Family and friends of a young North County girl who has been missing for exactly a month plan a special event to mark the somber date.
Escondido High student Amber Dubois disappeared while walking to school on Feb.13. A candlelight vigil is planned for 6 p.m. on Friday near her school.
Amber's father, Maurice Dubois, said Thursday that Friday would be difficult for him: "There's not gonna be any chance of us not crying all day tomorrow."
Since Amber was last seen, her family has hired a private investigator, several searches of the area have been conducted and $60,000 reward has been offered for her safe return and the arrest of anybody involved in her disappearance
Despite all those efforts, investigators know little more now about her whereabouts than on the day she was last seen.
On Thursday, firefighters raised close to $10,000 with a boot drive at several major Escondido intersections. The money is going to help with the grassroots search effort being put together by Amber's parents and friends.
The firefighters said the community support was overwhelming.
"There was a lot of, 'God bless Amber,' and a lot of them told us to tell the family they're thinking about them," firefighter Ryan Vierra said.
The number of volunteers helping with the search efforts during the past three weekends was between 500 and 600 people.
