ANDERSON, S.C. (WSPA) – On June 6th of 2015 one-year-old Leonna Wright disappeared. Eight years later the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, family, and community members gathered in her honor.

“I don’t believe it was a disappearance,” Sheriff of Anderson County Chad McBride said. “I know exactly what happened to her and I think we all do.”

Leonna Wright was reported missing from the Edgewood Square Apartments in Pendleton around 9:30 am, the morning of June 6th.

Two men were charged with her disappearance in July of 2020, Travis and Donnie Jones.

A magistrate judge later dismissed the case against the two men in a preliminary hearing, saying there was insufficient probable cause to move forward.

“The person or persons responsible for Leonna Wright’s disappearance are going to know,  if they don’t know anything else, they are going to eventually pay for it,” Community advocate Traci Fant said. “You got my word on that. Like I told her mom when she was sitting there crying, you got my word we are going to get justice for Leonna. I am never going to give up on it.”

The Sheriff’s Office says they are committed to seeking justice in this case and encourage those who may know something to speak up.

“The two people we feel are responsible for Leonna’s death, we feel they are not the type to keep their mouths shut,” McBride said. “I think there are some people out there, I would say at least probably a couple of people that have information that they need to get to us.”

Fant tells us Leonna’s case represents all children across the state who are currently missing.

“I think God that many of them are found, however today there are about 88-90 missing children in South Carolina,” Fant said.

This morning, eight years after her disappearance a bust of Leonna was unveiled. Those in attendance tell us it’s a way to honor and remember her life.

“If you would have told me then that we would be eight years out still with no answers I wouldn’t have believed you,” Fant said. “I always felt in my heart that we would find Leonna. I always felt in my heart that people knew more than they said. I always felt in my heart the unfairness that her family went through.”

Over the past few years both the Anderson and Pendleton communities tell us they have proclaimed June 6th as Leonna Wright Day of Awareness.