The Obcession Of Finding Sarah and Phillip

Sarah and Phillip Gehring were taken by their father to a Fourth of July celebration in July of 2003 when something went awry. The children were reported to have been in a heated arguement with Manuel A. "Manny" Gehring. They never returned home again. They were visiting their dad under the pretences of the custody agreement between he and their mother. When the children did not return home as planned, it was clear that something terrible had gone wrong and that Manuel had lied about several things. The FBI traced his movements from his credit card cross country. Once authorities closed in on Manuel, they learned that the children were no where to be found. At first Manuel claimed that he had no clue where they could be then would confess something very heinous. Manuel claimed that he shot and killed both children and then buried them somewhere along Interstate 80, a very long stretch of highway in the midwestern part of the United States.
It appeared at first that Manuel was a deeply troubled man but he wanted to help lead authorities to the burial site of his two children. They were never given the exact location. Manuel hung himself inside his jail cell before he could ever make it to trial and his sketchy details of where the placed the children were not enough to locate them. It appeared this would forever be an unsolved case.
A lady named Stephanie Deitrich became aquainted with Sarah and Phillip's mother, Terri Knight. Deitrich became what many people those of us who are searching for the missing "obcessed". She began searching just about every weekend or day off from her cashier's job for the two children. She never gave up on her mission, although it appeared that this case was one that would never be solved because so many parts were missing from the puzzle - until one day.
On Thursday, December 1st, while walking her dog, she stumbled across what appeared to be a shallow grave. That grave would later prove to be the one thing Stephanie Deitrich had been searching for for over 2 1/2 years. She had found Sarah and Phillip!!! On the following Saturday, the medical examiners office would reveal that the two bodies found were indeed those of the two missing Gehring children. This nightmare of not knowing could finally conclude for Terri Knight.
I have to wonder what all those people who called Stephanie Deitrich a freak or obcessed think about her now that she's cracked probably one of the most complex missing person cases in US History??? This woman in my book is a hero and this is an example of how we should never give up on those things we feel so strongly about. There's a reason why we do this searching. Not everybody is called to do it. Hats off to this couragous woman who found these two children, and God bless Terri Knight who never gave up hope that those children would be found eventually.

This blog entry is dedicated to Carrie Culberson and all other missing and murdered people.