INKSTER, Mich. – The days can be difficult for an Inkster mother whose teenage daughter disappeared more than two years ago. She hopes someone will see her daughter's picture, recognize her and call police.
Dawn Stacho shared her story with the Local 4 Defenders in hopes of helping the search for her daughter.
"She has always looked the same," Stacho said. "She has a baby face."
Stacho flipped through a family album with her son, looking at pictures and remembering her daughter, Ciara Stacho.
"She was very happy and outgoing," Stacho said. "She was a sweet girl. She liked to hang out with her friends, and she liked to go to school dances and football games, normal stuff like that."
Memories are all Stacho has of Ciara, who was last seen Aug. 7, 2015.
"Some days are terrible, and I have to pray from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed," Stacho said. "But I just do what I have to do. I have to go to work. I have to be a mom for my other kids."
Ciara had been a runaway, but Stacho said the last time was different. She exchanged text messages with Ciara just three days before she disappeared.
"I told her it was time to come home, you know, and so she could be a productive member of society," Stacho said. "She was getting older. She was 16, and she said, 'Yeah.' She knew, and she was ready to come home, and then nobody. That was the last time anybody saw or heard from her."
Ciara is in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons database. She is 18 years old now, and her mother has no idea where she is.
"I just hope that wherever she is at, that she is safe," Stacho said. "That is what I want. Absolutely every parent who has a missing child, that is all they want."
Stacho uses social media to keep her daughter's case active. Michigan State Police said social media definitely helps find some missing people. It gives law enforcement officers a platform to put cases out.
The Missing in Michigan Facebook page shares case information and offers support to families of the cases.
As for Ciara, there is no sign of her, even online.
"None of her friends had heard from her, and she hadn't been on social media," Stacho said. "No Facebook, no Instagram, nothing. So that's when I said that something is wrong."
As a mother, Stacho said it's hard not to think the worst, but she knows she has to keep going for her family.
"Please call Inkster police, or please contact the State Police," Stacho said. "Everybody, please let me know that she is safe wherever she is at. I need to know that she is alive and safe somewhere."
Ciara is 5 feet 3 inches tall. Anyone with information is asked to call authorities.