and terrence woods jr., who went missing last october.f you each can tell me about your missing -- your loved ones. >> well, my daughter unique, i definitely miss her jovial attitude. she always could just walk in a room and brighten up the room, and she kept me laughing even when i didn't want to laugh. >> keeshae. she was 21 when she went missing. but she was still my baby. she's the one that we used to have movie nights and she'd lay up in the bed with me and we'd watch movies and eat popcorn. >> as a child, 8-year-old normal child, her laughter, her playfulness, she was very beautiful. >> i'll have dreams about christian, and in these dreams i'll be boo-hooing and crying in my dream, but then i'll wake one that same feeling of sorrow and no physical tears are coming out. >> my son terrence, he was my best friend. this just recently happened. every christmas he would put up the christmas tree. so this christmas it was like really different. he was with 11 other people, but he's the only one that went missing without a physical trace. l

terrence woods jr., who went missing last october. >> a lot of people get the misunderstanding that wemmediately get help from the police department. that's not the case. >> reporter: but there's a small ray of hope shining on the horizon at the national center for missing and exploited children. they're bringing in representatives from local law enforcement and the news departments in the d.c. area to point these differences out. >> we've initiated a minority children initiative here to examine that very question. those large-scale searches in our experience have been predominantly for caucasian children. reasons that we don't always understand. >> reporter: paula hill shares this determined optimism. she and her other two children have submitted dna samples to a national registry praying for a match. >> i still have hope that one day i'm going to find my child. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm steve osunsami in washington. >> incredible, important work by steve osunsami. so much time and effort has gone into that piece. i saw an email from a year ago when steve told me he was workin