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Published: 2012-05-11 07:30:48
Updated: 2012-05-11 07:30:48

Vigil aims to promote hope in case of missing soldier


Pfc. Kelli Bordeaux
Pfc. Kelli Bordeaux
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Search volunteers and others will gather at the River Community Church in Fayetteville Friday night to hold a vigil for a Fort Bragg soldier who went missing four weeks ago.

And while leads in Pfc. Kelli Bordeaux's disappearance are scarce, organizers are calling Friday's vigil a celebration of hope. 

"Although we know that it probably will not be a good outlook, we're going to hold out hope just like the family is until we do find something and there is a definite answer as to what happened," said search volunteer Shannon Jacobson.  Slideshow     Kelli Bordeaux Images of Kelli Bordeaux

Friday's vigil, scheduled to being at 7 p.m., will be held next door to Froggy Bottoms Bar, the last place Bordeaux was seen before she went missing just after midnight on April 14. 

Bordeaux's family will also hold a vigil Friday evening in St. Cloud, Fla., the missing soldier's hometown. Bordeau'x mother told WRAL News in April that her daughter was a fighter. 

"Until (police) tell me any different, I'm going to keep thinking that she's here, and she's being held and she just cannot get away from whoever has her," Johnna Henson said. "I know Kelli will fight, and Kelli will try any way possible to get back to her family."

Since she disappeared, hundred of volunteers have scoured the area around Froggy Bottoms, Bordeaux's home and a rural Cumberland County pond looking for clues. 

"Even as a person that didn't know her, I'm surprised that nothing has showed up," Jacobson said. 

Investigators haven't speculated about what might have happened to Bordeaux, but since her disappearance, they have arrested Nicholas Holbert, a registered sex offender who said he gave Bordeaux a ride home from the bar, and Steven Cantrell, the bar's owner, on charges unrelated to her case.

Police, however, haven't said whether either man is a suspect or person of interest in the case.

Police have set up a special hotline – 910-433-1114 – for tips in the case, and Virginia-based security firm Black Ops Security Services & Consulting Inc. is offering an $8,000 reward for information to Bordeaux's discovery.


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breaking news of someone in Fville holed up and firing shots. Let's just hope beyond hope Kelli is there and safe. I know a stretch of the imagination but....what else is there?

I'm not impressed with the way their search operations have gone. The teams they are using and the credentials they carry "if you want to call them that" are nothing like other teams around the state. There is a lot that can be done if the police department will look into further resources. They exist, within this state and Texas Equusearch isn't the answer either.

I went out and looked for her and I could not find her so I if she went to Florida she might be in SC on I-95 somewhere.

awr117, I wish I could - over 1000 miles away, but I'll keep praying for her and the family, as well as those who are looking for her.

No offense to Fayetteville (lived there for 6 months myself, ack) but I don't think it's first on my list to find a 'trafficking' candidate, not to mention being at a very local bar or residential neighborhood (too risky on being seen/caught or standing out) - of course, assuming a 'trafficker' wouldn't be someone local (in which my premise is flawed).

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