Years Of Honor

Auxiliary Distributes Poppies

WILKES-BARRE &ndash; Eight years after her daughter went missing, Pauline Bailey expects the worst, but hopes for the best from someone to come forward with information to locate her body.
On Saturday night approximately 50 people joined Bailey under the pavilion in Kirby Park for a candlelight vigil for Phylicia Thomas on the anniversary of the day the 22-year-old woman went missing from her Lake Township home in 2004.
&ldquo;This is like having a funeral every year,&rdquo; said Bailey of Nanticoke.
Thomas is presumed dead, the victim of foul play, and state police are investigating. But the lack of new leads has frustrated Bailey, who said she believes people have information about what happened to her daughter.
&ldquo;We know people know things. Somebody&rsquo;s just got to come forward,&rdquo; said Bailey. 
 She pleaded with them &ldquo;to pick up the phone and do the right thing&rdquo; by providing information to investigators or an anonymous tip line at 570 478-0290.
A man state police described as a person of interest in the disappearance of Thomas and the death of Jennifer Barziloski, 18, also of Lake Township, committed suicide in prison in 2005. 
Barziloski&rsquo;s skull was found in 2010 in Hunlock Township near the former residence of Steve Martin, reportedly the last person to be seen with her outside of a bar in Edwardsville in 2001. Martin was a friend of Thomas&rsquo; boyfriend and was serving a state prison sentence for causing a deadly wreck in Wilkes-Barre. 
Bailey said the property owners will not allow a search using cadaver dogs. 
As they have done annually at the vigils, the group sand &ldquo;Wish You Were Here,&rdquo; by Pink Floyd and released balloons signed with greetings. 
Beth Freeman of Mountain Top said she wrote, &ldquo;Hi in heaven Phylicia. Wish you were here.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I knew Phylicia since she was a baby,&rdquo; said Freeman.

Woman's disappearance a mystery