Inside a Mother's Tireless Search for Missing Daughter

What's the size of a mother's love? In Leannda Bruck's case, 1.25 million flyers and counting. That's the number she's distributed in nearly every US state in the six months since her 22-year-old daughter, Chelsea, went missing after leaving a Halloween party near her Michigan home with an unidentified man. Operating out of what she has dubbed her "command center" in Monroe County, Bruck, with the help of friends and family, is leading a tireless search for Chelsea—or answers, reports the Detroit Free Press. Bruck’s resolve is fueled by the dramatic rescue of three women held for 10 years in Ariel Castro's Cleveland home. "Those ladies have had freedom for two years," says Leannda. "So until somebody tells me otherwise, my daughter is out there waiting for someone to help her. And I will not believe otherwise."

Bruck says her efforts may have turned up a clue. As per the Detroit News, police received a tip that in the beginning of April led them to clothing at an empty industrial site now being examined by the state's Police Crime Lab. "They’re hoping to pick up some DNA," Bruck said at an April 8 press conference. The Free Press reports that Bruck framed the development, the first after five months of "nothing," as due to the flyers. As for those flyers, Bruck focuses four days each week on her quest, stuffing envelopes that are mailed to out-of-state hotels with requests for assistance; she directs them to highly populated places (Phoenix, during the Super Bowl) and not (South Dakota, last week). "We don't want people to stop talking about Chelsea," she says. To that end, a Facebook page shares updates; a GoFundMe is raising funds for the search. (More missing person stories.)