Lelia Faulkner’s mother still looking for answers in daughter’s disappearance

TROY, Ala. (WSFA) – Six years ago, Lelia Faulkner left her family’s home in Troy never to be seen again. It was July 4, 2016, a day her mother, Susan Faulkner vividly remembers.

“She was at home with us that day and somebody come picked her up that night,” Susan Faulkner said. “We don’t know who it was…and she just never came home.”

At the time, Lelia, and her daughter Madison, were living with her parents. She’d just moved back in after a bad breakup. She was 29 at the time, her daughter was 8. Her mother assumed Leila was out with friends but when days passed and no activity on social media and no bank account activity, she feared something sinister happened. They filed a report with the Pike County Sheriff’s Office and the investigation began. Some of the first questions they tried to answer were: where did Leila go? Who was she with?

“Not knowing what happened is so hard,” Susan Faulkner said. “It’s like living a nightmare every day”.

Susan and her family have billboards all over Pike County with Lelia’s face and information on them. She’s also been vocal on social media and says that they have new leads in the case. But, still no arrests and no answers. Recently, someone vandalized the billboards, stabbing them with knives. Susan thinks someone was sending a message to her family and she doesn’t believe her daughter is still alive.

“We want to know what happened and maybe someone come across the sign, and they know something. Even a small piece of information can make a big difference in the case,” she said, “and if someone killed Lelia, we need closure. Her daughter needs closure”.

Lelia’s daughter is a teenager now and is navigating high school. She misses her mother.

“Other kids don’t understand what it likes growing up without your mom,” Susan Faulkner said. “It’s hard for her, it’s hard for all of us”.

Anyone with information on Lelia Faulkner’s disappearance is asked to contact the Pike County Sheriff’s Office at 334-566-4347.

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