PERRY, Ga. — Memories fade to time, but Veronica Pate says she can never forget.
“Sept. 4 of 1998, she got abducted,” she said.
Shy'kemmia 'Shy Shy' Pate is Veronica's daughter. She was eight and had just started the 3rd grade.
“Singing in the choir, she liked to play, she liked to visit my auntie,” Pate explained.
After school on Sept. 4, Shy was playing outside while her older sister was in their Unadilla home.
They were getting ready to go to the football game together.
“When she went looking for her, she couldn't find her,”
In less than 24 hours, people in Unadilla, Byron, Dooly County and Hawkinsville were all looking for Shy.
She's been missing for 25 years now.
“It's devastating and it gets worse every year. I just can’t believe my baby has been missing for 25 years, going from eight years old to 34 now without hearing or seeing her since,” Pate said.
Pate said she hasn’t really heard from investigators in the past five years unless she’s called herself.
Brian Whidby says they’re working to change that.
“We really need to bring some closure to figure out where she is and what happened to her,” he said.
Whidby is the Georgia Bureau of Investigations' Special Agent in Charge. He says that's what his new cold case unit is for.
“State legislature passed what's called the Coleman-Baker Act,” he explained.
Named after two unsolved homicide victims, the law says families can ask agencies to look into their cold case.
“Along with that, the GBI was provided funds to open a cold case unit.”
The state gave them $5.4 million last July.
Ten full-time investigators across the state are dedicated to cold cases.
“They’re all senior agents within the GBI. The average work span of those agents is 10-15 years– they’ve shown proficiency in working complex criminal investigations. So, they weren’t chosen lightly,” Whidby explained.
He says they’re working on 25 cases now. Six of those have been from the Coleman-Baker Act.
“We haven't forgotten about you, we haven't forgotten about your family. We are dedicated to this mission. To bring justice and to get some answers for our families of the victims,” Whidby said.
Because some folks can never forget their loved ones.
“It makes me feel good that they're still working on it, but I ain’t never going to stop, and I ain’t never going to give up because I know she's going to come back,” Pate said.
Whidby says they have 600 unsolved cases in their database that can qualify as a Coleman-Baker act.
People can file those requests through the GBI’s website.
Whidby says the cases must be homicides originally investigated by the GBI before 1970 and at least three years old.
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More Than A Number is a Poynter-Stand Together award-winning project by Justin Baxley designed to help families of loved ones impacted by tragedy and trauma interact with journalists in a less intrusive way. Families are able to fill out a form about their family and also receive an in-depth guide on the next steps.
More Than A Number officially launched in August with a streaming special available on 13WMAZ+ for on-demand streaming. For any questions or concerns about More Than A Number, contact us here at the following email: MoreThanANumber@13wmaz.com