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Lisman will retire as Luzerne County coroner next month

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Vigil remembers Phylicia Thomas on 15th anniversary of disappearance

<p>Monday marked the 15th anniversary of Phylicia Thomas&#8217; disappearance and reporter Bill O&#8217;Boyle covered the annual vigil on Nanticoke&#8217;s Patriot Square, as he has done for many years.</p><p>On the face of it, the story read a lot like it almost always has been: Despite no new leads, family and friends have undaunted determination to find her.</p><p>Bill&#8217;s story isn&#8217;t about the investigation, because there is nothing new to say about that. Maybe there never will be.</p><p>It&#8217;s about devotion, suffering and hoping against hope.</p><p>&#8220;We love each other,&#8221; Phylicia&#8217;s cousin, Yvonne Tagnani, told O&#8217;Boyle.</p><p>&#8220;But this is like a funeral every year,&#8221; Tagnani added. &#8220;We have to find Phylicia.&#8221;</p><p>Those words broke my heart when I read O&#8217;Boyle&#8217;s story.</p><p>Just as it broke my heart last year every time we ran a story about how Phylicia&#8217;s mother, Pauline Bailey, and family friend Judy Lorah Fisher accompanied volunteers with cadaver dogs to the field around a former trailer home where the 22-year-old was last seen during a 2004 house party.</p><p>The dogs smelled something, but excavations turned up no remains.</p><p>Each time, no doubt, Bailey and Fisher went home devastated.</p><p>Each time, O&#8217;Boyle came back to the newsroom crestfallen.</p><p>Fisher says they&#8217;ll resume the searches in the spring. I hope and pray the new year brings some discovery, some solace for those who mourn Phylicia.</p><p>Whatever happens, their efforts &#8212; and ours &#8212; will not be in vain. They remind the community that Phylicia Thomas was loved and will not be forgotten.</p>
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<div class="neCaption">Family friend Judy Lorah Fisher, second from left, follows members of Rescue International during a K9 search for the remains of Phylicia Thomas in a field along Timber Lane in Hunlock Creek last June. </div></div><div class="metaInfo">https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL062218PhyliciaThomasSearch_4.jpgFamily friend Judy Lorah Fisher, second from left, follows members of Rescue International during a K9 search for the remains of Phylicia Thomas in a field along Timber Lane in Hunlock Creek last June. Times Leader file photo </div></div>

Editor’s Comments: Phylicia Thomas will not be forgotten