NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The family of Sherree Brown held a vigil on Saturday.
The vigil, to keep shining a light, was held at Berkley Village Apartments on Daphia Circle in Newport News. It's the last place Sherree was seen before she disappeared just over a year ago.
With emotion on faces and candles held tight, a group of Sherree's friends and family spoke of the missing woman.
"My mom is literally the first person I call. Even if I am in a sticky jam and my tire is flat I still call my mom. My mom is everything to me," said A'lexus Gibbs, Sherree's daughter.
Gibbs and the others can't make those calls. They believe someone kidnapped Sherree.
"She had to open the door for someone she knew. Sherree would never leave her pocketbook, her wallet, and her son's picture behind. Sherree had to know the person who took her. And we haven't seen Sherree since," said Sherree's mother Sharron Sanford-Brown.
Their concern is heightened by Sherree's stage four breast cancer diagnosis.
She was last seen on October 17, 2023, reported missing on October 24, 2023, and police issued an Ashanti Alert 41 days after that. We've previously spoken to the police about the length of time it took for the Ashanti Alert to be issued.
"I think in any case that you have, you can go back and say, 'Hey what could've been done differently?'" Steve Drew, Newport News Police Chief told News 3 reporter Kelsey Jones in a past interview. "I don't have a crystal ball to tell you that. I can tell you the information we have at the time."
Police said they don't have updates at this time, though the case remains under investigation.
In the meantime, the family has a message for Sherree and anyone who knows what happened.
"I want you to come home to be around me who needs you the most. I just need her to come home. I need whoever know any information to please, please, please come forward," said Gibbs.
"Tell the truth. Tell us where Sherree is. We're begging you as a mother, as a daughter, as an aunt, grandmother, she missed out on her granddaughter, her only granddaughter," said Sanford-Brown.
And every day they keep hope.
"I look at the calendar and I say, 'Sherree, come home today. Come home today,'" said Sanford-Brown.
If you know anything that could be helpful in this case, contact police.
