A candlelight vigil will be held from 7 until 10 p.m. Tuesday for Brandi Cole, who disappeared without a trace last July 7. Cole’s mother said that she won’t give up until her 18-year-old daughter is returned, no matter what the outcome.

“There is still no word from her,” said Cole’s mother, Shellie Auchtung. “Like I told you last time, it’s not expected to be good.”

Auchtung said her daughter was last seen on July 8, 2007, getting into a white, four-door, king-cab truck with a black woman and four Hispanic men in the area of Puckett Park in south Tifton. Auchtung said she and others placed missing person fliers around Tifton in hopes that information would lead to a conclusion in the case. A photograph of Cole taken by the Tift County Sheriff’s Office upon her arrest on a prior charge accompanied information sent to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at www.missingkids.com.

Auchtung said she is passing along information to investigators at the Tift County Sheriff’s Office. Some of that information is rumors that her daughter is buried in a shallow grave by a pond on a particular rural road. Auchtung said she has looked in the area for any sign of her daughter’s body.

“There are a lot of ponds on that road,” Auchtung commented. “I know something bad happened to her and I knew it that night. I have hunted for her ever since and haven’t found her.”

Cole’s 3-year-old daughter is now under Auchtung’s care.

“Her baby deserves to have somewhere to take a flower on Brandi’s birthday,” Auchtung said.

Auchtung became concerned that something dreadful had happened to her daughter when she didn’t hear from her for seven days. She said that she and her daughter had a pact called “the seven-day rule” that if her daughter didn’t contact her for seven days, Auchtung called law enforcement. Auchtung hasn’t denied that her daughter associated with a “bad crowd” of people. She’s also heard the rumor that Cole was a victim of some type of gang initiation.

Auchtung hopes someone will come forth with information about her daughter so that she and others who love her can have closure.

“Maybe someone will have some compassion,” Auchtung said. “If not for me, for her 3-year-old daughter.”

Auchtung said she believes her daughter expects her to bring her home.

“It’s an empty void inside of me and I can’t stop,” Auchtung said. “I have a yearning for her and I’ve never been away from her this long in her life. I don’t know how to stop.”

Capt. Mike Walker of the TCSO’s Investigative Division said that, over the course of the year since Cole disappeared, investigators have explored several different avenues without success.

“We come up with dead ends each time,” Walker said. “We will continue with our investigation, and anyone who has any information is encouraged to give us a call.”

Gary Gardner of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children said Wednesday that he couldn’t reveal the number or nature of calls made to the center in Cole’s case, but that all information received is forwarded to local authorities. He also said that he has been in touch regularly with those investigating Cole’s disappearance.