On the morning of March 12, 1998, eight-year-old Jamal Holloway climbed onto his school bus in the quiet town of Marcusville, Alabama.
As the bus pulled away from Sycamore Lane, he looked back through the dusty window and gave his mother, Dawn Holloway, a cheerful double thumbs-up.
It was the last time she would see her son for nearly three decades.






