CHARLOTTE -- Every year, thousands of people are reported missing in the United States, many of which remain unsolved.

"My daughter that she's holding in one of those pictures is now a college student,” said Paula Forest of her missing sister. “A whole lifetime has passed. And Rhonda was not the type of person to be gone from home; she was more of a homebody."

Forest and her family is still searching for Rhonda Baucom 20 years after her disappearance. She went missing from her apartment complex on May 18, 1987.

"I don't believe she's alive but I can't believe in my heart that she's dead until I have someone buried,” said Forest.

A former police officer, Forest said she sees a vast improvement in the way missing persons cases are handled. She also said she is happy to see the media attention given to more recent cases; attention she said her sister’s disappearance never received.

If anyone knows any information on Baucom or any missing person case, call CMPD’s CrimeStoppers at 704-334-1600.