On Jan. 2, 1999, 11-year-old Mikelle Biggs disappeared. She was standing at a corner near her Mesa home, waiting for the ice cream truck.
Her sister Kimberthen 9 years oldleft Mikelle alone for less than 90 seconds. She found Mikelles bike left behind, the tires still spinning.
My parents were in a frenzy, Kimber recalled. Media showed up so fast. There was law enforcement everywhere. Strangers all in my house. And volunteer groups were like immediately there. And it went from, like, a little bit of confusion to like complete chaos very quickly.
Now nearly 25 years later, Kimber wants to help people work through that chaos.
This year she was hired by the National Criminal Justice Training Center to train law enforcement dealing with missing children cases.
They wanted someone for the family perspective portion of the education course, she told KGUN. It felt right. It sounded amazing and I got very excited I think Ive always wanted to do something in this field, I just didnt know where to go with it.
I finally found the direction I was looking for.
Kimber will travel the country to speak with different law enforcement groups.
Its a whole [presentation] about my background, about Mikelle, she explained. Things that [police], in my experience, did right and that worked well for our family. And then things, in my experience, that I feel like they could improve on.
Kimber says she remembers officers being kind to her in the immediate aftermath of Mikelles disappearance, but she also believes more could have been explained to her at the time.
You know, they wanted to ask me questions, find out what happened. I was the last one to see her, Kimber recalled. I dont remember specifically someone clarifying things for me Explaining to a child in a way they can understand what is happening and whats going to happen.
The training center is funded by federal grants from the Justice Department. For now, Kimber plans to speak with groups about once a month.
I dont have any ill feelings towards the detectives or the Mesa PD or anything. Wanting them to improve is not looking down on them, she clarified. There is always room for improvement because its never too much when it comes to a missing person, especially a missing child.
In a statement to KGUN, Mesa PD says, The case is still open and active. The Mesa Police Department reviews any new leads that come in and will continue to do so in hopes of bringing justice and closure to the Biggs family. There is currently no new information to release.
Kimber says she now wants tips to go directly to police, not to her.
Most of the time it will make me sick, said Kimber. If someone sends me a tip, its like an immediate, you know, in your chest, in your gut, and youre just like, shut down.
Shes hoping for a break in Mikelles case, but not letting the unknown consume her life.
We have a grave site for her, Kimber explained. And I personally, I dont go there very often because shes not there. Theres not a body to visit.
I feel like the best thing that I can do is maybe not so much hyper-focus on [the case] at this point. And thats another contributing reason why this job seemed like a great opportunity, because Im still helping in that realm of missing persons. But Im not focusing everything into something that so far, I havent been able to get clarity on.
One of the suspects in the case, a former neighbor, is a convicted rapist serving life in prison. But he has not admitted to the crime.
Kimbers first presentation for law enforcement will be next week for a group in Pennsylvania. She hopes to eventually make this a full-time job.