Duane T. Bowers, LPC is a trauma educator, author, therapist, Certified Wellness Consultant, and Certified Spiritual Coach in private practice. For the past two decades he has provided support to families of victims of missing, murdered, exploited and trafficked persons, and has supported and trained the professional staff of law enforcement and agencies who work with these families and victims, in the US and Canada. These include the staff of the of National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the staff of the Trust and Safety Divisions of several ESP and Social Media Platforms, and the Maryland State Police Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Taskforce.

In Saskatchewan province in Canada, Duane works through Caring Hearts providing education and assisting in creating programs focused on trauma informed care, and supporting families of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. He also serves as a consultant to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, and Canadian Resource Center for Victim of Crimes in Ottawa, Ontario Canada.

Duane teaches seminars nationally, internationally and regionally on Trauma Informed Care, Intergenerational Trauma, Traumatic Loss, and Wellness/Self Care for Trauma Victims and Professionals. He has served as an Adjunct Professor of Counseling at Trinity College in Washington DC, and continues to be a regular guest lecturer for graduate and undergraduate classes of various colleges and universities. Duane has authored a variety of books, manuals and articles related to trauma, the missing, traumatic loss, and wellness/self-care for trauma victims and workers.

Dr. Deborah Cunnigham Breede (Deb), Professor Emeritus with Coastal Carolina University, has been a teacher, lecturer, researcher, and community activist throughout the southeast for over fifty years.

Co-founder of the former Eastern Coalition Against Human Trafficking (ECCHAT) and the author of four books, Deb has published, lectured, and traveled widely in the United States and Great Britain, bringing awareness and social change to areas that include human trafficking, intimate partner and family violence, and migration complexities.  She is honored to be here.

A native South Carolinian and a long-time resident of the Myrtle Beach area, Attorney Regina Ward received a B.A. in political science in 1991 from Coastal Carolina University, where one of her professors saw the makings of a lawyer in her and encouraged her to pursue the profession. After spending a number of years raising her children, she followed the professor’s advice.

Faith Phillips is a novelist, screenwriter, and television producer living in the Cherokee foothills. She created the sub-genre known as Okie Noir. After penning four books, Oxygen Network featured Faith and her Oklahoma best-selling true crime novel, Now I Lay Me Down in a national tv series. That experience unlocked the world of writing for film and television. Phillips then created and produced the national docu-series The Girl Scout Murders. Her latest projects include award-winning feature screenplays, scripted television, and a book on eight unsolved MMIW/MMIP cases aimed at bringing resources and justice to victims, their families, and tribal nations.

Jillian Backman is an award-winning radio personality, author, and consultant with a degree in Psychology from the University of Texas. She has built a distinguished career centered on her empathic ability to guide individuals in need of deep soul-level understanding.

Jillian’s innovative approach to her leadership development program emphasizes the integration of intellect and intuition, helping individuals harness both logic and gut instincts to excel in academics, careers, and personal growth. Her method empowers clients to “get the edge” by creating a balanced perspective.

A sought-after speaker, Jillian has inspired audiences at colleges, seminars, and conferences across the country. Her private clientele includes corporate executives, international business leaders, celebrity musicians, artists, and school administrators, each benefiting from her unique insight and guidance.

She is the author of BEYOND THE PEWS: Breaking Away from Tradition and Letting Go of Religious Lockdown, an interactive and thought-provoking journey that explores divine intuition and its transformative role in deepening spiritual connections and revealing the essence of our being.

