(Photo courtesy of Phoenix Police Department)

Kristina Perkins disappeared on Sept. 10, 1975. Her car was found abandoned near 51st Avenue and Bell Road.

There are around 2,000 missing persons reports in Arizona and around 1,400 sets of unidentified human remains in morgues. On Saturday, Oct. 24, the Phoenix Police Department, and several law enforcement agencies will host a “Missing in Arizona” event. The hope is to resolve cold cases, many of which are decades old. 

“I just miss her. I never really got to grow up with my sister," said Laura Anderson. Anderson’s sister Kristina Perkins disappeared on Sept. 10, 1975. She was just 25.

The investigation that followed yielded few clues and the only investigative lead was Perkins’ ex-husband.

"He and Kris had fought about something I don’t even remember what it was," said Anderson "He was so mad at her, he said, ‘Your sister’s dead. If anybody asks me about her I’m just going to tell them she died of cancer.’ I will never forget those words. It was like, ‘Oh my God.’"

Police were never able connect Perkins’ ex to her disappearance. He’s since died. Anderson plans to attend the “Missing in Arizona” event so she can meet other families who understand this kind of loss.

"Kristina’s case is a very sad one. This is a young woman who had all these plans in her life, and one evening she’s gone and that’s derailed," said Detective Stuart Somershoe with the Phoenix Police Department. He handles dozens of cold cases. One of his oldest dates back to 1959.

"Diane Webb was 17 years old she had just married a man who was 16," he said. "They kind of eloped. Diane contacted her family regularly, then contact stopped. Her ex-husband said he had put her on a bus and he had never seen or heard from her again."

Somershoe took on Perkins’ case about a year ago. He keeps a fat, black three-ring binder on his desk. It’s filled with handwritten police notes from when she first went missing, old lab reports, even a homemade missing bulletin.

"As a cold case detective, I need to make sure we preserve that stuff as best we can because I’m working not just for the case now, but I’m also working for the next detective that inherits these cases," Somershoe  said.

In recent years, technology has helped connect missing persons cases with unidentified remains. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUS) contains a database of cold cases, including that of Perkins, as well as information on unidentified remains. Somershoe and other law enforcement plan to enter information obtained from families at the event into NamUS.

"They can bring photographs, they can bring dental records, medical records, we can also collect DNA from family members," said Somershoe. "That’s an important element. Our missing people, if they end up dead, there’s only three ways we can really identify them is fingerprints, DNA or dental records."

Forty years have passed since Perkins vanished. Her parents have since passed away. Anderson thinks her sister is dead, but that doesn’t lessen her need for closure. 

"You have dreams once in a while. I had a dream that she was standing right there and, God, that just drives you crazy."

For more information about "Missing in Arizona," visit the Phoenix Police Facebook page.