News & Record (Greensboro, NC)
September 19, 2010 Sunday
Wife seeks closure with missing mate
GREENSBORO - From time to time, Tonie Broadaway pulls out her old telephone and listens to her voice mail.
The messages are 4 1/2 years old. The sounds are her husband, Steve, the last time she heard from him.
She misses him - so much that she can't bear to hear certain songs on the radio and she keeps his hairbrush, a strand of hair still attached.
Steve Broadaway disappeared Feb. 15, 2006.
"There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about him," she said. "To have someone ripped out of your life - that's tough. It's been an emotional roller coaster."
Steve Broadaway, 45, vanished late that night after he reportedly walked out of the now-closed Becky's Bar and Grill in the 2700 block of North Church Street north of Cone Boulevard. He had been drinking after visiting a friend at Moses Cone Hospital.
Tonie Broadaway dropped him off at the hospital that afternoon. She was supposed to pick him up after she made a quick trip to Reidsville.
She believes he was mad that she didn't get back quickly enough. According to messages he left for her, he decided to walk north on Church Street.
Tonie Broadaway couldn't find him. She went to their Browns Summit home and figured he would call when he was ready.
"I was giving him time to cool off," she said. "I knew he couldn't get far on the $20 he had on him. I figured he would be fine."
When he didn't come home and couldn't be reached, she reported him missing to police.
Greensboro police have investigated, but the leads have gone nowhere. No crime scene has been found to investigate. There are only a few witness accounts from people who recalled seeing him at the bar.
There's not enough evidence to suggest foul play, according to Detective Tim Parrish.
Police have canvassed the area, sent divers into nearby lakes and followed up on several leads throughout the region, but they continue to come up empty. So have searches by the Broadaways' friends and family.
"We have had lots of information come in over the past few years of things that could have happened, and we have responded to them the best we could," Parrish said. "It's frustrating. You do everything you can."
Parrish said all possibilities remain open as to what may have happened. Investigators continue to follow any leads they receive. When an unidentified body or remains are found, they consider him.
"The bad thing is, we don't know if something has happened to him," Parrish said. "We don't know if a death has occurred. We don't have a (crime) scene. We have no forensic evidence to work with."
Tonie Broadaway said she's realistic about her husband's fate.
"My thinking is that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and something happened," she said.
"He will be found. I hope that they can tell what happened to him and there will be enough to tell who did it to him. We want closure."
Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or
ryan.seals@news-record.com WANT TO HELP?
Steve Broadaway is described as a white man,
5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing 155 at the time of his disappearance. He was last seen wearing a green flannel shirt, a T-shirt, jeans, a light color baseball cap and work boots.
Anyone with information about his disappearance is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 373-1000. Callers remain anonymous and are eligible for cash rewards.
Steve Broadaway disappeared in 2006, but police have no solid leads in the case.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:1266600392&start=5http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/broadaway_steve.htmlcan't copy.....will look for another photo
