Several detectives sought clues to the disappearance of Christie and Bobby Maples who were 8 and 7 years old, respectively, when they disappeared with their maternal grandparents, Marvin and Sandra Maple, March 1, 1989.

Detective Lt. Bill Sharp and Detective Sgt. Dan Goodwin of the Sheriff’s Cold Case Unit reviewed the case in August 2008.

“It’s basically searching for ghosts,” Sharp said at the time.

Sharp, the father of two children, and Goodwin, the father of three children, were committed to trying to find the children who were in their late 20s. They were credited with helping locate the children and their grandfather in February 2009 in San Jose, Calif.

Author Carole Moore interviewed Sharp last summer for her book entitled, “The Last Place You'd Look: True Stories of Missing Persons and the People Who Search for Them.” It should be available in May.

“The investigation into the Baskins’ children's disappearance is an example of excellent police work and dedication,” Moore said in an email. “As a former criminal investigator, I know how much time and effort goes into these often fruitless investigations and was impressed at the dedication, not only of the investigating officers, but of the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office in pursuing this case. It's very easy to shove missing persons’ cases into a file drawer and forget about them; but they didn't do that and I used this case as an example of what can happen when a department doesn't give up.”

Moore interviewed the families of dozens of missing persons across the county and around the world to compile The Last Place You’d Look, which also focuses on the efforts of police, search and rescue, nonprofits and volunteer organizations.

The National Crime Information Center reports about 100,000 active, open and unresolved missing persons’ cases that sit on the books in the U.S. each day.

Additionally, in the U.S. alone there are more than 40,000 John and Jane Does in cemeteries and morgues across the country, still waiting to be identified.

“Except for very high profile cases, many missing persons slip from the public memory, leaving their families alone in their grief. Can you imagine not ever knowing what happened to our mother, your brother, your child, your spouse?” asked Moore, a former police investigator and contributing editor at Law Enforcement Technology Magazine. “I wrote this book to help families bring attention to their cases.”