Where is Kim?
Hallsville, TX(KSLA)- It was 22 years ago today (May 20th) when 12-year-old Kimberly Norwood vanished without a trace while walking home along a dirt road in Hallsville, Texas.
The case has baffled law enforcement for over two decades as investigators say there was no evidence left behind, and they still don't have a clue in what happened that day. Her mother, Janice Norwood, says the 22nd anniversary doesn't seem real and even though it has been many years, it hasn't gotten any easier.
Janice says it was a Saturday afternoon and Kim was supposed to be walking home with friends. Her three friends told law enforcement that they walked Kim half way before they decided to turn around and head back to their homes.
Kim continued the nearly one mile left she had to her home in the back woods of East Texas. No one knows what happened next. For weeks and months the disappearance made local headlines and even national headlines when the family appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show shortly after Kim's disappearance. Divers searched wells just yards away from where the girls were walking. They came up empty handed.
Bobby Norwood, Kim's father says the family is heart broken. He pleaded, "Somebody let us know something because it is killing us now 20 something years later." Harrison County Sheriff Tom McCool was a Game Warden with the state 22 years ago when Kim went missing, but he says he knows the case well.
Sheriff McCool says his agency has investigated hundreds of leads in his 10 years in office. He says while it is a cold case it is not a closed case. Investigators have persons of interests in the case although he wouldn't tell KSLA News 12 who those people are. Sheriff McCool says his agency will continue to look and do everything they can do try and bring closure to this case.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children released a new age progression photo of Kim last month. It's a computer generated image of how she may look today at 34 years old. Sheriff McCool adds, "Someone who has information that has never been conveyed to law enforcement will for some unknown reason decide to tell the truth".
There is also a possibility that Kim could have been harmed. Last month, KSLA News 12 learned the Harrison County Sheriff's Office took new DNA samples.
Since her disappearance was 22 years ago, law enforcement decided to update the DNA samples. This time from her sister for a closer match. Previous samples were from her parents.
Last month, human remains were found in a brushy area in Upshur County, Texas, about 30 miles away from Kim's Hallsville home. No evidence or clothing was found with the bones. They are in Dallas for forensic testing. No word on who the human remains belong to, but Janice Norwood is still holding out hope that her daughter is alive.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has a profile for Kim as well as several other local persons who are also missing from our area.
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