I remember it like it was yesterday. Frank Herrera, a close friend of mine had invited me over to his house to watch the Tyson-Holyfield bout. It was Saturday, June 28th, 1997. Frank lived off of Carmel Road in my hometown of Charlotte, NC. We all know what happened during that fight. Tyson snapped and literally chewed the tip of Holyfield's ear right off. It was horrifying and one of those moments that you had difficulty believing what you just saw.
I knew right then and there that I was witnessing a man's life unravel right before my eyes.
What I didn't know that night was that just a few miles away, the Modafferi family, over in Providence Plantation, was just getting the sense that something very, very wrong was happening to their family.
By this time, Kristen had been missing just five days. Last anybody has ever heard from her was that Monday, the 23rd. She wasn't reported missing until Thursday, the 25th of that week. Therefore, Bob and Debbie were just about at this time getting smashed in the gut without the ablity to even comprehend a response.
A few days later I was in my apartment located off of Arrowwood Rd. The TV was alive but I wasn't watching anything in particular. Channel 9 news was on and I remember seeing a story about a missing girl and hearing her father's plea for anyone with information to please contact the authorities.
At this point, I never even knew her name and I can literally remember thinking to myself, "Ah, it's nothing. She'll show up." I turned my attention to other things and never gave it a second thought.
For the next few months I went about my daily routine as a delivery driver in the Charlotte market. My biggest account was making deliveries for Apria HealthCare. They supplied home healthcare products for the city and surrounding counties. The money was good and the co-workers were just tremendous. That is how I got to meet Frank Herrera. He was the supervisor and quickly, he and I became close friends.
All this time I was looking for something else to pursue. I knew in my heart that doing someting in the 'social' arena was where I belonged, but just where that was I did not know.
Four months later, in October of 1997, I was home watching TV when I saw an update on the 'missing girl' story. It really caught my attention because I can remember just 'not believing' that this girl has never been found. The TV now had my full attention. I learned that the girl's name was Kristen Modafferi and that she was missing from the San Francisco Bay Area.
There was her father on TV again. "This is not good," I thought to myself. I wrote down the exact spelling of the "Modafferi' name and headed straight to the Charlotte phone book. I got lucky because the Modafferi's were listed and now I learned that their phone number is 704-845-2116 and they lived at 3610 Providence Plantation. I didn't even know where in Charlotte that was.
The Mod's have their home address and phone number listed on all public information regarding Kristen...so it is OK to publish it here.
