Searching for Summer: A Solved But Unresolved Missing Persons Case

Summer Alexis Shipp never went anywhere without a cup of coffee in her hands. When her friends found her car that day, they were not surprised to see her mug locked in the car. And they really weren't too surprised she had gone missing, since she was so beautifully innocent and naively trusting. They had all worried about her door-to-door marketing job and the research that took her to some dangerous neighborhoods. When they found her coffee cup but no trace of Summer, her family and scores of friends went into action, combing the city in a search for clues to give police. They organized a media blitz that included billboards, signs on taxis and appearances on nationally syndicated television shows like Nancy Grace and America's Most Wanted. The search for Summer Shipp captured the attention of an entire city-indeed a nation. Until it didn't. Until Summer's case went cold.

This is the true story of a loving daughter's relentless determination to find her mother and to bring her justice. This true-crime tale outlines the agonizing search for a body, the eventual discovery of her remains and the trial of her accused murderer almost a decade afterwards. In preserving the essence of Summer Shipp's beautiful personality, this true story seeks to cement her memory in the minds of those who loved her as well as those who never met her.

Longtime newspaper editor and publisher, Anne Spry began publishing books for clients even before she left the newspaper world. She has dedicated the rest of her life to helping others recall and record the highlights of their lives. She facilitates memoir groups, does developmental editing and consulting with clients through her company, Personal Chapters LLC. Anne also operates a small publishing house with more than two dozen published works for clients, from autobiographies and memoir to illustrated children's books. She collaborated with Brandy Shipp Rogge to write and publish Searching for Summer as a way to memorialize her mother's tragic murder. Spry is also working on two memoirs of her own, after publishing "Letters from Home: A Newspaper Column and a Memoir," which includes mostly humorous personal columns she wrote while publishing her weekly newspaper.