Woman missing 14 years inspired change for similar cases

http://charlotte.news14.com/content/top_stories/642820/woman-missing-14-years-inspired-change-for-similar-cases

CHARLOTTE – A Charlotte woman who disappeared 14 years ago Thursday has left a legacy of change for missing adults.
Kristen Modafferi vanished in San Francisco three weeks after she turned 18.
“She decided to go out there as part of her schooling from N.C. State, and you know, not a thought that something would happen,” said Joan Petruski, the founder of the Kristen Foundation.
Because she was an adult, her parents struggled to find help with their search, so the Modafferis worked to create Kristen's Act, a national law that changed the way missing adult cases are handled.
“I asked them what they needed, they needed help. They needed financial help and there was nothing coming out of the national center in Washington so I started raising money and that's basically where the Kristen Foundation started. And how it is now, I perceive it as, well, it is Kristen's legacy,” Petruski said.
Kristen's Act was signed into law Nov. 9, 2000. It allows the attorney general to give money to organizations that help find missing adults. It also created a national, interconnected database to track missing adults who are determined endangered.
The law requires statistics be kept regarding missing adults and provides resources for families of missing adults.
Through the Kristen Foundation, Petruski said she's helped more than 160 families across the country in the search for their children.
Petruski said Modafferi's case was closed by investigators because there were no leads. Despite that, there are still billboards in San Francisco reminding people she's missing.