David Collins, co-founder of the Kevin Collins Foundation for Missing Children, drives a 1974 Oldsmobile station wagon and lives from hand to mouth.
He's lived that way for the past 10 years, ever since his 10-year-old son, Kevin, disappeared. He's lost his family and many of his friends, and he deals on a daily basis with grisly facts and grieving families. He can't imagine living any other way."Everybody wanted me to close it up and quit when we were broke, but I couldn't quit because there sure wasn't anyone else doing anything," Collins said. "A lot of people were putting pictures out on children, but who the hell was doing anything about the offender?"
Collins left Challis Oct. 28 after a week of showing residents how to do what others helped him do after Kevin was abducted. By the time he left, residents had mailed 110,000 fliers - three to an envelope - to such places as social services agencies, campgrounds, motels, police stations, truck stops and hospital emergency rooms across the country, notifying them of the abduction of 9-year-old Stephanie Crane.
Stephanie was last seen about 6 p.m. Oct. 11 outside Challis High School. Officials believe she was abducted.
About 75 people attended a rally for Collins the night before he left at the town's junior high school, and many in the community tearfully thanked him for his efforts.
"Your quick and sudden appearance made it seem like one of our prayers was answered," said Jeanie Gilliam of the Challis Chamber of Commerce.
"Thank God for you being here," said Bud Meacham, the town's postmaster. "It's been a hard time for the community of Challis."
When Collins' son disappeared, family and friends organized three distribution points for fliers in San Francisco. Eight hundred people showed up to help distribute fliers across the state.
Despite the fact that Kevin's face appeared on billboards and the cover of Newsweek magazine, he was never found. Collins believes his son was killed.
Most abducted children aren't found, which means their abductors aren't prosecuted and that bothers Collins. Of the 204 cases he has worked on, 16 children have been found alive and 19 children have been found dead. The rest, like Kevin, remain a gnawing mystery for families.
Collins, who specializes only in children missing through stranger abduction, doesn't let that discourage him.
"If you're talking about returned kids, (the numbers) are not effective," he said. "The No. 1 goal may not be getting achieved, but there are some secondary goals being achieved. They are waking people up."
Often, says Collins, a flier will cause people to call in a report on a known molester in a different case. And sometimes children are recovered years after they disappear.
While his primary goal is recovering lost children, the publicity also reminds people across the nation that stranger abduction is a growing problem.
Collins knows more than most people care to know about stranger abduction and he'll rattle off facts, statistics and case histories. He gladly shares what he knows with civic groups, legislators, congressmen and radio audiences. He also has used his information to help pass legislation in California.
"When I'm called to testify, I stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning preparing," Collins said. "You can't just stand up there and tell a sad story."
He and a handful of volunteers are making some progress. In addition to mailing fliers and fielding nearly 12,000 calls per year on their 24-hour line, they've also gathered information from 48 law enforcement agencies on how police handle missing children.
Meanwhile, Collins will continue his fight elsewhere.
"I don't know why I keep on doing this," he said. "All I know is I can't quit. Maybe it's personal like my son didn't die for nothing. I'm not going to let him die for nothing."