Can New Image Help a Mother’s 20-Year Search?

“Caring, loving, and compassionate” are the three words Pam Riley Boldin uses to describe her daughter, LaQuanta Riley, who mysteriously vanished on Dec. 7, 2003, from Montgomery, Alabama. 

Hear from LaQuanta's mom.

To help find LaQuanta, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) released this new age progression image of what she may look like today at 39 years old. Pam has been searching for answers to her daughter’s disappearance for the last 20 years and is hopeful that this new image will be a valuable tool in that search. 

LaQuanta age progressed from 19 to 39 years old. 

Pam says on the night of her daughter’s disappearance, LaQuanta made a brief stop at her mother’s home to grab a jacket and was greeted at the door by her younger brother. He asked her how she got there since he knew she didn’t have a car. LaQuanta said a friend she met around the street, then he witnessed her leave their home in an unknown green vehicle that was parked out front. The then 19-year-old has never been seen since.

Following LaQuanta’s disappearance, Pam shared that she received a disturbing voice message she firmly believes was LaQuanta. “She was crying but she was either saying leave me alone or I wanna go home,” Pam told NCMEC. Pam says she could hear a male voice in the background say her daughter’s name before the call disconnected. 

Pam says she knows in her heart that something happened to her daughter, and there is no way LaQuanta would have voluntarily stayed away this long. “Wherever she went, she didn't go to stay,” Pam said. “Whoever she left with had no intentions of bringing her back.” 

LaQuanta, upper left, with her mother, Pam, upper right, and her three younger brothers.

Pam has been able to get through these tough years by her faith and those who have stuck by her side. She transformed her pain into a way to help other families of missing children. In 2016, Pam founded the Riley Relief Foundation, a nonprofit organization offering support to families of missing children in Alabama. They help anyone they can and strive to be a voice for those who seem to have lost their own.  

Every year since 2005, Pam has hosted a candlelight vigil for LaQuanta in Montgomery. In recent years, Pam has held this ceremony not only for LaQuanta, but for all the missing children in Alabama. “We want to make sure that their voices are heard and that we're not going to stop looking for them,” she said. 

This year’s vigil will be held on Saturday, December 23, in Montgomery, Alabama.  

Pam wants LaQuanta to know that she loves her more than anything and that she will never, ever stop looking. 

LaQuanta at age 18.

If you have any information about LaQuanta Riley or her disappearance, please contact NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) or the Montgomery Police Department (Alabama) at 1-334-241-2651.  

View LaQuanta’s Missing Poster here: https://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/1083814/1.