New billboard renews hope in search for missing Ohio women Niqui McCown and Cierra Chapman

HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WKEF) -- The search to bring home Niqui McCown and Cierra Chapman continues. McCown has been missing since 2001 and Chapman since December. Their families hoped a new billboard in Harrison Township will help.

The billboard is a donation from Lamar Advertising Company, in support of the foundation and its mission. Dayton 24/7 Now's Gwyneth Falloon spoke with Michelle McCown-Luster, McCown’s sister, and a foundation board member. She said the display brings her a sense of hope, not just for her sister, but others too.

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen her or spoke to her," said McCown-Luster.

As McCown-Luster looked at the new, digital billboard on display in Harrison Township, she thought of her sister.

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“It’s been 22 years, but I still have hope," McCown-Luster shared.

McCown went missing in 2001 and her picture is now shown to everyone who drives through the intersection of Shoup-Mill Road and Riverside Drive.

McCown-Luster said this new billboard only strengthens her hope of finding her sister, and others like her.

“Not knowing is like a knife stabbing you," McCown-Luster said. “Grasping onto hope gets you through those feelings of not knowing.”

McCown-Luster works with the Dock Ellis Foundation, a nonprofit that helps bring missing minorities home, to help others, like Cierra Chapman’s family get through the toughest days.

“I feel like I have a purpose," McCown-Luster said. "My purpose is to help families with missing loved ones or murdered loved ones.”

Chapman was last seen on Dec. 27 of last year, leaving her ex-boyfriend’s Trotwood apartment. Her car was found 10 days later in Middletown, but Chapman was not.

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McCown-Luster knows what it’s like to spend days and days wondering.

“To not know whether your loved one is cold, hungry, where they’re at [is hard]. Are they alive? " cried McCown-Luster. "The holidays are empty and nothing’s ever the same.”

Dayton Police believe Chapman’s disappearance was “well-orchestrated,” and not a usual, normal missing person’s case. But as these two families look at the pictures of their missing loved ones, they just hope they come home soon.

“If you’ve seen something, you have to say something," McCown-Luster said. “Cierra’s family is going through this and it will be the first birthday of hers that they celebrate without her. I know how that feels.”

McCown-Luster said the foundation can’t do its work without the community’s support. On Saturday, Nov. 11 the foundation will be holding a candlelight vigil at 2:30 at Sinclair Park, in honor of Chapman’s birthday and the many others still missing or murdered in Ohio.