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Many Attend Memorial In Baltimore For Phylicia Barnes

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Relatives held a memorial in Baltimore for a North Carolina teen whose body was found in a Maryland river months after she went missing while visiting family. 

Weijia Jiang reports the memorial for Phylicia Barnes was held Saturday at Mount Pleasant Church and Ministries in Baltimore. 

Detectives reminded loved ones they are still aggressively looking for whoever took this young life away.

Hundreds celebrated the life of 16-year-old Phylicia Barnes at a memorial service Saturday morning.

Last weekend, Barnes' funeral was held in Georgia, and before that there were several vigils to say goodbye.

"I can't express how special she is. I'm not going to use the word 'was' because she's still special," said Janice Sallis, Barnes' mother.

When they were planning the memorial, Barnes' siblings said they wanted to pick a place big enough to accommodate the large crowd they were anticipating. Loved ones flew in from across the country to attend.

"Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, even though it didn't turn out the way that any of us wanted to," said Kelly Barnes, sister.

"It is often a slow and tedious process, but they spend hours and hours looking at what someone might consider minutiae, but could be very important in triggering a significant lead," said Greg Shipley, Maryland State Police.

The 16-year-old from Monroe, N.C., went missing Dec. 28.  In April, workers at the Conowingo Dam spotted her body in the Susquehanna River, an hour's drive from the Baltimore apartment where she was last seen. 

Authorities are investigating Barnes' death as a homicide, but have not released the cause of her death.

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