‘We Just Miss Her So Much': Vigil Held for Missing Ennis Mother Emily Wade

Emily Wade, 38, was last seen Jan. 5 leaving a friend's house: police

The community in Ennis is heartbroken and continues to pray for the return of a missing 38-year-old mother who was last seen Jan. 5 after going to watch a movie with a coworker.

The family of Emily Wade and the community attended a prayer vigil Wednesday night.

"I’m thankful for this community," Emily's mother Shirley Wade said at the vigil. "They've really come forward, stepped up and been good to us. This mean a lot to me. We just miss her so much."

Emily left a friend's house on the night of Jan. 5 and hasn't been seen since, police say.

Ennis PD
Emily Wade, 38

"There’s no sign of the car. There’s no sign and how do you hide a car?" Shirley said Wednesday. "It just doesn’t make any sense."

Shirley suspected that night that "something wasn't right," she told NBC's "Today" show. Her suspicions were confirmed the next morning when Emily missed her shift waiting tables at an Ennis Chili's restaurant.

"You really want me to be honest, I'm scared I'll never see her again alive, and I've never said that to anybody else, but I am scared to death," Shirley said.

Relatives of Emily, a Kentucky native, say it's unusual for her to be separated from her 7-year-old daughter.

"We just want her home, and every night, me and my daughter, we pray together that we are going to find her," Jared Jones, Wade's former partner and father of their daughter, told "Today." "It gets harder and harder every day to keep the hope."

Ennis Lt. Michael Hopson told NBC News Monday the investigation is ongoing and no foul play is suspected. Investigators have not ruled out any suspects, Hopson said.

"The pain is too hard. It is crushing me. It's just ripping my heart out my chest," Shirley Wade said. "I just pray constantly, I say, 'God, just give us a sign. Give us a sign, anything, a clue to where she might be.' And I pray to God that she's still alive."

Shirley told "Today" that repeated searches for Emily and the car she was driving, a 2012 Nissan Altima with Kentucky plates, have turned up no leads.

Anyone with information that can help police locate Wade is asked to call the Ennis Police Department at 972-875-4462 and ask for Det. Sgt. Rickman.

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