| Mother searches for answers in daughter's disappearance |
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By: By Lisa Marchesoni - Oct. 20, 2007 - 11 AM
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Mother Suzanne Videon paints pottery as 'therapy' after her daughter remains missing after eight years.
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Out of the blue, 16-year-old China Videon told her mother, “Mom, don’t be sad if I died.”
When mother Suzanne Videon questioned her daughter why she made the comment, her daughter didn’t have an answer.
Six days later, China disappeared.
“I think sometimes they know,” the mother said softly.
It’s been eight years last Friday since the mother saw her daughter whom she now believes is deceased.
But just in case, she’s kept her cellular telephone on since China disappeared, turning it off only briefly recently when she bought a new phone.
Videon, a registered nurse recovering from knee surgery, and her roommate Tina Thomas spent Friday afternoon in “therapy” at Painted Clay Studio where she painted a food bowl for her dog, Genuine. Best friend Terry Rury stopped by to spend time with her.
The mother appealed for people with information about her daughter’s disappearance to call Detective Lt. Bill Sharp or Detective Sgt. Dan Goodwin of the sheriff’s Cold Case unit at 217-4373 or 898-7916.
She believes someone know what happened to her daughter but may be afraid to come forward. Other people may have information about her daughter’s disappearance they believe may not be important but may be the clue detectives need.
“Or someone will get a guilty conscience and come forward,” Videon said.
She clings to hope the crime will be solved.
“I would like closure, I want justice to be served,” Videon said. “I want to know what happened to her and where she is. … If a person has a heart and soul, they should come forward.”
Videon recalled the last time she saw daughter China, a Riverdale High School student who worked at Bi-Lo grocery store on Rutherford Boulevard.
On the night of Oct. 19, 1999, China got off work, met her mother about 7 p.m. at a beauty salon in Jackson Heights Plaza, then left to go to a friend’s house. Nothing seemed amiss.
Suzanne Videon returned home about 7:50 p.m. As she drove up the driveway of her Shelbyville Highway home, she suddenly stopped.
“I can’t describe it,” Videon said, motioning with her hands about a feeling she experienced. “It started at the top of my head right there, then moved down my body through my feet and into the ground. What ever happened to her, I think that’s when it happened. It was just weird.”
Videon repeatedly paged her daughter who didn’t answer. Her older daughter, Cheyann, who was 18 at the time, searched for China but couldn’t locate her. They notified the sheriff’s office.
Several detectives have investigated the case but one one’s been charged.
Goodwin said China’s black Mazda was found about nine months later, June 23, 2000, in an apartment complex off Harding Road in Antioch.
“It’s clear that China Videon was a victim of a crime,” Goodwin said. “It’s our intention to do our best to solve that crime and find out what became of her. Give us a call even if you talked to detectives before.”
Since her disappearance, Videon thinks of her daughter every day.
“China and I were almost like friends,” Videon said. “We did everything together. Cheyann was the social butterfly.”
Videon still lives in the same house. She kept China’s bedroom untouched where she often laid down or sat down on the bed and cried. Six months ago, she put China’s belongings in storage.
“The reminder is so overpowering, I felt I needed to change part of it so it would be easier to deal with,” the mother said, adding, “I think to remain healthy, sometimes you need to let go of something. That’s very painful to you day in and day out.”
She copes by working and keeping busy. Some days she sits and cries.
“I don’t think it gets any easier,” the mother observed. “I think your anger grows. I know I should forgive and forget but when there’s no closure, that’s hard to do.”
Thomas said it’s particularly difficult because a parent should not have to bury a child.
Rury said, “there’s always hope.”
Videon knows it’s always painful to lose a child but most parents have a chance to touch their child and tell them goodbye with a touch or a kiss.
“I’m denied a chance to bury her, to say goodbye to her,” Videon said.
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