It was a hot summer afternoon when Denise Porch, resident manager of a southwest Charlotte apartment complex, left a note on her front door. <\/p>\n
Shed gone to show an apartment to a prospective resident and would be back by 3 p.m. <\/p>\n
That was 37 years ago. Porch hasnt been seen since. <\/p>\n
But Diane Hill still holds out hope that she will eventually learn what happened to her sister that day in July 1975. <\/p>\n
And she became a bit more hopeful this week after learning that police have solved the case of Priscilla Blevins, another Charlotte woman who disappeared just three weeks before Porch did. Using a national database, authorities were able to match DNA from an unidentified body to that of Blevins sister. <\/p>\n
I have accepted that shes not coming back, Hill, now 63 and living in Davidson County, says of her sister. But youd like to have something, some type of closure. I hope some day, just like (the Blevins case), that will happen. <\/p>\n
Increasingly, the prospects are improving for families like hers as authorities fine-tune their use of DNA to help resolve missing persons cases that once seemed unsolvable. <\/p>\n
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department typically fields about 3,000 missing persons reports each year. About 70 percent involve juveniles 13-17 years old. <\/p>\n
The overwhelming majority of the cases are solved quickly. <\/p>\n
Among them: The confused senior citizen from west Charlotte who planned to drive to church some years ago, lost his way and was found a day and a half later in a car that had run out of gas in New York City. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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\nDNA database gives hope to families of the missing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"