great now as it was when we first heard she went missing.

 It was 6 November when the Homewood detective called us at home.  I answered the phone.  The detective asked if I was Nancy Kersh and then if I was the mother of Nadia Kersh.  I told him I was as I felt my heart sink and my mind began to race as fear overcame me.  He said what every mother fears, “We’re investigating a missing persons report; your daughter, Nadia has been reported missing.”  For a time I couldn’t seem to catch my breath, my heart raced on as I struggled for words.  I remember saying, “Excuse me?”  The detective was gracious and patient.  He said again, “Nadia has been reported missing.”  I felt weak and lightheaded and struggled to talk.  I was in a state of shock and disbelief and managed to say, “Please let me tell my husband.”  He was at work and the news would devastate him.

As I hung up the phone I remember thinking, how could this be?  I called Kevin at work and left a message for him to call home.  While I waited for his call, I tried to collect myself and my thoughts.  I asked again, “How can this be?”  I decided to Google Nadia’s name on my laptop.  Maybe she was in an accident, maybe she was just lost, maybe she was hurt and in a hospital somewhere.  Up came her driver’s license picture and captions that said she was a 23 year old mother missing in Homewood, AL.  I felt my head spin.  There she was.  She had been missing since Monday, three days earlier. 

I asked the Lord to bring peace to my heart as I struggled to make sense of the situation.  I began to think about our last conversation and how happy she was to be able to come and visit us in a couple of weeks.   She talked about wanting to move from Alabama, that she needed to get away, she wanted to start over.  She asked if she could come home for a while.  We said yes, of course.  We told her we could talk more about it when she came.  She was so excited about coming to see us all and we couldn’t wait to see her and the baby. 

Because we’re in the military and were stationed far overseas, I hadn’t seen Nadia for some time.  I had yet to meet the baby.  Kevin was fortunate having had business trips back to the states which gave him an opportunity to stop by to see her.  He last visited with her last August on a trip through Birmingham, AL.  They had dinner at Olive Garden before he continued on his trip north to Washington, DC.  As always, she sent her love.

By August I was also back in the states but decided to visit my father who was terminally ill.  We didn’t know how long he had and I wanted to spend that time with him.  I’m glad I did…he passed three weeks after Nadia disappeared. (Picture is of him and Nadia)

Today marks eight months since Nadia went missing.  Losing her was the last thing I could’ve ever imagined.  Some say over time things get easier.   All I know is that the hurt doesn’t go away…the emptiness doesn’t go away.  There is a void in our lives where Nadia’s tiny voice seems to call out, “I love you mom and pop and don’t you forget it.”  I want you to know we haven’t , Nadia…we haven’t.  We will never stop loving you and we will never stop looking for you.

As you read this, if you have any information on Nadia’s whereabouts please call the Homewood Police Department on their hotline at (205) 332-6262.  Please help us find her.

(Comments can be viewed under the “Comments” link.)

Blessings to all of you who have supported the search efforts for Nadia. 

God’s Peace,

Kevin, Nancy, Ryan, John and Charlize

Posted in Homewood Police Dept, Kevin and Nancy Kersh, Homewood Alabama, Missing Person, Nadia Kersh | Print | No Comments »