Stephanie White began in 1987 a full-time career with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office and started teaching part time at the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy. My real passion was teaching and in 1999 I left LCSO and became a full-time instructor at the Florida Public Safety Institute/Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy. In 2002 I became the Medical First Responder Program Coordinator responsible for all first responder/first aid training for basic recruits and instructor level courses.
Since 1992 I’ve been a CJSTC Florida Department of Law Enforcement certified instructor in general topics instructor and first aid. In 2001 I became a defensive tactics instructor. I’m a CPR and First Aid Instructor/Instructor Trainer for American Health and Safety Institute and a Training Center Director. I’ve trained thousands of law enforcement, corrections and correctional probation recruits over the years.
The Florida Public Safety Institute hosts the Annual Bloodhound Scent Tracking Seminar. In 2014 that program was turned over to me to coordinate. The first year I was given the program we had 6 handlers and K9’s attend. Through the years we have increased the number of handlers attending to between 26-32, brought on very knowledgeable and dedicated instructors, created scenarios to mimic real life call-outs, and exposed the handlers and K9’s to realistic training where an injured K9 may have to be flown out by a medical helicopter. I was also involved in creating and coordinating an All Breeds K9 Tracking Program so that we could bring in and train with patrol K9’s and other breeds of tracking K9’s.
I’ve been a CUE Center State Coordinator since 2012 and have been blessed to meet so many dedicated search and rescue personnel and amazing families of missing persons.

Kelly Walker is a retired sergeant with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office in Tallahassee, Fl. with 32 years of Law Enforcement experience and 8 years of Law Enforcement K-9 experience. She been involved with Search and Rescue since 2004 and has been a CUE Volunteer with The CUE Center since 2009. She has certified canines in Human Remains Detection and Trailing. Her Certifications have been with North American Police Work Dog Association (NAPWDA) and through National Association of Search and Rescue (NASAR) as well as the National Network of Canine Detector Services (NNOCDS) and American Work Dog Association (AWDA) National Association of Search and Rescue and United K9s. She is also a trailing instructor for NNOCDS and Florida Public Safety Institute. She is a Human Remains Detection instructor for CUE HRD Specialty Training.
She has numerous seminars and classes, ranging from search and rescue techniques, crime scene preservation, NIMS, HAZMAT training, Blood borne Pathogens education, and am First Aid and CPR Instructor through the American Health and Safety Institute (ASHI). I am also a Florida State Outreach Coordinator for Community United Effort (CUE) Center for Missing Persons.

Certifications: Trailing (NAPWDA, NNOCDS, NASAR,), HRD NAPWDA, NASAR, NASAR SARTECH II, Florida State K9 Instructor Criminal Justice and Training Commission (CJSTC), Florida State General Instructor with CJSTC, First Aid Instructor (CJSTC), CPR Instructor (ASHI), Trailing Instructor/Evaluator for NNOCDS

Felix P. Nater, CSC, President and Owner of  Nater Associates, Ltd. is a human resource security management consultant helping manufacturing, processing, production and utility firms implement and manage workplace security strategy with a focus on workplace violence prevention.

Services includes: workplace violence prevention consulting, workplace security consulting, training & security awareness, program development and program management.

Mr. Nater is a nationally recognized highly skilled Workplace Violence Prevention Advisor & Consultant retired from federal law enforcement with more than 30 years of investigative, law enforcement, program management and security experiences.

Norma Peterson is the Illinois State Outreach Coordinator for the CUE Center for Missing Persons, where she and her husband, Paul, assist with outreach and support for missing persons cases across the state.

On October 28, 2007, their sister-in-law, Stacy Peterson, disappeared—presumably at the hands of her husband, Drew Peterson. In the years since, Norma has led outreach and awareness campaigns, striving to bring Stacy home while shedding light on the abusive circumstances she endured.

During the high-profile investigation, the Peterson family deliberately remained out of the intense media spotlight. However, after Drew Peterson’s arrest and subsequent conviction for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, they felt compelled to speak out. Norma and Paul have since appeared on multiple true crime television programs covering Stacy’s case, using their platform to advocate for other victims of domestic violence.

Norma is the Executive Director of Document the Abuse, an organization dedicated to continuing the work of the late domestic violence advocate Susan Murphy Milano. The organization preserves and promotes the groundbreaking Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit (EAA)—a tool designed to help victims document their abuse and protect themselves. The CUE Center for Missing Persons remains a vital partner in supporting Document the Abuse and expanding the reach of the EAA

Christian A. Nanry, PHD is a veteran and serves his community as a law enforcement official. He is a board advisor for PWP, and his research topics include human trafficking and exploitation, extortion, missing persons, and crimes against children. He holds a doctorate of philosophy from Texas State University.

