WARREN, Pa. — In the Town of Warren, PA., no days were darker than those nine.
Helicopters swarmed overhead, over 200 law enforcement agents scouring the town in search of one man — leaving its 9,000 residents desperately looking for answers.
But lucky for them, in this digital age, one group provided a beacon of hope.
Kayla Chambers, Heather Houston, and Skylar Saxton were just three of the eight moderators that helped run the Facebook page, Michael Burham On The Run Coverage.
“You could just feel that he would get captured at any moment,” Saxton said. “We wanted people to know if he was or what was going on.”
Saxton’s cousin Cameron started the group and recruited a handful of other admins to help monitor the group. Making an effort to fact-check each post, the group would post news articles, police updates, and photos from various search locations in an effort to keep the community informed while always encouraging residents to go directly to authorities with any leads.
“We could tell that people in the community were fearful, obviously,” Chambers said. “We just wanted to make sure everything was accurate that was going out.”
The group has amassed 19,000 followers, no longer just serving the Western Pennsylvania area but the entire globe with members from as far as New Zealand.
“We are all beginners. We are all just normal people,” Saxton said. “It's different. You just didn't expect it.”
But perhaps their proudest achievement was offering a place for the Warren community in its darkest times.
“Even as a group, we found a little bit of comfort in each other,” Houston said.
With the weight now off their shoulders, no days are lighter than the ones they have ahead.
The group’s admins say they plan to continue monitoring posts throughout the trial of Burham and hope the platform can continue to provide a space for Warren residents and those following the story across the globe.