Hope still alive for Amber Kirwan

More than three weeks after she was last seen, Amber Kirwan’s disappearance is still the talk of the town in New Glasgow.

Posters are up in nearly every shop window and even in cars and trucks as the search continues for the young woman,  last seen at a pool hall early on October 9.

Residents continue to turn over theories about what happened to Kirwan and how they can help bring her home.

One group of young women strolling along the sidewalks in New Glasgow on Tuesday say they can’t stop thinking about Kirwan – and praying for her family.

“I feel for the family, I really do, and I hope she returns home safe,” said Kenda. “I can’t imagine being without my daughter for more than 24 hours, it’s crazy.”

The trio say the disappearance is disturbing because it could have happened to any of them.

“I was at Dooly’s that night,” Jasmine told News 95.7. “I left at 12. It’s a busy road, that’s a busy bar. That could have been anybody.”

Amber was last seen leaving the pool hall around 1 a.m. on Oct. 9. She walked to a nearby convenience store where she had planned to meet her boyfriend for a ride home.

The boyfriend told police she wasn’t there when he arrived.

Jasmine, who is 19, says she left Dooly’s about an hour before Kirwan and also walked home alone. She says the case has been devastating for everyone in the town.

“Three weeks is way too long,” she said. “Way, way, way too long for not a phone call, an email, something. It’s way too long.”

“Pictou County is such a small area,” said Nicole. “For somebody not to have seen something is very hard,” she said.

Glen Freeman says if anything good has come out of the case, it’s that young people like Jasmine are more aware of safety practices.

“You live in a small town your whole life, you know practically everybody and everybody just assumes everything’s hunky-dory, you think nothing of going out walking at two or three in the morning,” she said. “But it’s making them think, which is good.”

Amber’s photo is on missing person’s posters plastering telephone poles and shop windows throughout the town and in towns across the province.

On Tuesday, Amber’s parents held a brief press conference appealing for information and their daughter’s return.

Her mother spoke for about two minutes and was accompanied by her husband.

She used the time to deliver a prepared statement about her daughter’s character, on behalf of the family.

“The only way to describe Amber is sweet and innocent. She’s not only beautiful on the outside, she’s beautiful on the inside,” said Marjorie Kirwan. “We’re very proud parents. Amber’s family, boyfriend and friends mean the world to her.”

She ended by pleading for anyone who knows anything about Amber’s disappearance to come forward and contact police or Crime Stoppers.

CrimeStoppers can be reached at 1-800-222-8477.