New Hampshire Newsmakers of the Year 2005: Sarah and Philip Gehring Found

A story that began in tragedy more than two years ago at a Fourth of July celebration in Concord ended in December in Hudson, Ohio, with some sense of closure.

On July 4, 2003, Manuel Gehring abducted his children, 11 year old Philip and 14 year old Sarah, as they left a fireworks display in Concord. When police captured Manuel Gehring in California a week later, they learned he had killed the children and buried them somewhere in the Midwest.

Gehring gave a detailed description of the site but was unable to lead police to the area again. For over two years, Philip and Sarah's mother, Terri Knight, led an unwavering search for her children's remains, drawing support from law enforcement, the media and the public.

Terri Knight's plea inspired Stephanie Dietrich, a grocery store cashier from Akron, Ohio, who vowed to do her part to help find Sarah and Philip. While Terri Knight made trips to the area, Dietrich searched six months on her own, and then, in early December, she found herself on a remote access road. She got lost, but followed a hunch that led her to the remote site where Philip and Sarah Gehring were buried.

During the years-long search for Philip and Sarah, Terri Knight said she wanted only to give her children "a very simple, single gift: a proper burial." Terri Knight, Stephanie Dietrich, and all those who helped to fulfill that wish made for 2005 Newsmakers of the Year.