Parents of missing children plead for information on Mother’s Day

CHICAGO — Mother’s Day should be a time for celebration, but instead a group of mothers are pleading for information, hoping someone knows where their kids are.

“Coming here to another Mother’s Day without my daughter, Kierra. I hope she’s out there safe somewhere,” Karen Phillips said.

Kierra Coles has not been seen in almost seven years. She vanished on October 2, 2018, in the Chatham neighborhood near 81^st Street and Vernon Avenue. She was 26 years old.

Her car was later found nearby with both her purse and cellphone inside. It is believed she was three months pregnant at the time of her disappearance.

“It’s a sad day. You want to be happy when you think about her, but you end up being sad anyway,” Phillips said.

Lashann Walker joined Phillips at a press conference in Pilsen on Sunday.

“It’s overwhelming to do this year after year for someone to reach out, somebody knows something,” Walker said.

Her daughter, Diamond Bynum, who has special needs, went missing in Gary, Indiana in July 2015. She was with her 2-year-old nephew, King Walker, who should be turning 12 today.

“I just want to tell him happy birthday,” Ariana Walker, King Walker’s mother, said. “If he’s watching, I still love him, care about him and think about him every day.”

All three mothers are desperate to hold their children and are tired of not knowing where they are or what happened.

“We are mothers — parents — not knowing where our children are for years. It’s unimaginable. I don’t even have the words,” Lashann Walker said.

Anyone with information on either case should contact police.