SPANAWAY, WA — Chris Virdell disappeared February 9, 2012. He was 18 and had just graduated from Bethel High School the previous year. He had spent the night with some friends. It was around 9:30 a.m. and he was going to catch the bus to work, but he never got there. The only thing that was ever found was his Safeway badge at Owens Beach in Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park.

The search continues. His family prints missing person flyers. They talk to people with scent dogs and psychics, anything that might lend some clues. They are distraught. It seems like the wheels of justice and the Sheriff’s Department just don’t seem to move quickly enough. Waiting and not knowing is the toughest thing for any parent.

To help get the word out about Chris, the family holds fund-raisers. Today, September 1, 2013, they are having a car wash from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Kelly’s Kafé on 163rd Street and Pacific Avenue in Spanaway.

Come out, get your car cleaned and help Paul and Melanie Virdell find their son.