After a two-year-long investigation and extensive search, two young girls have been reunited with their father, a Minden resident.

 

In July 2007, Bill Collins reported to the Webster Parish Sheriff’s Department that his two daughters and their mother, his ex-wife, had disappeared from their Crocket, Texas home. Webster Sheriff’s Capt. Don Smith took the report, and followed initial leads to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where officials said they would honor Collins’ custody papers and proceed with investigations and enforcement of the safe return of his daughters.

 

It would be ten months before Capt. Smith would hear from Collins again. In May 2008, Smith was contacted by Collins with news that he never made contact with his daughters in Colorado, and that officials there determined that his temporary custody papers could not be honored. Smith, surprised that the girls were still missing, immediately filed reports with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the National Crime Information Center. 

 

Nearly every month, Collins and Capt. Smith would follow leads together; with Smith contacting law enforcement officials in the states or countries where the girls were suspected to be. For so long, the leads fell through even when they were certain they were so close.

 

Last month, Capt. Smith received word that the girls and their mother were suspected to be living in parks and shelters in Arizona. Arizona law enforcement partnered in the effort and after chasing several leads, the girls and their mother were located.

 

On June 19, 2009, Brianna, 13, and Becca Collins, 10, were returned to their father and are now residing with him and his family in Minden. 

 

“We never gave up on these two girls,” explained Capt. Don Smith. “I’m just so happy they are now in a stable, loving environment.”