It's been almost 40 years since Kimberly King's loved ones last saw her. She was just 12 when she vanished.
"It's a day I won't forget," says Kimberly's sister, Konnie Beyma.
She's talking about September 15th, 1979. Beyma thinks Kimberly's life was probably taken that night by someone Kimberly didn't know.
Beyma says Kim, who was a student at Lincoln Middle School, was spirited, good-hearted and a risk taker.
That night, Kimberly had gone across the street from her grandparents' house where she lived, to her best friend Annie's house. She'd told her family she was spending the night there, but around 11:30 that night, Beyma got a call. Kim was looking to talk to their older sister. Kim said she was calling from the corner of 9 and Hoover which was very close to their grandparents' house.
"I asked her to go right back home. I was shocked that she was out that late at night, and she said
she would, but she said 'I'm spending the night at Annie's right across the street' and I said 'then please go back to Annie's right now' and she said she would," says Beyma.
But that never happened. Kim's family reported her missing to Warren Police, but at the time investigators considered her a runaway. Beyma says Kim never would have left them.
"She wouldn't leave my older sister and I to worry about her. She wouldn't scare us that way," she says.
Beyma and her older sister searched themselves and heard that Kim had made her way to 11 Mile and Gratiot in Roseville that night, but nobody could find her. The days turned into years.
Someone else who never forgot about Kim is her best childhood friend, Annie.
"I feel like that date or those 48 hours are scorched in my brain. I'll never forget them," says Annie.
She says Kim liked to go hang out at night. Kim would tell her family she was sleeping over, when actually, she'd leave Annie's and not return until the next morning.
Annie says Kim would hitchhike and go cruising on Gratiot.
She still remembers the last time she saw Kim on that September night. They were in her backyard
when Kim hopped the fence and left.
Annie was expecting her back at her house the next morning, but Kim never showed up.
"She was like, an older personality. I think that may have had something to do with it .. if she was on Gratiot pretending she was 15 or 16.. ran in with the wrong crowd that may have led to her demise," she says.
Annie says she's forgiven her 13-year-old self for not telling an adult what she was up to. For the first time in almost 40 years, Annie says she was interviewed by Warren police a couple of weeks ago.
She can only hope answers will come soon.
"It's horrible to not know," she says.
As for the investigation, Warren's Deputy Police Commissioner Matt Nichols says a cold case doesn't mean closed case.
"We've been able to connect some dots, but not enough to develop a whole picture," he said.
Police are asking anyone who was a classmate or friend of Kim's at the time of her disappearance to give them a call. They're hoping to find out more about who she was hanging out with.
Beyma is glad they're taking a closer look with fresh eyes. In her heart, she doesn't believe Kim is still alive, but wants to bring her home. She says she'll never quit.
"It's the most important thing in my life. Absolutely. Until we find her it will always be the most important thing in my life."
