Burton family issues plea for info on missing daughter

Jul. 20—The family of missing Joplin woman Sarah Burton released a statement Thursday through Joplin police, once again seeking the public's help in determining what happened to the mother of two boys.

"Sarah's little boys need their mom," the statement said.

The family said the time that has passed since Sarah disappeared five years ago this past Sunday has had "a huge impact on us.

"Our family will never be the same again."

Burton, who would be 33 years old today, disappeared in the early morning hours of July 16, 2018, after a friend dropped her off at 10th Street and Rex Avenue in Joplin.

Police continue to be extremely guarded in their release of information about the case, although her mother purportedly has been receiving some details about the missing person case in monthly meetings with investigators.

Still, the situation has left family members without any sense of closure and wondering if they could have done something different, according to the family statement.

"You're always wanting to turn back time," the family said.

The family believes someone in a city the size of Joplin should know something about Burton's disappearance.

"How could one keep this information inside them and function or sleep at night knowing a family is turned upside down?" the statement read.

Police said in the news release that investigators have followed up on 150 leads in the Four-State Area over the five-year span of the cold case. A $7,000 reward offered through the department and the FBI for information leading to a resolution of the case remains on the table. But investigators continue to decline to answer questions about the case out of concern for jeopardizing an investigation that appears to be at a standstill.

The family said it wants just one thing from anyone with knowledge of what happened to Sarah: a sense of closure.

"Release this burden that's on your shoulders," the family's statement pleads. "Help put this family back together again."