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Family vows not to give up search for their daughter
Police are treating the disappearance as a homicide case
By Shantee' Woodards / The Detroit News
Morris Richardson II / The Detroit News
Alex Derewitz, Amy's father, keeps a blanket on a porch chair to symbolize the family's grief.
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Case facts
* Amy Derewitz is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 103 pounds. She has brown eyes.
and dark blond hair.
* She was last seen at her ex-boyfriend's house in Dearborn Heights in the vicinity of
Detroit and Colgate streets. Her teal green 1994 Ford Escort later was found in a
parking lot at Ten Eyck Park on June 7.
Reward offered
The Derewitz family is offering an undisclosed reward for information leading to their
daughter, Amy. If you have any information, call the Dearborn Heights Police
Department at (313) 277-6770.
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DEARBORN HEIGHTS -- When Marie Shockley found a pile of dirt in a secluded
area on the Henry Ford Estate two months ago, she worried that it hid the body of her
missing niece, Amy Derewitz.
After digging through the pile and feeling a cold and clammy object, all she found
was a lump of clay. But her worries were far from over. It has been more than 10
weeks and still no one has heard from Amy.
"I was half-relieved," said Shockley, who has been working with the Derewitz family
in locating Amy. "We know she's no longer with us, but we'd like to bury her. It's been
very hard."
Prayer circles, vigils and search parties have become all too common for Shockley
and the Derewitz family as they continue to search for their missing daughter, Amy.
Debbie Derewitz said she has not heard from her 22-year-old daughter since Amy went
to exchange mail with her ex-boyfriend two months ago.
Since then, her abandoned Ford Escort was found at Ten Eyck Park in Dearborn.
There were no readable fingerprints in the car, and none of Amy's personal items --
including her purse and identification -- could be found, police said. Shockley said
family members realize that Amy's disappearance does not have the same "meat and
mystery" as the Chandra Levy case in Washington because there is no high-ranking
official involved, but they are hoping to draw as much attention to it as possible.
Authorities are pursuing the disappearance as a homicide case, said Heights police
Sgt. Michael Petri.
Amy's credit cards and bank account have been untouched.
"Amy has never ever gone away even for one day, and not let anyone know where
she was," said Cheryll Derewitz, Amy's stepmother. "We are not done searching for
her by far. We'll search for her until we've had our last breath."
Amy's family described her as hardworking and bubbly. She attended Edsel Ford
High School and went on to study at Henry Ford Community College. Amy had
planned to change her focus from health-related fields to business.
"She was very meticulous," Debbie Derewitz said. "She was very stable ... she kept
the same job from age 16 to 21."
Amy worked as a receptionist and server at Oakwood Commons in Dearborn, a job
she obtained through high school.
She lived in Dearborn with her former boyfriend, until earlier this year, when she
moved back home with her mother. She hasn't been seen since she went to the
Dearborn residence to pick up her mail, Petri said.
The family continues to organize search parties and hold prayer vigils for Amy. Alex
Derewitz, her father, keeps Amy's missing poster attached to his Detroit home. He
keeps a blanket on one of his porch chairs to symbolize the family's grief over Amy.
The family said they are planning to eventually have a memorial for Amy at the park
where her car was located. But one of the hardest parts of the search is that family
members are not sure how to grieve, since there have been no sightings of Amy and
no body has been found.
"It's probably the most difficult thing we've seen happen," said Shockley, Alex's
sister. "She was a lovely girl. She had wishes and dreams that can never be fulfilled."
You can reach Shantee' Woodards at (313)561-8623 or swoodards@detnews.com
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