COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Families with missing loved ones will soon gather to march the streets near where Andy Chapman vanished 17 years ago, in an effort to bring the missing home. 

Andy’s mother, Judy Rafferty, and sister, Aimee Chapman, joined a Zoom call with NBC4 sitting in front of his missing poster, which was also printed on Aimee’s shirt, for a media interview hoping to keep his face and name alive – something they have done countless times over the past 17 years.

They say the “Andy Chapman March for the Missing” is another attempt to bring attention to not only his case, but to the thousands of other missing people in Ohio. 

“This is the Andy Chapman March for the Missing, but we want to focus on ‘march for the missing’ because there’s going to be other families there,” Aimee said. “Really this is just a time to get out as many names and faces of missing loved ones from Ohio.”

The march will take place on June 8 at noon at Hillcrest Baptist Church, located at 2480 W. Broad St. — just minutes from the home where Andy was last seen. Along with the close proximity to his home, the mother-daughter pair wanted to pick somewhere with a high amount of traffic and visibility. 

“We are the voice for the voiceless and we just want to let these people to be able to get out there and hopefully they can get some closure and that’s what our biggest desire is,” Rafferty said.

The event will start with a prayer service, then attendees will walk down Broad Street toward the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, then back to the church. After the walk is over, there will be refreshments, a table set up by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and other community outreach resources. 

Aimee and Rafferty said they are hoping to bring the community together for the event. Anyone is welcome to attend; they would like to bring as much attention to the missing as possible. 

Families with missing loved ones in the state have formed a small close-knit community for support, where everyone knows each other. Aimee and Rafferty hope the march helps bring closure to others in their position. 

They named a handful of other missing people who they are also marching for, including Carla Losey, who vanished from Columbus in 2002; Danny Fout, missing since 2019; and Brian Shaffer, missing since 2006.

“[We want] to bring the missing home,” Aimee said. “Whether it’s Andy, whether it’s Carla Losey, whether it’s Danny Fout, whether it’s Brian Shaffer. These are all humans that are missing that have vanished from the face of the earth and their families are continuing to fight, their families are continuing to try to live their lives.”

If just one person sees a sign and calls and submits a tip, they will have accomplished their goal. Living without answers is one of the hardest parts of having a missing loved one, Aimee said. 

“There’s a lot of trauma in the unknown,” Aimee said. “Any time a body is found or body parts found, it reopens the floodgates of could this be our missing loved one. If it’s not, then we feel for the family of whoever’s been discovered.”

Updates on the Andy Chapman March for the Missing can be found on Raffety and Aimee’s Facebook page dedicated to finding Andy. Anyone with information on his disappearance may contact Columbus police at 614-645-4545 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers’ anonymous tip line at 614-461-8477.