After three years of waiting for word on her missing son, a Cherokee County woman is hoping help from the community will bring her answers about his disappearance.

Sherron Lankester of Acworth last heard from her son Stephen Lankester Cox, who was 38 at the time, in November of 2004. He went missing the same day, possibly due to his involvement in a robbery of an illegal gambling ring, according to Ms. Lankester.

"Stephen was no angel," she said. "But I still don't understand how people can be so cruel."

Ms. Lankester said she believes many people in the community know what happened to Stephen the night of Nov. 18, 2004, but are afraid to go to police because of their involvement in drugs and other illicit activities.

"There's little honor among thieves and dopers," Cherokee County Sheriff's Office Violent Crime Unit Capt. Ron Hunton said. "We're really just looking for someone with credible information to come forward."

Hunton said the sheriff's office has interviewed hundreds of potential witnesses and searched locations everywhere from Cherokee to Alabama for evidence of what happened to Cox, but they've found nothing.

"There are all kinds of stories and rumors about what happened," Hunton said. "We've made a number of arrests of associates of (Cox), but no arrests dealing directly with his disappearance."

Ms. Lankester said they have started the process of entering Cox's DNA and medical information into a nationwide DNA database, which will help in case his remains are discovered and normal methods of identification are not possible.

"We're hoping that maybe we could see a possible hit sometime after February," Ms. Cox said, adding living without an answers is unbearable. "It's hell on earth. Every time I close my eyes, I see the terrible things that might have happened to him."

Ms. Lankester also is working with "Lighting the Way Home," a nonprofit organization that works on behalf of the families of missing persons in Georgia.

Tammy Sanford is the investigator for Lighting the Way Home on Cox's case.

"I'm the one who's going to find out the truth for this family," she said.

Ms. Sanford is helping organize a search party for an area where rumors indicate Cox's body may have been dumped, just off Third Army Road at the Bartow-Cobb County line.

"There are three ponds there we are looking to search," Ms. Sanford said.

The women are looking for more volunteers to come to the search, which will use cadaver dogs and their handlers, as well as psychic investigators.

A date for the search will not be set until the availability of all interested parties is known, but Ms. Sanford said they hope to do it as soon as possible.

"I don't know if I believe in psychics or not, but I'm willing to try anything to find my son," Ms. Lankester said.

"I'm just numb," she added. "But I'm going to keep looking for him because I'm his mother, and I have to bring him home. Steve was my special child, and he was given to me by God. I just want people to know that he has a mother, and he was a baby once and he deserves to be found."

Cox had two children, now 16 and 15, living in New Orleans.

"(Cox's daughter) calls me every day to see if I know anything more about what happened to her dad," Ms. Lankester said. "I have to tell her no."

Cox is white, six feet, one inch tall, 170 pounds with brown hair, blue eyes and a tattoo on his left shoulder and left side of his chest. He was last seen leaving his southwest Cherokee home with an unknown person at 10 p.m. on Nov. 18 2004.

The family also has pledged a $5,000 reward for information that leads to his discovery.

"I know my son is dead," Ms. Lankester said. "All I want now is to bring him home for a proper burial. If anyone has any information at all, please have a heart and tell someone, even if it's anonymous."

For information on the search, call Ms. Lankester at (770) 655-7097 or e-mail justiceforsteve@comcast.net. Anyone with information about Cox's disappearance is asked to call the sheriff's office at (678) 493-4174.

ntheberge@cherokeetribune.com