Father starts foundation in daughter’s name

Nationally, hundreds of thousands of children are missing at any given time. In Virginia, there are more than 230 missing, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's Web site database.

Many missing children are family abductions, taken by divorcing parents in custody battles. Some are taken by acquaintances. Many missing teens are classified as runaways.

Very few missing children are stranger abductions, said Lt. Patrick D. Fagan III of the Virginia State Police and state Amber Alert coordinator.

Cases involving possible stranger abductions of young children come straight to the front, said Detective Steve Kendell of the Richmond Police Department. "Very seldom do we have that."

With teenagers, the response may not be as immediate.

The reality that many missing teenagers are in fact runaways means that parents might find themselves having to convince police their child's case is different.

"I think the investigation started out the wrong way," said D. McCoy Parker, whose 17-year-old daughter Catena never made it home from school one day in 1990. "They tried to make it appear that Catena was a runaway. . . . We had to explain this is out of character for this child."

Catena, he said, was a good student, taking a class at Virginia Commonwealth University while a student at Community High School. One of the last sightings put her at a bus stop at Shafer and West Grace streets about 3:30 p.m. Sept. 18, 1990. Another report had her on a bus that would have taken her to a stop near her home. Her body was found four months later in January 1991 in a wooded area off Broad Street behind the Science Museum of Virginia.

As with the Abdul'Faruq brothers, Catena Parker's case remains unsolved.

"If Catena had been run over by a bus . . . there is something you can put your hand on and identify," her father said.

"Something like this and you don't have that closure, what happened, why it happened. It makes a difference," said Parker, who started a foundation named for his daughter. The Catena L. Parker Foundation for Missing Children reaches out to families dealing with the pain of missing or murdered children. The organization also holds an annual walk to raise awareness.

"There is always a part of her in me," said Parker, who said he can summon up his daughter's spirit. "I once told someone I could always bring her back when I needed to. She is always there and always will be."
Contact Tammie Smith at (804) 649-6572 or .