My Mother's Story.

My Mother's story



My mother Lucinda, came up missing October 26 1984, six months after my little sister was born, and two weeks before my second birthday. She had left the house with a basket of clothing to go wash at about 9:00pm. My father had given her $15 and everything had appeared to be fine when she left. She usually washed clothes at a laundry mat on 40th and Bush blvd., and she normally wouldn't stay out all night, if she had, she would call to let my father know, or she would return early in the morning. She had stopped at a friend's house about 9:30pm; she and the two friends (Linda Simmons & Neeka Owens) went to Char Pez Lounge on 40th and Bush blvd. to have a few drinks.

Linda Simmons one of the friends she was with, stated that my mother was talking to a b/m, Larry Moore who owned a sign company and a cleaning company, and that she was going to go to work for him on Oct. 29th. At about 1:00am Linda asked Lucinda to leave with her, however she refused, and she had not seen her since, according to Linda. Linda saw that my mother's car was still in the parking lot at about 9:00am and contacted my father. They later went to the parking lot, and found the vehicle was unlocked. The clothes were still in the car and everything appeared normal.



Now here I am, left with unanswered questions and a true unsolved mystery, which haunts me every day. A few years latter, my sister was checking with some Private investigators to see what it would cost to have them do some investigating on the story. One of them was so interested he did it for free. He would call my sister every day, and brought her all the police reports and newspaper clippings. He even got her information on the movie producer so she could call him to find out what happened with the movie. She had given the produce a call. He said to her that he could not talk about it over the phone, and that he was doing a movie in Miami and that if she could meet him there he would tell her what happened. However, she had no way to get there so that was the end of that. The PI got all kinds of info for my sister over the a few months of investigating. In addition, as I said, he would call her every day. Then he just stops. She could not get a hold of him. She has not heard from him since. The only thing that has happened since then is that we have had several bodies found saying that they might be our mother, my granny has taken several DNA test and none of them have turned out to be our mother. A month or two had gone by, and since my granny was my mom's mom, the producer kept in contact with her. He would call her at least two or three times a week and she would call him also. Then one day out of no were he stopped calling and would not return her calls. They would always say he was not there or unavailable. Until one day, my granny heard him in the background saying "tell her I am not here." Before they could hang up, my granny said, "I hear him in the background. could you ask him one question for me?" The receptionist said "ok, What?" My Granny asked, "Did they find my daughter or Amanda Dennis?" She replied a simple "yes" and then hung up.



They did not say who or which one they had found, just a simple yes. Well I guess the movie was never made, not that we knew of anyway. The producer did say at the beginning he would make the movie with or without permission. It would just determine whether he based it on a true story or not, and if not he would just have to change the story a little. We never heard from the producer again or at least for some time. Well that ends another part of the story.



Well that is the end of that story, but that is not the end. There is more to the story. It picks back up; when I was about sixteen, I think it was. I had a call from a movie producer. This producer had made movies like the ones you see on Lifetime. I gave my dad the number to call him and he did, even though he did not believe me, he still called. They needed my dads and my granny's (mother's mom) permission, which they got. They were going to pay them $5,000 each and a $1,000 ever time it aired. Nevertheless, before they started it they wanted at least to try to find my mother or Amanda Dennis, so they could get their permission also. We got to the house, and then inside. The whole family was there, dad had asked us to sit at the table. He began to tell us that our mother was not in fact our mother, that she was Amanda Dennis and that the blood test came back to prove she was not our mother. We sat a cried at that table for what seemed like forever, my sister my dad, and me. Even though she was not our mother, we still wanted to see her because she had been the only mother that we had known.



