MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Since Murfreesboro teen Devin Bond went missing in March of 2017, his mother Heather Simmers has been doing everything she could to find her son. Organizing search parties, passing out flyers, and trying to get his face in as many places as possible in hopes someone would see him, and he’d return home, or at least be confirmed safe.
Devin Bond: Missing For One Year
That’s why when Simmers was asked if she would be willing to talk about her son with People Magazine, she said it was a no-brainer.
"I was like, absolutely, because that's what we've been kind of working towards for a while, was just to kind of reach a nationwide audience,” Simmers said.
Devin is one of 8 stories that were told in this week's People, shedding light on a truly alarming issue. More than 400,000 children were reported missing last year. While most of them make it home, many don't.
"Sometimes they hear runaway and they think they'll come back. My son has now been missing almost 2 years, he hasn't come back, and he's listed as a runaway,” Simmers said, adding that she doesn't like the word runaway.
Instead, she thinks they should simply be labeled as missing children, and when a child goes missing, she believes it should be one of law enforcement's top priorities to find that child.
But in her case, tips and clues have all led to dead ends, and she doesn't believe Devin is still in Tennessee, so she's been doing everything she can to get his face out nationwide.
"I got to the post office every Monday and send flyers that go all across the country,” Simmers explained. "That's the struggle, with when you're trying to search for someone is just to get it out, how do you get it out to every state? I wake up every morning asking that question, like, how do I get this out? How do I share his information with more people, how do I get more people to know about him?"
Simmers hopes that being in People will help bring Devin home, but even if not, she plans to keep searching.
"I'm not gonna stop, I mean, I can't give up on my child. I'm not going to, I can't, I don't know how."
