The children of a missing woman are preparing to canvass the Ozarks once again with posters to generate new leads in the case. Rebecca and Russell Porter disappeared from their Willard home on April 17 under suspicious circumstances.
On Sunday, the families of Rebecca and Russell Porter will once again post pictures of the couple. They don't want the community to forget their faces or the fact they still have not come home. “Just keep them in your thoughts don't let it go cold,” Rebecca Porter’s son Corey Ellsworth said. “It's tough you know you start realizing things may not turn out so good the more time that passes it gets worse and worse in your mind.”
Ellsworth’s sister, Jessica Bullock, wishes her mother was by her side to her help her raise her first child. Her baby is seven months old. “She's like my best friend, so going that long without talking to her it has been hard, really hard,” Bullock said. “Being a new mom being able to ask her questions when she's sick or just having a mom there to help me with my new baby
Investigators collected more than 200 pieces of evidence but still no sign of the couple. “We don't have any information that points us they are at a certain spot or they've had a credit card transaction,” Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott said. Deputies searched the couple's home and nearby properties from the air and on the ground. “We have searched locations that people have called in anonymous tips,” Arnott said.
Family and friends canvassed the Ozarks with missing posters in April. “Some stations are starting to take down flyers we are trying to get them back up and freshen people's minds again,” Ellsworth said. The posters did generate several calls. “One over the weekend was a couple they did look very similar but we went checked it out and it wasn't them,” Arnott said.
Rebecca's children are used to hearing her voice every day. They hope someone with information will come forward and give them the chance to do that again. “There has to be somebody involved somebody that knows what happened if you do know what happened stand up and be a man and come forward,” Ellsworth said. “We are looking for my mom and we are looking for Rusty and if you know you we can get them you need to stand up be a man and tell us what you know.”
The Porter's families and volunteers are taking down old flyers and putting up new flyers unday July 17. Anyone who wants to help out can meet at the Meeks parking lot in Republic from 10-3 Sunday afternoon. They are asking people to come in groups of three and bring tape.
The Greene County Sheriff's Office is still also investigating an unsolved double homicide. Someone stabbed Don and Helen Willingham to death inside their home on April 25. The sheriff says two persons of interest are in custody on unrelated charges. Arnott recently begged for uncooperative people with information to come forward. Anyone with information on either case can call the sheriff's office at 417-868-4040.
