A GoFundMe page has been created to help pay for funeral expenses and support the daughter of Missy Bockes, the Sanford woman found dead in her home on Lee Avenue on Jan. 5.
Sanford Police found the 48-year-old Missouri native’s body in her home on Jan. 5, the victim of a homicide. An Amber Alert was issued for 3-year-old Riley Bockes, who police believed was taken from the home by her father, Brent James Bockes, who is also the lone suspect in his wife’s murder.
Brent Bockes was apprehended by sheriff’s deputies in Murfreesboro, Tenn. at about 9 p.m. on Jan. 5, hours after the alert was issued. The deputies responded to an accident on I-24, and after running the plates of Bockes’ burgundy Toyota, searched the area for the suspect. Bockes fled to a nearby Select Inn Motel, where police arrested him as he descended a stairwell while holding his daughter.
Riley Bockes was reported physically unharmed — deputies posted a photo of her that evening wrapped in blankets on a couch and eating a slice of pizza at the sheriff’s office.
According to the GoFundMe page, Missy Bockes’ family is asking for help “to pay for the funeral expenses and to support Riley in whatever she may need in the future.” As of Jan. 13, more than $8,000 had been raised, with a goal set for $15,000. In addition to Riley, Bockes is mother to two adult children — a daughter living in Bennett and a son living in Lexington.
Missy Bockes will be laid to rest on Friday at Putnam Friends Church in Carthage. Donations can be made to HAVEN in Lee County, an organization for victims of domestic violence or abuse, in Missy’s name.
Brent Bockes remains jailed on charges of first-degree murder, in addition to larceny of a motor vehicle.
Please make sure you copy the link and share it on your social media. If you can’t give, share it so others can. This child is going to grow up with no mother and a father in prison. We can help make her journey a little easier.