This week, we introduce a gripping voice in true crime storytelling. Whether you’re discovering the author ahead of his upcoming book 25 Frozen 1 Dead, or simply drawn in by stories that won’t let go—this short essay captures the haunting disappearance of 13-year-old Gina Dawn Brooks in Fredericktown, Missouri. It’s a story that lingers, not just because of the mystery, but because of the mother who never gave up hope.
WHERE’S GINA?
Down at the local baseball field on August 5, 1989, in Frederickton, Missouri, a blonde-haired, green-eyed,100 pound teenager named Gina Dawn Brooks was with her mother watching her brother’s baseball game. Her stepfather was out with his friends. The game ended around 10pm, and Gina began walking home on Marshall Street.
She said goodnight to her mother Cindy Box, who took a bath and went to bed. Gina, 13, then told her brother she was going for a bike ride. She left the house around 1030pm, dressed in a blue-striped top, white shorts and sneakers, and rode through the quiet town. She was soon confronted by the occupants of an old, battered station wagon in front of First Street Baptist Church. Gina kept riding, turned the corner to High Street, where she hoped to talk to her boyfriend.
The station wagon came again. And then there was a scream.
By daybreak, Fredericktown was crawling with city, county, state and federal officials. Some 100 searchers arrived from nearby Madison, Iron, Reynolds and St. Francois counties. They searched with horses on the ground, and airplanes and helicopters in the air. Posters went up. Yellow ribbons hung from trees. There were marches and vigils. Classmates held a prayer vigil at a local church. Tips came pouring in, hundreds of them over the next few days. Nothing panned out.
“We really do not have any clues,” police told the media who quickly gathered. “Right now, we are still grasping at straws.”
As the years went by, the case went cold. The FBI arrived, using subterranean probing tools. A psychic arrived in town offering to help. The search spanned from the Canadian Mounties to the Cayman Islands.
Nothing.
“We were desperate,” Gina’s mother, Cindy Box said. “We were willing to try anything.”
What do you say to a mother who has not only lost her child, but has had to endure this pain for 30 years? You say you are sorry, that your heart breaks, and that you pray someday, somehow, she finds peace. And then you are amazed how strong she is.
“I still have hope that someone might come forward with information,” said Cindy Box. “But as each year goes by, it just seems like it gets harder.”
25 Frozen 1 Thawed Coming Soon.
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