With 248 people missing in Wisconsin, a local organization continues to bring awareness

BROWN COUNTY (WLUK) -- The month of April is Wisconsin's Missing Persons Awareness Month.

People gathered at the Brown County Sheriffs office on Saturday to bring awareness to the 248 people currently missing in Wisconsin.

"My mom went missing 10 years ago on April 25th, 2013. When my family was going through that we didn't have a lot of resources, we didn't know where to turn," says President and Founder of Wisconsin Missing Persons Advocacy, Marsha Loritz.

Loritz is the daughter of Victoria Prokopovitz.

Loritz's stepfather was convicted for murder two years ago, but her mother's body still hasn't been found.

Loritz founded the Wisconsin Missing Persons Advocacy group, which put on this event.

"I wrote to the governor asking for a missing persons awareness day, and he granted a missing persons awareness month and that was in 2015," says Loritz.

Many other organizations came to show how they support the missing, one of them being Wisconsin K-9 SOS.

"We're a 100% volunteer organization and we provide assistance to local law enforcement and fire entities that are looking to find missing people...we do that both looking for live people...as well as providing cadaver dogs or human remains dogs," says K9 Handler, Craig Kubiak.

Kubiak says there is no better feeling than being with a dog that finds a missing person.

"We were able to assist the Milwaukee Police Department in helping to locate a three-month-old baby that was kidnapped...Riggs was able to trail on the scent of the baby that was carried away and we were able to find the front yard of the house that the baby was in," says Kubiak.

Other than to provide information and raise money, Loritz says she wants those who have a missing loved one to feel supported.

"It's important for them to feel the support from our community to know their loved one hasn't been forgotten," says Loritz.

Parents attending Saturday's event were able to leave with a free child identification card for each of their children courtesy of the organization.