EVANSVILLE – The family of a missing Evansville woman is trying to keep awareness of their case high. And they hope a fair will help.
On Friday, Dawnita Wilkerson’s family will mark yet another “Find Dawnita Day,” the annual remembrance of a case that has yet to find a resolution three years after Wilkerson stepped into a gray Chevy Suburban with two men and was never seen again.
This time, they’ll invite members of the public to a vendor fair at the Big E Superstore at the corner of Vann and Covert avenues.
Faye Cardin, Dawnita’s aunt, promised food trucks, 11 vendors, a scavenger hunt and plenty of activities for kids. Festivities kick off at 2 p.m.
“It’s just to raise awareness of missing people and to raise funds so we can get somebody to come forward and talk,” she said.
That last part has frustrated the family since Wilkerson was last seen on June 21, 2020. Earlier that day, the then-44-year-old mother of six walked away from the former home of a relative at the corner of Lodge and Taylor.
She wasn’t seen again until 8:16 that night, when surveillance footage captured her outside an East Side Evansville motel with the two men. The vehicle drove west over the Indiana-Illinois state line, causing Dawnita’s cell phone to ping in various locations, including near a Carbondale hospital.
But the phone was dead by the next morning, the FBI has said, and there’s been no sign of Wilkerson since. The family believes Dawnita could have been killed somewhere in Illinois. But they need that crucial piece of evidence to know for sure.
That’s partly where the vendor fair comes in. They’re hoping they can raise more money to increase the reward in the case, or just keep Wilkerson’s name in the news long enough for someone to break their silence.
After a period of stifled communication with law enforcement, Cardin said she’s been talking with Evansville police detective Aaron McCormick more in the last few months.
“It’s kind of been busy (lately),” she said. “But we still need somebody to come forward and say something.”
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Family of missing Evansville woman to host fair to raise awareness
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