On April 22,1998 a young lady named Peggy Carr was out running errands in broad daylight, and was in a Wilmington shopping mall parking lot when she was abducted by two men that recently been released from jail and were on “what we know now” over a week long crime spree of stealing, committing murder and other unspeakable crimes.Peggy’s remains were recovered 11/18/98 over seven months later in Bladen County, a rural area located in North Carolina.
CUE Center for Missing Persons, although founded in 1994 had never been involved in such a high profiled case like this. Later Peggy’s tragic death, her life, the search for her, the recovery and her legacy became the tool that shaped the foundation, of what is known today as the CUE Center (Community United Effort). This case is considered by all who are a part of the CUE organization our “landmark” case. Peggy Carr’s larger than life photo still hangs today at the doorway of CUE as a reminder of how far we have come.
Peggy’s mother, family, police and CUE volunteers went to the site, it was raining, the family huddled over the immediate area and everyone else stepped back to provide privacy.
Umbrellas were up, it was gloomy and late afternoon, in the mist of much emotion a wail from Peggy’s mother rose to the heavens and brought a painful silence that day.
The memories of all the interviews, poster distributions, awareness events, searches, late night advocacy lessons and much more flooded in like a ocean wave during a storm. It was all in the headline the next day nationwide.