45 years have passed since 14-year-old Deanie Peters vanished, but her memory endures in the lives of those who knew her and loved her. For her younger brother William, just 6 years old when his sister disappeared, her absence has been a defining presence throughout his life.
A childhood shaped by tragedy
On Feb. 5, 1981, Deanie had gone to watch William’s wrestling practice at Forest Hills Central Middle School. It was a day that shaped his childhood.
“Gen Xers, my age, in our 50s now, they talk about being latchkey kids, and that just wasn’t me, that wasn’t the reality I lived in the 80s,” William Peters said. “It was always a where are you? When are you coming home? And you know, no, I couldn’t ride my bike in town with my friends.”
The impact carried on into William’s adulthood and fatherhood…