- David Bobo
- Stephanie Cook
Stephanie
Cook was a year old when her younger brother was adopted. When she was
5, her mother, Bobbi Ann Campbell, went missing. Stephanie has spent much of
her life searching for her brother and her mother. This year, she and
her brother, Thomas Linton, were reunited, but they are still searching
for their mother, who went missing in 1994. Cook held a missing-persons
event recently in Midvale in honor of Campbell and other missing
persons; family members of missing persons wrote messages on balloons
and released them into the sky. Contact Unified Police Department
Detective Todd Park at 801-743-5850 with any information about
Campbell’s disappearance.
Had you always known that you had a brother?
Yes. I kind of looked for him my whole life. But the pictures I had of
him all said “Seattle” on the back. I had assumed it was Seattle the
city, but it was Seattle printing press, so I had been looking in the
wrong place the whole time. He went to school a block away from where I
lived, and grew up in Mapleton. I Googled “Thomas, 1990, adopted, Salt
Lake City,” and an article popped up that he was trying to find his
birth mom.
What was it like to meet your brother again?
It was surreal. It was the craziest feeling in the world, and the
happiest day of my life. We’re best friends, we talk every day. We both
like video games, we like the same kind of music, we have the same sense
of humor.
Who took care of you when you were growing up?
My great-grandparents raised me in Draper. It was really hard not
knowing if my mom was alive or what happened to her. My grandma and
grandpa were best friends with her. We kept her memory alive in our
house—we always talked about her and did everything we could.
How did your mother go missing?
She’s been missing for 18 years this December. It was two days after
Christmas. We had gone to her friend’s house to give her a Christmas
present. My mom left me there while she went to SOS to pick up her
paycheck. And then she was going to get groceries and come get me. I
fell asleep waiting, and her paycheck was never picked up. Her car was
found almost a year later, abandoned by the Jordan River.
Have there been any leads into your mom’s case?
There’ve been a few, but they don’t really pan out. If anybody has any
information about my mom, come forward. She was 24 when she disappeared.
She’d be 42 this year. Blond hair, barely 5 foot, 100 pounds. The case
was re-opened in ’08.
How did you get the idea for the missing-persons event?
Not many families of missing persons get media attention. It’s really
hard. And I’ve just been really lucky and really blessed with getting
it, and I wanted to celebrate with [other families] that I was in
[Women’s Day Magazine]. Families can share their stories and talk
together and support each other.
