Billboards remember Wisconsin’s missing persons

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) - Wisconsin Missing Persons Advocacy Inc. has billboards throughout the state showing people who disappeared with no trace, in honor of Wisconsin Missing Persons Awareness Month.

President and Founder Marsha Loritz knows firsthand what families with missing loved ones want most is closure. Her mother, Victoria Prokopovitz, went missing in 2013. Just last year Prokopovitz’s husband was sentenced to life in prison for her murder, but continues to deny the family any knowledge of where the remains are.

A search of a government-based website led Loritz to see how many people in Wisconsin were missing, and the need for guidance for the families left behind.

“Instead of typing her name, I typed in Wisconsin. And when I typed in Wisconsin, 99 names came up. And this is back in 2015,” Loritz said.

Among those is Wausau’s Cindy Jones. She went missing after a domestic dispute with her husband Norman in 1984, and 38 years later, Loritz’s group is still hoping the family finds answers.

“We track and create a list of who is actually missing, and that is very fluid, it changes very often, some days several times a day,” Loritz said.

A neighbor described seeing Jones bloody and bruised on the day she disappeared. Her husband was arrested on suspicion of murder, but let go when the body couldn’t be found.

Loritz says you never know when another witness might turn up.

“In some cases I think that there’s people out there that have information that maybe they don’t realize is important information, and so they think that what they hold is insignificant,” she said.

Authorities believe Norman killed another woman years later in Florida, but he committed suicide before they could get information on either woman’s death. Wisconsin Missing Persons Advocacy wants reminders like the billboards to help Jones’ family and others get the resolution they deserve.

“It’s more than a poster. It’s someone’s loved one. And maybe take the time to look at that poster and then share it. You never know. You could be the person that brings an answer to a family,”

Wisconsin Missing Person’s Advocacy will be holding an their next event on the 23rd at the Brown County Sheriff’s Office from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Click here to go to their Facebook page.