STEPHENSON COUNTY, Ill. (WTVO) — Melissa Trumpy, 37, left work in Monticell, Wisconsin on Tuesday, October 26th on her way to her boyfriend’s house in Shannon. Her car was found abandoned near Pearl City on Wednesday.

Her family says they are feeling defeated, saying it’s still unclear to them how Melissa’s car got to Stephenson County, or where she could be now.

“No matter what happened to her, just help us bring her home,” pleaded Mandy Mboge, Melissa’s sister. “She was too good of a person to be out [left here]… She was way too good of a person to be dealt with like that.”

Melissa’s boyfriend was arrested on October 27th on what police say are charges unrelated to her disappearance, and he has not been named as a person of interest in the case.

Gia Wright, the president of the Missing Persons Awareness Network, says she is assisting the family in searching Carroll and Stephenson County.

“This should make you angry, because one of these days, one of you guys, at least, will have somebody that’s missing and this is what you will want for you,” Wright said of the search effort. “Which means that you need to come together and reach out for one person you don’t know.”

Wright says it is critical to find Melissa before winter and snow obscures her trail.

Mboge said, “We’re getting to the point where we just want to bring her home and we don’t know how to, is what we feel like.”

“As a community, we have to be more responsible for our people. She was not from here, but she went missing here,” she said.

The family is holding a candlelight vigil in Shannon tonight.

Anyone with information, or who would like to help search for Trumpy, can contact the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, (815) 244-2635 or contact the Missing Persons Awareness Network.