SAN ANTONIO, Texas —
- Before King Jay Davila's case turned into a death investigation, the FBI noted the 8-month-old was one of thousands of children who are kidnapped or reported missing every year.
In the past, many people in San Antonio have relied on the Heidi Search Center for help, but since the center closed last year there's not an official local organization people can turn to.
Frank Trevino is one of the volunteers in San Antonio who answers the call when a family needs help searching for their loved ones.
"I do have the knowledge," Trevino said. "I've been doing it for many years. There's a lot of people who need the help and there's a lot of people who don't know where to turn to when the need arises."
Over the course of 20 years, Trevino has helped in more than 100 missing persons cases, including the recent search for baby King Jay.
"It's tough. It's very tough," Trevino said. "Since the Heidi Search Center closed a year ago, there's really nowhere to go. SAPD will do their own investigation and they don't want people getting involved in certain situations."
The former executive director of the Heidi Search Center, Dottie Laster, said even though their doors closed she has not stopped working.
"How do you say no when a crying mom calls you and says, 'I need your help,' and you know you can help her?" Laster asked. "We had about 70 cases that were not solved, those are still there and my footprint in the human trafficking world is still very active."
She said human trafficking often goes hand-in-hand in many missing persons cases.
According to SAPD, in the first 10 days of January, 114 adults and children have been reported missing in San Antonio. That number doesn't include Bexar County or surrounding areas.
"That is 114 families that are destroyed right now," Laster said. "This isn't a small problem. This is a large problem for Bexar County, San Antonio, the state of Texas and the United States. We need to address it.
"Rather than us not being there, we need to have so many people working on it that this doesn't happen."
She said lack of funding and mounting property taxes forced the center to close.
"There is definitely a need for this resource. We were the only one that did adults and children between here and Houston," Laster said.
Until an organization takes the reigns, it will be up to local volunteers and national resources to help San Antonio families searching for their loved ones.
National and State resources for the missing: