Missing women’s families seek help in years-old cases

Karen Phillips had hoped she wouldn’t have to attend another news conference for her daughter’s birthday.

Phillips’ daughter, Kierra Coles, has been missing for five years. On Sunday, her daughter’s 31st birthday, Phillips, 52, gathered with family and others whose loved ones have disappeared to ask again for the public’s support as well as that of police and law enforcement in finding her child.

“As the years go on, it gets harder and harder,” Phillips said.

[ As due dates pass, families ask for help finding missing Chicago women who are pregnant ]

Coles, a U.S. postal worker, went missing Oct. 2, 2018, near her apartment at 81st Street and Vernon Avenue in Chatham. Her mother reported her missing after she went two days without hearing from her daughter, with whom she ordinarily talked every day.

At the time of her disappearance, Coles was three months…