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A Sad E-mail

By DBR Archives

Sometimes we get asked to pass things on to you guys. That's the case with this very sad e-mail.

Dear Staff of dukebasketballreport.com,

I am a freshman at Indiana University writing you for a couple of reasons. Firstly, let me say that I have been a Duke fan since the tender age of four when I moved to Durham. I lived there until middle school and then moved to Bloomington, Indiana. Clearly, my allegiance has never changed from Duke blue to Hoosier red- I like to think I'm the biggest Duke fan in Bloomington, or actually all of Indiana for that matter. (So...you can imagine Duke's triumphs over IU over the past 2 years have been DELIGHTFUL for me!) I have been reading your site weekly for the past four years to keep updated on my boys.

The reason I write, however, is unfortunately a very sad one. I don't know if any of your staff have heard this in the news, but a freshman from Bloomington, who attends Purdue University, has gone missing. His name is Wade Steffey and he has been missing since Friday, January 12 when he disappeared after leaving a fraternity party on Purdue's campus. Wade is someone who was best friends with some of my close friends during my high school years in Bloomington, but I did not really know him personally. Regardless, his disappearance has affected us all deeply. Wade was last seen at 12:30am on Saturday, January 13. We have no reason to believe he left on his own free will- all the lights were left on in his dorm room, his phone and bank account have not been accessed since the day he went missing, and it is completely out of character for him to leave without notifying anyone. Wade is a straight-A student who is attending Purdue on a full-ride scholarship, majoring in aviation technology.

Over the past three weeks, extensive searches have been held in the hopes of finding Wade or any evidence that would point us in the right direction. To date there are no leads, evidence, or any sign at all of what might have happened to our friend. Therefore, to our disappointment, Wade's story has begun to fade from the news. It is critical that we get the word out nationally about Wade. With no evidence indicating his whereabouts, we have to assume he could be anywhere.

Now I come to the main point of my e-mail- to ask you if you could possibly post a link or story regarding Wade on the site. With the fear of Wade's story fading into the background due to the lack of any "new news", we are very concerned that he will be forgotten. Any small amount of coverage helps, and I know that your site has a huge amount of faithful followers and receives hundreds of  thousands of hits a week. It would mean so very much to me, and all of Wade's friends and family, if it would be possible for you to post a story about Wade. I understand that there is little connection between him and Duke University basketball, and also that you have many other stories to post during this, the height of the season, but this is a matter of such importance. Any help you might be able to offer would be GREATLY appreciated. We want more than anything to find Wade- a genuinely good, kind guy with such a bright future ahead of him.

I am including a few news links to Wade's story in case you want more information or to read further.

Thank you so much, and GO DUKE!!!!!!

Best wishes, Rachel James.

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