My name is Krystina Shuttleworth. I am 36 yrs old. I have 2 daughter, Brenae & Calleigh.

I moved from Aiken SC to Charlotte NC Sep. 2024 to help with my addiction to drugs & alcohol. My addiction got me around the age of 14 when my mother, Lisa Shuttleworth went missing. The last time I spoke with my mom was Sep. 4,2003. My mom had just turned 35 yrs old. She had recently found out she was pregnant by a married man and refused to have an abortion.

I’m just trying to spread awareness of my Mama’s case and keep her story alive. I also know that a lot of people who have missing loved ones have turned to addiction to help cope with their loss. I want others to know that they’re not alone and can reach out for help.

My name is Wilveria Sanders, 34 years old, a mother of two daughters. I am the youngest sibling and only sister to Shelton John Sanders, who went missing on June 19, 2001 in Columbia, South Carolina at the age of 25.

My family and I are from Rembert, South Carolina. Shelton John Sanders, 25 years old, a young promising black male, was a high achieving student at the University of South Carolina, employed as a Systems Manager in the Department of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science. He also had his own computer programming website online SAND ZONE.com where he expressed his interest in becoming a computer programmer after his expected graduation, December 2001.

My brother was the most influential person in my life, I was 11 years old at the time of his disappearance. He was a wonderful son, brother, a great friend and cousin, to us. My family and I have been actively seeking justice and spreading public awareness about my brother’s unsolved murder/disappearance if effort to find my brother. This unfortunate situation has caused the Shelton’s family a great deal of pain and suffering for the past 24 years. Every victim’s family deserves justice, answers and closure for the unfortunate loss of their loved one.

My passion is to be an advocate by helping, supporting and raising awareness of other victim’s family/friends who have missing person(s) or unsolved homicide cases. Together all of us (CUE Center, Law Enforcement, the Media, Victim’s Family & Friends, Community, Advocates, and all agencies and organizations nationwide – serving missing persons) will help bring our loved one HOME.

Dr. Dan Harrington is the father of Morgan Harrington, who was abducted and murdered from the campus of the University of Virginia in October 2009 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Dr. Harrington is a psychiatrist and educator and served as Vice President for Academic Affairs for Carilion Clinic and Vice Dean for the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in Roanoke Virginia.

Gil Harrington is a dedicated and inspirational public figure who speaks often at universities, churches, libraries, book clubs, civic organizations, on television and radio. Gil is Founder and President of Help Save The Next Girl (HSTNG), a non-profit foundation formed after the October 17, 2009, murder of the Harrington’s 20-year-old daughter, Morgan, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Since that tragic event, Gil has become a determined advocate to protect other young lives from sexual violence. Gil is the author of a book, Morgan Harrington Murdered and Dead for Good that describes Harington’s journey from grief to wholeness.

Following Morgan’s murder Dan and Gil effectively used social media to share their quest for justice and engage supporters from around the world to keep Morgan’s story alive. Dan and Gil continue to work raising awareness of the importance for campus safety and the need for an attitudinal shift in society’s view of women.

In response to Morgan’s untimely death in 2009, the Harringtons established several initiatives including the Morgan Dana Harrington Scholarship at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, the construction of the Morgan Harrington Educational Wing at OMNI Village in Zambia, Africa, and the establishment of the Help Save the Next Girl foundation to help educate and children and young adults about the need for safety and personal responsibility.

Bullard Entertainment has entertained CUE conference attendees for more than a decade. The QUEEN OF KARAOKE MARTHA BULLARD has won such titles as Mrs SC Congeniality and best karaoke entertainer in the Tabor City Yam Festival. She joined the CUE family when Alice Donovan went missing, she was the mother of her dear friends Jennifer and Angie Warner.  She wanted to do more to help. Along the way she became friends with many other families. The gift of making people happy is what she counts as her blessings and putting a smile on your faces.  Let’s make this conference one to remember.