Ballston Spa, N.Y. - Suzanne Lyall has been missing for 17 months. But every sunrise, her parents pray that she will come home.
"I wake up at the crack of dawn," said her father, J. Douglas Lyall, 57, "and as soon as I do, I think of her."
As he prays for his daughter, his wife, Mary, 56, awakens and joins him. "Sometimes we whisper our fears, and sometimes we are quiet because it's too hard to talk," she said.
This is how mornings in the Lyall household have started since Suzanne, then a 19-year-old sophomore computer major at State University of New York at Albany, disappeared on the night of March 2, 1998.
State police say it's likely Suzanne was murdered and her body hidden locally. Four investigators still pursue the case. "One way or the other, they need closure, but we've been very honest with them and they know the odds," said state police senior investigator Jim Horton.
Although they cannot bring themselves to say the word "dead," the Lyalls acknowledge that statistics are not encouraging. But, Douglas said, "we will always have hope."
"I will never give up. I will leave no stone unturned," he said. "I will find my daughter."
The couple pursues every means of keeping the story and the investigation alive. They give interviews, write columns for newspapers, appear on television, distribute fliers in supermarkets. They have made appearances on the "Leeza," "Today" and "Sally Jesse Raphael" shows, and Suzanne's story was broadcast on "America's Most Wanted" and "Inside Edition." They created a Web site with pictures of their daughter.
Douglas Lyall quit his job as a job-rehabilitation counselor to devote himself full time to the search for the youngest of his three children. "This is my job now," he said. On the night she disappeared, Suzanne was returning to her dorm from her part-time job at a computer store in Crossgates, Albany's biggest shopping mall.
The bus driver remembers her boarding at the mall at 9:35 p.m., and a student recalled her getting off at a well-lighted campus bus stop 10 minutes later.
She never made it to her room 200 yards away.
The next day, for the first few hours after the Lyalls filed a report, authorities hesitated, in case Suzanne had simply gone to visit a friend. And because she was over 18, there was a 24-hour waiting period.
But her parents were insistent, and state police investigators acted quickly. "Given the character, the background and the solid roots of her family here, it seemed unlikely that she had just taken off," Horton said.
On the day after Suzanne's disappearance, Mary Lyall and police discovered that Suzanne's ATM card had been used that day at a machine in a store about two miles from campus. Police have a security camera picture of a man paying for purchases three minutes before the ATM transaction. But that man was never found.
The Lyalls have the overwhelming support of the Ballston Spa and SUNY communities. A year ago, when they ordered 15,000 full-sized color fliers at $1 apiece, the printer donated his services and anonymous benefactors paid for the paper and ink. Local businesses posted the fliers. Donations poured in, so many that the Lyalls opened a bank account. Strangers leave brownies, flowers and other gifts on their doorstep. Yellow ribbons hang from fences and doors.
In April of last year, 2,000 people attended a candlelight vigil in Ballston Spa, a village about 25 miles north of Albany. This year, in February, a similar vigil was held at the university. Family, friends and the university are offering a $25,000 reward.
The community support "makes the hole in our hearts a little easier to live with," Douglas said.
The Lyalls say that if any good may have come from this, it's legislation that may help missing children in the future.
On April 6, symbolically marking Suzanne's 21st birthday, Gov. George Pataki signed a bill to require campus, local and state police to develop plans for responding quickly to reports of violent crimes and missing students.
Another bill the Lyalls support would increase penalties for crimes committed within 1,000 yards of a school or college campus. Assemb. James Tedisco (R-Schenectady) said it would be "Suzy's Law."
Suzanne's parents had thought that by now they would be planning their retirement. "It's not even discussed. There isn't any life ahead until . . ." said Douglas, his voice trailing off.