What happened to Mikelle Biggs? Sister continues to search for answers

MESA, Ariz. (FOX 10) -- Mikelle Biggs was taken as she rode her bicycle near her home 20 years ago on January 2. Her sister Kimber says she is never giving up on finding what happened to her.

"She loved this bear. It was from her favorite teacher.. just something that everyone kind of clung to and I'm glad I have it," said Kimber.

Mikelle was 11 when she was taken from the neighborhood near Southern and Gilbert Roads. Kimber was 9-years-old and spoke with Mikelle just before she rode off to find the ice cream man.

A short time later when she went to find Mikelle, "..the one thing that sticks out in my mind and I always say it's that bike in the road, you know the tires spinning and looking down that road, it was very eerie."

20 years is a long time to hold on to a bear, to hold on to a memory and to keep fighting, yet here she is giving her sister a voice.

"That's the hope.. I get a lot of people commenting and saying they didn't know she was still missing or that the case wasn't solved. I mean, there's plenty of people that have followed it for 20 years and they keep up to date, but there's still so many people that just assumed the case was solved," said Kimber.

The case was never solved. Kimber says her parents eventually moved away from the neighborhood and now live in Utah.

Kimber created a Justice for Mikelle Facebook page, where she continues her quest to find her sister. She posts updates and alerts on other missing people as well. She has also started blogging and some of her pain comes out in her poetry.

"Mostly kind of worked through it. My parents didn't know my struggle. I didn't tell them.. a flaw of mine as a child. I didn't communicate things I was going through.. thought it was more important to find Mikelle than what I'm going through," she said.

20 years later, Kimber is still fighting to find out what happened to her big sister on that January day in 1999.

Mikelle would have turned 31 years old this past summer. Kimber wants to spread her picture and story around the world.

"We just need the story spread further. It needs to go farther. I want it to be known in every country around the world. I don't want to ever meet someone who doesn't know who Mikelle is.. someone knows something and it won't stay a secret forever.. I know somehow, some way, in my lifetime, I will find out what happened. It's just a matter of who gives me the last piece of the puzzle."

Mesa police say this case is still open and they are hoping for tips all these years later that will lead to answers for Mikelle's family.

If you know what happened on the 1800 block of East El Moro Street, please call the Mesa Police Department at 480-644-2211 or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS.

Online: facebook.com/mikellebiggs