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Family of missing South Elgin teen creates GoFundMe for tip reward

Her favorite tie-dye cake and a birthday card are waiting for Kianna Galvin in her home in South Elgin, from which she vanished nearly four months ago.

Family members quietly celebrated her 18th birthday July 16 by reminiscing about the bubbly girl with the caring personality.

“I made that cake for her before and she loved it,” said her mother, Fiona Galvin. “I was not up to making it myself. I got it from Jewel, and I froze it for her.”

Kianna disappeared May 6 after telling her younger sister she was going to nearby Jim Hansen Park. Her social media accounts have stayed silent. She had no car nor access to a bank account.

Police continue to investigate, but the numerous leads at the outset have started to dwindle, said Sgt. Mike Flaningam, the lead detective on the case. The investigation has reached as far as the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Miami, Florida, but nothing has panned out so far.

Belkis Sandoval, public information officer for the U.S. Marshals Service, Northern District of Illinois, said the agency continues to assist in the case.

While there is no concrete evidence, Flaningam said, he suspects that Kianna has not been gone willingly. “If she could have contacted her family by now, she would have.”

Her mother agreed.

“I've been thinking that from Day One.”

The family created a GoFundMe page to raise reward money for tips leading to Kianna's whereabouts.

The last four months have been nearly unbearable, Fiona Galvin said. Last week she went back to work at Wasco Elementary School where she runs the kitchen, but being there is difficult, she said.

“When I'm at work, I don't feel like I am doing what I should be doing to find her. I feel more anxious because I can't research and I can't do the things I would normally do to find her,” she said.

Kianna's father, Everick York of Rockford, said he keeps busy with his job as a delivery driver, but some days it's hard to get out of bed.

“Getting no information — it drives you absolutely crazy,” he said.

“It's a waiting game,” he added. “You hope to strike some luck sooner or later.”

A local private investigator has been donating his services. Fiona Galvin said she is trying to get in touch with the “Psychic Sisters,” sisters Jean McKenzie Vincent and Suzanne Vincent in Pennsylvania, whom she saw featured on TV. “I would like them to help find Kianna,” she said.

Flaningam said he's in contact with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about Kianna's disappearance, but Kianna was not listed on the organization's website Thursday. Flaningam said he didn't know why that was and that he would follow up with them.

Last year, the organization assisted law enforcement with more than 13,700 cases of missing children. Among them, 86 percent were endangered runaways, 10 percent family abductions, 1 percent nonfamily abductions, 2 percent lost, injured or otherwise missing children. One percent were “critically missing young adults” ages 18 to 20, like Kianna.

South Elgin teen girl reported missing

Search continues for South Elgin teen

Police search for clues in South Elgin missing teen case

  Fiona Galvin talks about her daughter who disappeared without a trace more than four months ago while en route to a park in South Elgin. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com
Kianna Galvin turned 18 in July. She has been missing for four months. courtesy OF Fiona GALVIN
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