Brittany Hammond told her mother she would be gone for an hour when she left home Dec. 12. On Thursday night, her family — mother, sister and five children — was still waiting.
“Deep in my heart, I know that something’s wrong,” her mother, Melinda Lewis, said. “My daughter would call me every year: ‘Mom, what’s for Christmas dinner? What are we doing for Christmas dinner?’”
According to both her mother and sister, Hammond seldom parted from her cell phone, even if she were simply moving from room to room. That phone has been turned off since the night she disappeared, deepening their anxiety.
The Switzerland County Sheriff’s Office has spent the last three weeks leading a search for Hammond without success. Her mother and sister have been part of it, walking along riverbanks in the rain with the hope they would find her.
Now, they’re asking the public to help.
“I need to have that closure, good or bad,” Lewis said.
Anyone with information about Hammond’s location should contact the sheriff’s office.
