The family of a missing suburban Chicago woman is pleading with the public for help in a search that has now gone on for four months.
Lauren Willhoit, 31, was last seen leaving a hotel on Mannheim Road in Leyden Township on New Year’s Eve.
Willhoit's sister, Michelle Osborne, said she is doing everything in her power to find her missing sister, whose disappearance has left a gaping hole in her family.
“It is the not knowing that is killing all of us," said Osborne. “I just don’t know – she could be being trafficked for all we know – which is why it is so hard to find her.”
Willhoit's boyfriend reported her missing. Since then, her family and friends have sifted through tips, led search parties and canvassed the area for answers. The Cook County Sheriff’s office posted a missing persons alert.
Susan Julie, who is with Missing Women of America, is helping in the search.
“A hundred times out of a hundred, one person knows where the person is,” Julie said.
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Meanwhile, Osborne vows to continue searching until her sister is found.
“She is a beautiful girl,” she said. “We just want to know she is okay and for her to come home.”
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Willhoit is approximately 5-foot-5 tall and approximately 120 pounds. She has green eyes and brown hair. Missing persons documentation notes she has a heart-shaped tattoo under her left eye and a Chinese symbol on her stomach.
Anyone with information about Lauren Willhoit’s whereabouts is asked to call 911, the Cook County Sheriff’s Police at 708-865-4896, or the Cook County Sheriff’s Office non-emergency number at 847-635-1188.
