Vigil to mark 20 years of vanished son

Journal Staff WriterThe family of William ?Billy? Cordes will mark the 20th anniversary of his disappearance with a candlelight vigil March 30, 2004.Billy, who would now be 35 years old, was last seen in Auburn March 30, 1984. His sister Julie Lightfoot-Cordes said the family held out hope for a long time that Cordes would be found.Whether Billy ran away, was taken or met with foul play has never been determined.?We can?t have a memorial,? Lightfoot-Cordes said. ?We wanted to mark the anniversary somehow.?The candlelight vigil will be held at 1450 Oakridge Way, Auburn at 6 p.m. March 30, the last place Billy was seen.Lorrie Lewis of the Placer County Sheriff?s Office Missing Persons Department said exactly what happened to Billy remains a mystery. Lewis said the case is still being investigated.Lewis said the department would like to solve the case. ?We work on it daily,? Lewis said. There were conflicting stories about that night, although Lewis couldn?t elaborate because of the investigation is ongoing.She said Billy was a resident of El Dorado County at the time he was placed into the Oakridge Group home in Auburn by El Dorado County Probation. The Oakridge Group home is now an adult care facility. Billy?s mother Marge Cordes said her son became a ward of the court after stealing ?about $8 worth of beer from the Ostrich House in Placerville.? ?Cordes and two or three other boys from the home snuck out of the home, allegedly to go to a party,? Lewis said. She said one story is that on the way back from the party the boys? car ran out of gas. ?At this point they split up ? but we don?t know why,? Lewis said. ?The other boys returned to Oakridge Home the following day. Billy was not with them.? Lewis said the location of the party has never been determined.Billy?s then-girlfriend, Terry Bennett, now 36, said she received a phone call from him the night of his disappearance.?He called and broke up with me,? said Bennett, who now lives in Arkansas. ?He sounded upset.?She said she has no idea what could have happened to Billy. ?I wish I knew where he was,? she said. ?Not a single word after 20 years.?Bennett said it is possible that Billy is no longer alive. ?If he was (alive), and he did run away, he would probably show up after he turned 18,? she said.Lightfoot-Cordes, who was 16 years old at the time of her brother?s disappearance, said the two were very close.?We had the same friends, we knew he same people,? Lightfoot-Cordes said. ? I was devastated ? he was my brother.?Lightfoot-Cordes believes that law enforcement did not put enough effort into finding her brother at the time.?Police didn?t follow up right away. They had better things to do than look for a runaway ? that was their theory,? Lightfoot-Cordes said.She and her brother Kevin Cordes, 28, have their own theory as to what happened to their brother.Both believe the boys that were with Billy the night of the alleged party had something to do with his disappearance.?I think those boys were involved,? Lightfoot-Cordes said. ?Something happened.? The other boys, now grown, were not available for comment.Kevin Cordes was only 8 years old when his brother disappeared. He said his memories of that time center around the toll it has taken on his family.?About five years after Billy disappeared my Mom woke us up in the middle of the night saying Billy was at the door,? Cordes said. ?She was dreaming he had come home.?