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SPANISH FORK — The second day of May each year has become a day that Richard and Tamara Davis pause to honor their daughter Kiplyn, who disappeared from Spanish Fork High School on May 2, 1995.
“She is still a 15-year-old girl to me,” said Richard Davis, even though Kiplyn would have turned 40 in July. Even though a lot has changed in the town in 24 years, the Davis family said the community support remains.
Despite the many years since Kiplyn disappeared, her parents have never given up the hope of finding her. They do, though, have a headstone placed for her in the Spanish Fork Cemetery.
“Our goal is to find her and bring her back here and put her to rest,” Richard Davis said. “We still feel like she is out here, and something is not right. But if we can bring her here and find peace, that will be the end of the story.”
Foul play has always been suspected, and several boys from her high school were prosecuted several years ago for hampering a revived investigation into her disappearance. Just one of them remains in prison. Timmy Brent Olsen is scheduled for a parole hearing in 2021 and could serve time in prison until 2026.
Tamara Davis still brings flowers to the headstone each May 2 as a tribute. Her sister, Karissa Lords, was just 9 years old when Kiplyn disappeared.
“We will get our answers and our miracle, but someone has to step forward and say, ‘This is where she is at,'” Lords said. “That is all they got to do is say where she is at.”
The Davis family said they have rejoiced in recent months with other families who have gotten answers about their missing loved ones, including Jerika Binks and Peggy Case.
“We are very happy for these people," Richard Davis said. “We know what we are going through and what they have been going through, so we’re glad they finally had some closure with their lives.
Despite all of the heartbreak over these many years, he said his family does see a silver lining in their tragedy.
“It has also changed our lives for the better and made us better people,” he said. “I think she is helping us do that. We are involved in our community (more) than we ever were before.”
