RALEIGH, N.C. — Volunteers will set off this week on a cross-country trip to see if they can find out what happened to a former North Carolina State University student. Their goal is to solve the Leah Roberts case and to bring attention to 30 other missing persons cases in nine states.

Four years ago, shortly after the death of her parents, Roberts took off across the country on a soul-searching mission. Days later, her Jeep and some belongings were found abandoned in Washington State. Now, her family and friends are on a mission to find Leah.

"Ultimately, we just want to know what happened to her," said Kara Roberts, Leah's sister. "I miss her smile, her sense of humor, her sarcasm, her love of live. She's a really good person."

Monica Caison with Community United Effort said most cases only get local attention, but she said many times the key to solving disappearances like Roberts' is getting national publicity.

"You can't look for someone missing unless you know they are missing," she said. "There's somebody that knows something, somebody that saw her outside of what we know."

"Even if it seems like something insignificant, you never know what some small lead might do," Kara Roberts said.

CUE volunteers are traveling 3,000 miles retracing Leah's steps between North Carolina and Washington State.

In addition to the Roberts case, the group is also trying to bring attention to over a dozen North Carolina cases, including the disappearance of Robbie Floyd and her children of Fayetteville, Kent Jacobs of Hope Mills and Tristan "Buddy" Myers of Roseboro.