Merced County’s Vanessa Smith went missing 20 years ago today. The search continues

Beverly Smith stood near an almond tree Tuesday afternoon on Winton Way, the place where the last known traces of her daughter were found 20 years ago.

Her daughter, Vanessa, vanished exactly 20 years ago today.

Smith’s old home, on the corner of Winton Way and Mercedes Avenue, was just 200 yards down from the almond tree, the spot where her then 15-year-old daughter’s walking stick was found.

Vanessa now would be 35-years-old. She vanished on May 31, 1997, at around 6 p.m. Smith said her daughter left the house that night to go on her regular walk around their neighborhood down by the almond orchards that surrounded their old home.

Beverly Smith has never stopped looking for her child.

“We just need that one link,” Smith said Tuesday. “I don’t why and I can’t explain it; I think she’s still in Winton.”

Before she disappeared, Smith said Vanessa had dreams of working in an office, being a foster parent and owning a Honda.

“We never got that far,” Smith said.

For two years now Merced County sheriff’s Detective Clinton Landrum has been assigned to Vanessa’s case. The work on the decades-old case never stops. Landrum said he spent some time on Tuesday filing some more reports on Vanessa’s case.

“Vanessa’s case specifically has been proved valuable in that I think we have a clear path to go on treading forward,” Landrum said. “I can tell you that the main issue with the case right now is our staffing. Our detectives unit has lower staffing that we’ve ever had.”

In some missing-person cases, the victim is abducted by a stranger, but, Landrum said, those cases are rare.

“I am a firm believer, and I’ve worked with every detective we have in here on this thing, that Vanessa knew whoever took her,” Landrum said. “It wasn’t a stranger abduction.”

Landrum said she could have even gone with her abductor willingly, not knowing that she wouldn’t come back.

Another challenging aspect of this case, Landrum said, was the difficulty of interviewing people who were close or connected to the case when it occurred in the late 90s. The community that Vanessa was surrounded by was at times reluctant to talk to law enforcement, he said.

“I know for a fact that there’s people out there, they know who they are, and they have information that can solve this case,” Landrum said. “The case is still set up to succeed and be solved. It’s not sitting on a shelf somewhere collecting dust, she hasn’t been forgotten.”

He still hopes someone will come forward with that valuable information.

Since Vanessa’s disappearance, Smith has been working hard to keep her daughter’s name and face on the public’s radar.

“I think I feel a little bit numb,” Smith said. “Twenty years is a long time to put somebody’s name out there. I’ve been raising money for years to get her on billboards.”

Many people from Merced County know Vanessa’s strawberry-blond hair and freckled face well, Smith said, and they continue to come up to her and let her know Vanessa is in their prayers.

Over the years, Smith estimates spending around $12,000 to $15,000 to have her daughter’s face and information placed on billboards. Most recently, Vanessa’s picture and information have been on a digital billboard in Delhi, along Highway 99. That billboard notice will continue to run through June.

Beverley Smith feels the heartbreak and frustration of searching for years without success. She said it’s difficult to understand why nobody has come forward to help.

“I didn’t it’d be this long in the first place,” Smith said. “It’s hard to fathom that I put her out there and nobody has come forth.”

But, she said, she also knows she’ll never give up.

“I’m Vanessa’s voice,” she said. “I feel like people aren’t forgetting. I feel like I know in my heart she’s out there.”

This story was originally published May 31, 2017 at 6:27 AM with the headline "Merced County’s Vanessa Smith went missing 20 years ago today. The search continues."