The Missing: Difficult holiday season for parents whose children are missing
HOUSTON - Tens of thousands of families in Texas alone have an empty seat at the table this holiday season and every day they hope that will change.
"It's especially tough for us during the holidays," says Jo Ann Lowitzer, whose 16-year-old daughter, Ali Lowitzer went missing 13 years ago.
We caught up with several parents whose children were missing as they were having a holiday gathering. It's a group none of the members chose to be part of, but they were there because they had a loved one who disappeared.
"Waking up and going to a job and coming home to a house that has an empty room (crying) or an empty seat at the table. It's hard," cries Mrs. Lowitzer.
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The pain of having that empty seat at a holiday gathering is something every loved one may not understand, making this gathering particularly important. "To share that information with family members it's really hard sometimes. So I keep a lot of that to myself," says Lowitzer, whose daughter Ali vanished on April 26, 2010. She stepped off her school bus in her Spring neighborhood and was walking to pick up her check from work. Ali hasn't been seen since.
So attending this event, "It is therapy for me," says Lowitzer.
"We are families that are united with the same pain," says Victoria Acosta, whose brother Mariano Medina Funes went missing on New Year's Eve of 2019.
"We were supposed to meet up, and unfortunately it did not happen. He went to meet up with some friends, and we just did not ever see him again," says Acosta.
Jacinto City police released surveillance video of the last time Mariano was known to be alive. He's getting into a black sedan with someone at his apartment complex. The same car turns up a short time later at a gas station and a man, who investigators call a person of interest, is seen inside the business, but detectives have never been able to identify or question that man about Mariano's disappearance.
"This is a family member that's missing, and you don't know if they're alive or not. Where are they? Are they hungry, are they not? Are they suffering," Acosta asks.
"My family, we get together every Thanksgiving and every Christmas. We don't talk about Ali, but I know we all have that understanding that she is missing from our dinner table," adds Lowitzer.
At this holiday gathering, they can talk as much or as little as they like.
As you give gifts this season, the present these parents and loved ones of the missing want most is their family member back. If you can't give that, perhaps you can do this.
"Just share their flier. Share their picture and hopefully, someone sees it and brings our family member home," says Acosta.
If you have information about anyone who's missing, reach out to the Texas Center for The Missing at (713) 599-0235 or Crime Stoppers at (713) 222-8477.