FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. – It’s a cold case that has shaken up the Franklin County community since 2012, the disappearance of 22-year-old Heather Hodges.
Saturday marks the ten-year anniversary of Hodges being reported missing and her sister, Crystal Songer, is still looking for justice.
“My family needs closure. She has a daughter that doesn’t know what happened. She has nieces and nephews that ask me about her all the time,” said Songer.
Hodges was first reported missing by her boyfriend. According to court documents, he said that Hodges left their home and never came back.
That was a decade ago. She had a two-year-old daughter, who is now 11. Songer says she lives with family.
“She knows that her mother loved her, but she doesn’t have a lot of memories of her. So I would say it’s pretty hard on her, especially around this time,” she said.
In 2018, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said they were switching their efforts to a homicide investigation. Songer is confident closure is coming.
“I feel like the case is completely solved, it’s just a matter of let’s move forward and get this into a court in front of a jury of their peers,” she said.
As far as who she thinks is responsible for her sister’s disappearance, she says, “Yeah, it’s been the same person the whole time.”
While she waits for the sheriff’s office to finally close this case, she wants to make sure her sister’s memory lives on.
“If I just keep her story alive, eventually we’ll have our day in court.”
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said that it is still an active investigation and there are no updates at this time.