The Blumhorst family never had the opportunity to mourn the loss of Veronica. While everyone who knew Veronica and the police all knew her permanent disappearance was against her own will and foul play was involved, she is legally classified as an "Endangered Missing Adult". This has proven to be a difficult path to navigate. 

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The lack of evidence indicating a crime happened at the garage and the lack of a body put the family in a unique position. While the families of murder victims have certain rights as victim representatives in a homicide case, the families of the missing are not considered victims under the law. Veronica was a legal adult and had every right to simply walk away without saying a word and there would be no legal repercussions. There is no body to prove a crime has been committed, therefore no crime occurred legally.

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The mental anguish that the Blumhorst's endured was almost unbearable at times and the resources in the community for events such as these were lacking severely. When Todd moved to Tucson, Arizona in September of 2001 he found the grief and pain followed him some 1200 miles. He found a support group for families of murder victims and decided he would try them out since that was the closest to relief he could find. He noticed that when he would tell his story in the past, people would physically shudder and often change the subject or make insensitive comments. When he shared his story at the Homicide Survivors support group, he noticed that the people there listened intently without interrupting. The director at the time looked at him and for the first time he heard someone say to him, "I can relate to that". Gail Leland was the woman who said this to him and had founded Homicide Survivors in 1982. Her son was murdered in 1981; he had been missing for several months before a portion of his skull was found and his belt. This group became a regular occurrence for Todd and his healing that had been halted for 11 years began to process. 



Throughout the decades, the Blumhorst's struggled to come to terms with what had happened to Veronica. Their grief was deep and unprocessed since there has never been true confirmation that Veronica was deceased. There was never a funeral for Veronica which always added to the grief. The Blumhorst family was caught in a limbo state of grief, unable to process their pain.

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In early 2010, Todd started the Facebook page: Remember Veronica Jill Blumhorst. It was his intent to have a place for those who loved Veronica. He had been on Facebook for some time and when he found friends who knew Veronica, she would always be brought up in conversation. He decided to start a Facebook memorial page for her for people to discuss her disappearance. He expected that maybe her family and some friends would join this group. By the end of the first live day of her site, there were 100+ people requesting to join and within 2 months were at approximately 1200 people in the group. It was within this group that the concept for a memorial service for Veronica. 



After discussing it with his parents, who gave their blessing, Todd began planning a memorial service for his sister. He was reading posts on her Facebook page and old cards from when Veronica disappeared of well wishes and prayers. He noticed a very common theme within these messages; the people of Mendota had been forever changed and their grief was deep as well.

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Many comments were made to the effect that parents clutched their children more after she disappeared and safety became a huge concern. Todd saw a need for more than just a memorial service for the family and the community. He wanted to give back a little to the community that gave them so much love and support over the decades. He began to envision a safety fair to give the community access to resources available to them in case they may need a myriad of services from agencies in and around Mendota. He began setting out plans from his home in Arizona for the event. He soon had a name for the event, the Veronica Blumhorst memorial Expo for a Safer Community began to take form.

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After months of planning, the Veronica Blumhorst memorial Expo for a Safer Community and subsequent memorial service were to become a reality, this is the result...