Drivers on Texas Avenue honked more than 630 times Thursday at the third Honk for the Missing, organizers estimated, up from 418 a year ago.
Volunteers and relatives of missing people lined the road across from Texas A&M for an hour holding posters of people who have disappeared from the Brazos Valley. Organizer Amber Alert Network Brazos Valley holds it each year to keep unsolved cases in front of the public.
The cases behind the posters
Chuck Fleeger, the network's executive director, told KBTX that roughly 27 missing-person cases are open across the region on any given day, and that upward of 380 reports of missing people are filed there annually. About three of every four of those reports involve children, he said.
Most cases end quickly and safely, Fleeger said, but the ones that stay open need continued attention. He said past events have produced new tips in active cases and that turnout and attention have climbed each year.
Among the posters was one for Nicole "Nikki" Winder, who vanished from Brazos County in February and whose case has drawn wide attention in the area. Fleeger said organizers hope someone with knowledge of her case will come forward so her family can get answers.
