Case still open as search for missing nursing student hits one year mark

These undated photos provided by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation show Holly Bobo. (AP)

PARSONS, Tenn. – West Tennessee nursing student Holly Bobo has been missing for a year and police say they still get information on the case almost daily.

It was on April 13, 2011, that the 20-year-old woman disappeared from her rural home in Parsons. Her brother said he saw her being led into the woods by a man in hunting gear.

The reward fund for information has grown to $250,000.

The Jackson Sun reports that District Attorney Hansel McCadams said not all of the information received by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation amounts to new leads in the disappearance, but they are working on the case every day.

"Holly's investigation is still ongoing," he said. "As long as investigators receive new information a case stays open, and the TBI receives new information on the case almost daily."

Corinth Baptist Church pastor Don Franks continues to raise publicity for the young woman who used to sing in his church in Darden.

"We are as determined as ever to find Holly," he said. "Every day we work on trying to locate the new pieces of information we need."

Church members have distributed flyers about the case written in Spanish during mission trips to Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and other countries. Commercial truck drivers have carried Bobo's picture all across the United States. Cards with similar pictures sit beside convenience store cash registers across Tennessee and other states.

In Decatur County, pink ribbons hang on trees, mail boxes and fence posts to signify the community's mourning over the missing woman.

"We have done everything we can to bring Holly home," Franks said. "We are a year closer than we were last year. And law enforcement is determined to solve this case."

On Friday, several events will be held in Bobo's honor, starting with a speaker from the TBI at Riverside High School. The "Take 25 Campaign" is designed to teach children safety tips, Franks said, and has been implemented in all of the county's public schools. He said Riverside will be the final school in the county to fingerprint children in case of an emergency.

A prayer vigil will be held at 6 p.m. and will be followed by a motorcycle ride from the Corinth Baptist Church to Scotts Hill High School, which Bobo had attended. At 6:55 p.m., balloons will be released at the school in her honor.

"We just ask people to keep the pictures going out and the prayers going up," Franks said. "We want to bring Holly home."