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Local woman searching for mom after 25 years of separation

A local woman has turned to Facebook to help find the mother she hasn’t seen in 25 years.

It's been 25 years since Amanda Rottman last saw her mom, Cheri Jo Allan.

Rottman was 10 years old when she last saw her mom in 1989.  Her father, James Watson, got sole custody of her then, and he moved Amanda to Illinois from Chattanooga, Tennesee.

Amanda Rottman is now 35, living in Coal Valley, and searching for her mother.

"I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my mom and she said that my dad was going to come get me. Then that next day, he picked me up from school and we left," Rottman said as she wiped tears from her face.

Today, Rottman is on a mission.

"I want to find her. I want to find my mother," Rottman said.

Every day, she gets closer to that possibility.

In the fall of 2013, Rottman was notified by her cousin, Lori Bull, that she had two 18-year-old half-sisters in Georgia.

"I didn't even know I had sisters. It's unbelievable that she had more children that I didn't even know about," Rottman added.

Days later, she drove down to Georgia and met her sisters for the first time.

"We talk every day now," Rottman said with a smile.

But, with progress comes setbacks.

"It's been crazy," said Lee Rottman, Amanda's husband. "Everything seems like a dead end."

Rottman's family members say they have hired a private investigator to help them find her mom. The family asks if you have any information to contact them via Facebook.

This is the link to the Facebook page, "Help us locate Amanda's mom Cheri Jo".

 

 

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