MESA, Ariz. — The neighborhood Mikelle Biggs grew up in hasn't changed too much over the past 25 years.
“It looks almost the same,” said Kimber Biggs, Mikelle's little sister.
Years have passed since Kimber Biggs returned to the quiet Mesa neighborhood near Gilbert Road and Southern Avenue, walking the same street where she last saw her 11-year-old sister alive.
"It's like, kind of surreal,” Kimber Biggs said.
VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL: 'Todavía es difícil de asimilar': Familiares de Mikelle Biggs siguen buscando respuestas a 25 años después de que la menor de 11 años desapareciera
On January 2, 1999, Kimber Biggs, who was 9 at that time, was out playing with Mikelle Biggs. She remembers Mikelle Biggs as a very charismatic and lovable big sister with the dream of becoming a Disney animator.
“She was lovable, everyone liked [Mikelle],” she said.
Kimber Biggs, while pointing to the street, said she vividly remembers Mikelle Biggs riding on her bike in big circles on the street. Mikelle Biggs was waiting for the ice cream truck with quarters in her pocket. Kimber Biggs said it was cold that night as the sun was starting to set. She ran back inside her childhood home for less than two minutes. When she came back out and looked down the street where Mikelle Biggs was just moments ago, Mikelle Biggs was gone.
The bike was left in the middle of the street with the wheels still spinning. The quarters Mikelle Biggs had looked to have been thrown onto the road.
"I was concerned,” Kimber Biggs said. “I knew something was wrong but I didn't comprehend or even think of the word kidnap at that point.”
Kimber Biggs than ran back to her home to tell her mom that Mikelle was gone. That's when the search for the missing 11-year-old began. Kimber Biggs went door-to-door in the neighborhood to see if Mikelle Biggs ran inside someone's home.
“I think I half expected her to like, pop out and scare me or something,” she recalled.
The search for Mikelle Biggs
Within hours, Kimber Biggs said dozens of Mesa police officers swarmed the neighborhood. Barricades were set in place and search parties formed to look for Mikelle Biggs.
Detective Paul Sipe with the Mesa Police Department took over the case about three months ago. He said officers went door-to-door asking people if they had any information on where Mikelle Biggs was.
12News video from that night shows officers stopping cars driving through the neighborhood to question people.
That day not only changed the Biggs family, but the City of Mesa.
“It was a huge incident that occurred here at the time,” said Sipe.
Word of her disappearance made it's way across the country with countless tips pouring in.
“You've got about a thousand people or more there that we've spoken with,” Sipe said.
One of the tips came from a dollar bill that was found in Wisconsin. A potential break in the case that had a message written on it that read, "My name is Mikel Biggs kidnapped from Mesa Arizona I'm alive."
However, the bill is dated from 2009, ten years after Mikelle Biggs vanished. Also the name "Mikelle" is misspelled on the bill, leading investigators and the Biggs family to believe the tip was a hoax.
“A cruel prank or, you know, thoughtless action and it's hard,” Kimber Biggs said.
Each passing year, thousands of leads and thousands of dead ends.
“As time went on, it was like, you just feel less and less hopeful,” Kimber Biggs said.
Now, 25 years later, it remains unsolved.
Turning pain into purpose
As time went on and Kimber Biggs became less hopeful, she said she started to disassociate from what happened to her sister. The pain from that day was too much to bare. That is until she received an offer that changed her life-- using what she went through to benefit others.
“I guess for me, the way that it gets easier is just that I feel like I'm doing something, I'm not ignoring the day," Kimber Biggs said. "I'm not just simply thinking about her, you know, I'm trying to actually do something.”
Kimber Biggs now works with the National Criminal Justice Training Center. She shares her experience with police officers across the country about what she and her family went through. She advises them on what officers can do to make the worst days imaginable for those families a little better.
“This is where I'm supposed to be, this is what I've been looking for,” Kimber Biggs said.
A person of interest
Still, not knowing what happened to Mikelle Biggs leaves behind a wound that cannot be healed.
The case went cold, that is until Kimber Biggs received the update she was waiting to hear: Mesa police may know who is responsible for Mikelle's disappearance.
Sipe did not say who that person was since they haven't been charged in relation to the Biggs case. However, Kimber Biggs said they use to live right down the road from the Biggs family.
That man is a convicted sex offender who is currently serving life in prison for other egregious crimes.
“He doesn't really have anything to lose," Sipe said. "Let us know what happened where we can find her and we can give some closure to the family. That would be my hope for it.”
Kimber Biggs said her parents wrote to the person of interest while he is in prison and even met with him there. She said he alluded in the letters that he wanted to confess to the crime, but still hasn't.
When asked if she has hopes that her sister's 25 year cold case will be solved, Kimber Biggs said five years ago she wouldn't have. However, with a new detective on the case and Kimber Biggs with her new job, that hope for justice is now growing.
"It feels like everything's kind of coming together," she said.
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