The family of a Fannett teen is planning a birthday memorial while they remember her one year after she went missing.
14-year-old Sharon West was last seen at her boyfriend's home in Fannett at two in the morning, a month before her 15th birthday.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office began their search for the teen that week but didn't find her remains until Oct. 28 in a field off of Highway 365, two and half miles from her friend's home.
Investigators haven't learned much about the teens death over the past year. That's because West's bones were found in the field three months after the teen went missing, and too much time passed to show a cause of death.
One year ago on July 30, the searches began for West. Her pictures with the word missing written above them hung in store fronts.
Lisa Franks was one of those community members who looked for the teen.
"They were hoping to find her, find out what happened to her, hoping to find her alive," said Franks.
Family hoped the same. Her mother sent message to the teen on 12 News HD for three months. She and her son and daughter searched the Seabreeze Soccer Field where detectives say West was when she sent her last text message.
Her bones were eventually found just down Highway 365.
"The bones were found in an advanced state of decomposition, and that caused issues determining a cause of death," said Deputy Rod Carroll with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
Deputy Carroll says there are no signs of a homicide in the case or trauma to the bones. A time of death and toxicology reports were also unable to determined because of the decomposition.
"You never know the next phone call you get someone may come forward with something we never had before, may bring some pieces of the puzzle together. It maybe one of those situations where there are no answers, not until there's some advancement in science," said Deputy Carroll.
Just outside the field where West's remains were found, family and friends have set up a cross with some of her favorite things, like an energy drink and a stuffed animal, all in her memory.
However, not knowing how west died has left West's family and the community without closure.
"it was devastating for everybody I guess because she was so young," said Franks.
Now they pass by the cross outside the field, fulfilling the words carved on it, "not forgotten."
If you have any information about Sharon West's disappearance, call Crime Stoppers at 409-833-TIPS. Up to a $1,000 reward is available for anyone can help investigators find out what happened to the teen.
