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The family of a missing boy has helped raise nearly $4,000 for a foundation that tries to find lost children.
By CHRIS TISCH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 28, 2002
ZEPHYRHILLS -- Zach Bernhardt was everywhere at the Eagles Club supper Thursday night.
A large photo of Zach was in the front of the room. The boy's bright blue eyes shone like jewels.
Zach's picture was on more than a dozen T-shirts worn by his family. Posters with his photos also were hung around the room.
But Zach's grandmother, Carole Bernhardt, said what she did Thursday night wasn't for Zach. It was for all children who are missing.
On Sept. 11, 2000, Zach vanished from his Clearwater apartment. He hasn't been seen since. Police don't know if the boy, who would be 10 years old now, is alive.
On Thursday night at the Eagles Club supper, Carole Bernhardt presented checks for nearly $4,000 to a missing children's foundation. She and friends spearheaded Eagles Club fundraisers -- raffles, auctions, dinners -- that raised about $1,800. Then they received a $2,000 grant from the Eagles to donate as well.
"It started out that I did it for Zach, but I'm doing it for all the missing children," Bernhardt said.
The money went to Child Protection Education of America, a nonprofit Tampa organization that helps find missing children and educates parents and children on how to prevent abductions.
The executive director of the group, Vince DiNova, knows what Zach's family has gone through. His 12-year-old cousin, Dorothy Scofield, vanished from an Ocala shopping center on July 22, 1976. To this day, DiNova and his family don't know what happened to her.
"It's a hopeless feeling," he said.
DiNova's family launched a missing children's group in 1976. Twenty-two years later, the group helps the search for hundreds of children each year. Bernhardt and DiNova said some of the donated money may be used to start a support group for the parents of missing youngsters.
Child Protection Education of America also posts photos of missing children on its Web site and is set up to quickly fax photos to hospitals, truck stops and other businesses in hopes of finding a missing child. In one case, a young girl who ran away to Miami came home because hundreds of the group's fliers were posted at Miami businesses. The girl said she came home because she got tired of seeing her face.
Zach's family members say they believe a stranger snatched Zach from his Clearwater apartment. It happened when his mother, Leah Hackett, went out for a short walk in the early morning, they believe.
Hackett now lives in North Carolina. She did not attend the supper.
Family members say they hold out hope that Zach is alive.
Police have said they don't know whether Zach was abducted or ran away. They have found no evidence of a crime.
A team of five detectives investigated Zach's disappearance full time until March. They still chase leads on the case when they come in.
Attending Thursday's supper were Detectives Stephen Bohling and Joe Egger. The Bernhardt family, who have nominated the detectives for a state law enforcement award for their efforts, call them "our detectives."
Bohling and Egger, both fathers, said the family's support has helped them as they encounter dead end after dead end.
"That's something that's very hard for us to wrestle with," Egger said.
DiNova said people act differently when their loved ones disappear. Some -- such as Bernhardt and himself -- become advocates for missing children and their families.
Carole Bernhardt, who lives in Zephyrhills, became involved in the Eagles soon after Zach disappeared. Her daughters say it was an escape for her. She and other Eagles then persuaded the group to raise money for missing children.
Zach's aunt, Billie Jo Jimenez, said she thought her mom might raise a few hundred dollars.
"I really didn't expect them to raise that amount of money in this small of a community," she said. "But this is a very giving community. Zach would be so proud of my mom."
Though there were plenty of smiles Thursday night, family members say they still feel the sting of the mystery. It can pop up at any moment, such as when a certain song plays on the radio.
Zach's aunt, Denise Simpkins, says she cries whenever she goes over the Courtney Campbell Parkway. Jimenez says she often wonders if she could have done more. Carole Bernhardt has changed her license plate to read: LOV ZACH.
And the first item on everyone's Christmas wish list is for Zach to come home.
"You never get over it," Carole Bernhardt said.
-- Chris Tisch can be reached at 445-4156 or tisch@sptimes.com.