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MONROE -- Nearly one year after a North Carolina woman disappeared in Maryland, some of the people involved in the search came to visit her hometown.

Phylicia Barnes, 16, was in Baltimore visiting family for the holidays when she vanished after going out to get some food.

On Saturday, members of the Baltimore Guardian Angels came to Monroe to talk about how the girl changed their lives, and to ask the local people how their own lives were changed.

"And it's something that changed me on a level that can't even express to you," said Gaetane Borders, President of the not-for-profit Peas in their Pods. "And I've never met her."

Peas in Their Pods attempts to raise awareness of minority missing children. She said the Barnes case helped bring attention to the issue.

"There's not one day since her disappearance that I don't think about this girl," said Marcus Dent, Commander of the Baltimore Guardian Angels.

In a motel in Union County, they talked about how much Barnes changed their lives.
"Every time we find a missing kid, or go looking for a missing kid, we got Phylicia Barnes on our mind," Dent said. "So this girl did something, and we think we pretty much owe her that."

Barnes disappeared December 28, 2010, and a massive search began. Four months later, her body was found in the Susquehanna River, 50 miles north of Baltimore.

One of the Guardian Angels, named "Jazz," said she was devastated to hear the news. She told the crowd of about a dozen how she'd replaced the purple flower on her beret.

"On the way to headquarters I stopped at the same store where I had bought the purple rose, and I bought this black one," she said, tapping the beret and fighting back tears. "I felt like the hope that I had for mankind had just died. And since that day I have not taken this off my beret."

But in the year since Barnes' disappearance, the Guardian Angels have focused more on missing children. She said they even helped find two kids.

"For every missing person that goes home, it restores a little piece of me, that says that maybe what we do is worth it," she said.

One of Barnes' friend, Janice Tims, went to the event to show support for the people who supported Barnes' family and friends.

"I didn't realize how many people are going to miss her every day," she said.

Baltimore authorities ruled Barnes' death a homicide. No arrests have been made.