Mom uses her experience to help others 19 years after daughter’s disappearance
Marianne Asher-Chapman ties a green ribbon around a tree every year in honor of her daughter Angie Yarnell.
By Jensen Nocera
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HOLTS SUMMIT, Missouri (KOMU) — It’s a tradition that goes back almost two decades for one mid-Missouri mother. Marianne Asher-Chapman ties a green ribbon around a tree every year in honor of her daughter Angie Yarnell.
“It’s something to recognize Angie. I just can’t have her being forgotten,” Asher-Chapman said.
At age 28, Yarnell went missing in 2003. Her husband, Micheal Yarnell, was charged and convicted of manslaughter in her death, but her body was never found. Her mother has not stopped looking for her since the day she disappeared.
“It doesn’t get easier. It’s the not knowing that’s just so hard,” Chapman said.
But from that tragedy was a chance to inspire change. Chapman helped create Missouri Missing in 2007. Missouri Missing is a nonprofit organization that helps families find their loved ones who go missing.
“I talk to families nearly every day. When she [Angie] went missing there was no one to help me, but I know the steps to take and I know what to tell these people and how to help them,” Chapman said. “I try to be an advocate for people who have been in my shoes.”
Missouri Missing allows Chapman to share her daughter’s story as well as find a community who show her support. Every year Chapman does a livestream for the ribbon tying ceremony and asks people to share photos of them tying a green ribbon to any object they can.
“It feels so good to have so much compassion and so much love coming towards her [Angie],” Chapman said.
As another year passes, Chapman still doesn’t lose hope and continues to look for her daughter.
“I have crawled through caves. I’ve been at the bottom of sinkholes, sifted through old burn piles, I’ve been to old burnt down houses. There’s nowhere that I won’t go to look for Angie,” Chapman said.
The ribbon tying ceremony will take place Tuesday at 2 p.m. You can watch the livestream on Missouri Missing’s Facebook Live.
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