For four years, Jackie Stansbury and her family have clung to hope there would be news of her sister Shonda's fate.

Four years of Christmas presents for Shonda and her children have been collected because the family hasn't given up, Jackie said at the Thelma Boat Landing today as a new lead sent divers to the waters of Roanoke Rapids Lake.

"It's been four years," Jackie said. "We want to put an end to wondering and looking. It's been unreal. You think it can never happen, that no one can drop off the face of the world and nobody know anything, but apparently it can. I wish she had never left on her own."

Christmas is particularly tough, Jackie said. "It's been hard. Presents have piled up for four years for her and her kids because we haven't ever given up."

Closure, Jackie said, is important. "Whatever happens, it's better to know than not know. You look at every car that passes and every person walking on the street."

Divers prepare for entry into the water.

Roanoke Rapids Police Department Captain Andy Jackson said the collection of divers from the Gaston and Roanoke Wildwood volunteer fire departments and the Roanoke Valley Rescue Squad, along with Davie Volunteer Fire Department, was the result of a new lead in the case.

It is a lead that could be linked to a report four years ago on December 14, 2006, a woman gave that evening that she saw a naked woman near Information Grocery fleeing from two men. It is the first lead that puts Shonda in the water and required the use of divers.

While Jackson declined to elaborate, he said, "We go where the leads take us."

Foul play can not be ruled out, he said. "We have to look at the possibility something sinister happened. Since 2006 her social security number has not been used. She has not run into law enforcement. No one just disappears off the face of the earth."

Detective James Matthews of the Halifax County Sheriff's Office would only say he was at the boat landing to assist the police department and the divers, something Jackson said has been done since the first day of the case.

Stansbury

Four years ago, she was reported missing around 10:15 a.m. on December 14 by her mother and a woman driving near Information Grocery saw a naked woman matching her description fleeing from two men.

Since then there have been few sightings of Shonda, a mother of three who was trying to shake a drug addiction and alcohol problem so she could devote more time to her family.

The police department has contacted agencies who can check on whether a Social Security number has been used across the United States, used for welfare or in search of lawful employment. Her number has not been used since she was missing.

Her mother reported to police she hadn’t seen or heard from her daughter since December 7, at 1 p.m.

The initial investigation showed the woman was dropped off that day at Westside Grocery around 6 a.m.

Officers checked the places she was known to frequent: The 900 block of Vance Street, Zoo Road, Great Falls Circle.

The last known sighting of her was before December 12, when she visited friends at Great Falls Trailer Park on West Tenth Street. She was asked to leave December 9 because she overstayed her welcome.

Late on the evening of December 14 a woman using a cell phone called 911 saying she saw Shonda running behind Information Grocery. She said it appeared the woman had blood on her face while chased by two black males.

The caller said she did not intervene for fear of her own life. Searches for the woman were done over the next two years.

One of the men the caller saw was approximately 5 feet, 8 inches tall with dark skin. He was wearing a ball cap and was possibly bald. He had big arms and a stocky build and was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt and believed to be between 28 to 32 years old.

The other man was described as standing approximately 5 feet, 6 inches tall with a medium build and light skin. He wore his hair in dreadlocks and may have been wearing Timberland boots, jeans with patches on them and an oversize button-down shirt, possibly brown or light brown.

Shonda is 5 feet, 5 inches tall, and weighs approximately 120 pounds. She has brown hair and blue eyes and was last seen wearing a gray blouse, blue jeans and a blue West Coast Choppers jacket. She has a tattoo of a rose on her chest and a heart tattoo on her ankle with her daughter's name.

Anyone with information on the case is encouraged to call Detective Jeff Baggett at 252-533-2819 or Halifax County Crimestoppers at 252-583-4444.