Close-knit community hoped purse was a lead to Bobo
PARSONS, Tenn. — The pink bows adorning mailboxes, lamp posts and store fronts in this one-stoplight town are symbols of unity and hope that a woman who disappeared two years ago is still alive.
The bows were made by a local florist who prays every night that Holly Bobo’s case will be solved. Interest in the case rekindled this week when a purse thought to belong to the nursing student was found by neighborhood dogs, who took it to a home in Parsons.
After a brief search sparked fresh hopes of a possible break in the case, residents were let down Friday when it was revealed that the purse did not belong to Bobo.
The missing woman’s mother had seen a photo of the purse that neighborhood dogs found on Wednesday. But after seeing it in person Friday, the mother said it did not belong to her daughter, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kristin Helm said.
“Once again the family appreciates the TBI for searching,” Karen Bobo, the missing woman’s mother, said in a written statement Friday.
The discovery of the purse this week also renewed suspicion that the person responsible for Bobo’s disappearance might be a neighbor in this town nestled along the hills, woods and farms not far from the Tennessee River.
Pink became the color associated with Bobo because she was wearing a pink shirt and carrying a pink purse when she disappeared.
Kelly Allen, the florist and family friend who provided the 385 balloons released on April 13 — the second anniversary of the blond 20- yearold woman’s disappearance — said the town remains steadfast that its prayers will be answered.
“Our town and I believe,” Allen said Friday. “The glue is the faith in God.”
The TBI on Thursday renewed the search for Bobo after the dogs’ surprising find. Law enforcement officials with their own canines worked an area roughly a mile from Bobo’s home outside Parsons, about 125 miles northeast of Memphis.
Helm said nothing was found and no further searches are planned.
Holly Bobo was 20 when last seen. Her brother told authorities he saw a man in hunting clothes leading her into the woods around the family home.
Since then, investigators and volunteers have scoured the town of about 2,400 people and the surrounding terrain where cow pastures, old barns, thick woods, flowery fields and dusty back roads comprise the landscape.
The case has drawn national attention. Elizabeth Smart, the Utah woman kidnapped and held captive for nine months when she was 14, visited Bobo’s high school in Scotts Hill in August to tell townspeople to keep the faith that Bobo is alive.
Near the intersection of U.S. Highways 412 and 69, Parsons Florist has a large bow on the front door and a poster with Bobo’s face on it. Similar posters can be seen throughout town, including on her home’s front fence.
A sign at an auto parts store says “Pray for Holly Bobo. Guns and Ammo in Stock Now.” Hunters keep an eye out for clues while stalking deer.
While displays of hope and vigilance are everywhere, some also say there’s an underlying sense of fear and suspicion.
One concern is that the kidnapper lives in the area, and rubs elbows with residents at gas stations and grocery stores.