Seeing to the fact she was a minor, the cops had came and picked her up earlier that day to go and meet her aunt and uncle. They said they would bring her back so she could say good-bye and get her stuff, we waited, and they never came. Again, I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a normal day just like any other; my sister and I were on our way home from school. We had just got of the bus and were making our way down the street, then down our long dirt driveway. We were almost to the house when we saw our Aunt B standing out in the driveway, for some reason my heart dropped. Even though she was talking to us, I could not hear a word she was saying. Well it came time for the third one, when we woke up that morning we found that our house and property had been vandalized. It really seemed like it was one thing after another… We finally got the blood test done and it took some time for the results to come back. Then we had a call from this person that lived not to far from us and said that our mother had got into an accident. She went to the hospital and was released with only a couple of cuts and bruises. She told us that she had noticed that two guys in a van were following her, so she stopped at a store just to make sure. They did not get out of the van, and pulled out behind her when she left. She then said that she had started to go faster trying to get away from then and then she turned the corner and they ran her off the road. The car flipped three times in the air and landed upside down in a creek. The only thing that had saved her is that she did not have her seat belt on. She would have drowned in the water, because the seat belt would have locked and she would have not been able to get it off.



So once again, we had to set another date for the blood test. Well it was almost time for the next appointment. My mom was out shopping for my dad, seeing that it was his birthday in a day or so. She had been out for most of the day and we were starting to get a little worried. Well my sister and I were getting worried because she had said she was just going to get a card and a little gift from her to dad. We had already gone shopping for him but forgot the card and plus she wanted to get him a little something extra. So it came to the morning of the blood test, we went to go get in the car to leave and my dad noticed that the tires were flat, so we were going to take one of the other cars, but those tires were flat too. Someone had slashed the tires in all the cars. Therefore, we had to reschedule the appointment. Little did we know that there was a couple that had called the Tampa Police Department saying that she was in fact not Lucinda Huels but she was Amanda Dennis, their niece. They said that both her parents had died, I believe her mother had died giving birth and her father, at the same time of year, some years earlier, she had came to live with them, and that she was very upset and hurt so she had ran away. Well like I said, a few months had passed by and our dad and mother told us that we had to go for a blood test the next day. We asked why we would have to do that. They responded with the explanation, "So we can know for sure that this is your mother." We were kind of in shock and asked, "What do you mean." They said well we know it is your mother but the cops would like to have proof. A few months had gone by and things could have not been happier.



We had our mother back and we were staying at our granny's house, which meant there was a lot of family around. My mother wanted to stay there because it was her mother and she had missed her. Well that is all I have about the time when she came up missing. However, the story does not end there. It picks back up when I was about nine years old. It was Sunday morning; I was having a little yard sale out in my grandmother's front yard, just for something to do. When she came out and told me, I had a call from my sister. My sister was at my granny's house visiting and I could not go that weekend because I had a little league game. My grandmother said it was important so I ran to the phone. When I got there my sister said, "I got some good news." I asked her what was going on. She said "I got a call from mom today", and I said "quit playing around." She then said, "I am not playing she is living in Arkansas and dad and my mother's two sisters were going to go and pick them up." So, they did, and while we waited for them to get back, my sister and I stayed at my granny's house. I can remember it like it was yesterday. My aunt B lived next door, and that is where they arrived. We got a call saying that they were back and for us to head next door. My sister and I went running out the door and through the trail to my aunt's house and there she was. We ran right into her arms. She grabbed a hold of us tightly as the tears of joy ran down our faces. It was a very happy day, our prayers had been answered. She looked Identical to my mother; the only thing that did not match was her teeth. My mother had a gap in between her two front teeth, and she did not, she said she had a surgery from a car accident and they fixed her teeth. Her story for coming up missing was that some one was chasing her and she hitched a ride with a truck driver fell a sleep, when she woke up she did not know where she was, and did not know how to get home. When my mom's mother was interviewed, she stated that my mother loved her children very much. There was no way she would leave home and abandon her children. If she were to leave, she would have taken us with her.



She also stated that my mother was busy planning my birthday party that was two weeks away, when she came up missing. My mother was very excited about throwing a party for me and could not wait for the day to come. The police again went to the apartment of Neeka and Linda to give a second interview. In which a friend of theirs named Rex Hoover answered the door, and stated that they were upset about the disappearance of their friend, and also told police that a few days earlier Linda's ex husband came to the apartment flashing a gun and making threats. He also stated that my mother was not there during the altercation. Sam Simmon the ex husband was seen at the bar the night of my mothers disappearance. Mr. Hoover then stated that he did not know my mother and had no other information.