STURGIS, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - A mystery still hangs over the community of Sturgis, the question of what happened to a little girl who disappeared more than ten years ago.

Brittney Beers went missing in September of 1997 and was never heard from again, the case is still open, but solving it seems just as difficult now as it did eleven years ago.

It has been over a decade and the Sturgis Police are still working on the case of Brittney Beers who seemingly vanished without a trace, it's a mystery that still resonates in this community.

At Lowrys' Bookstore in Sturgis, Sheila Kuhbarder and her coworker remember the disappearance of Brittney Beers, even after ten plus years.

"I know it's been a while, but I didn't know it had been that long," said Kathy Barnes.

They remember the story of a little girl who was walking out on a roadside only to vanish. Kuhbarder remembers a friend who went out with others to look for Brittney that mid-September.

"It was very hard because this one particular person went out for three days looking for her,' Kuhbarder said.

It was a huge search, people trudged through fields and helicopters buzzed overhead, but nothing was found.

The case grabbed headlines, and ten years to the day of her disappearance, Dixie Beers pleaded for help finding her sister, even telling people to look for someone with her face, since an older Brittney would bear a striking resemblance.

"I take it kind of personally," said Detective Sgt. Geoffrey Smith. "I was working that night when it happened, it's one of those things that doesn't happen here."

Detective Smith says tips are still coming in.

"Right now we're close to 1,000 tips from when she initially went missing," Detective Smith said.

But some those tips have led police to girls that look like Brittney, not Brittney herself, while other tips don't produce any clues to help crack the case. It's a mystery made even more difficult since nobody saw anything that happened to Brittney.

"Once the last person can confirm seeing her that day, we've had nothing else," said Detective Smith, "we've had tips from people who believe they've seen her, but nothing substantial we can follow up on."

Detective Smith says the missing persons case is still a high priority, even a decade later.

"We want to be as optimistic as we can and say that she is still alive, everything is OK except she's not where she's supposed to be" Detective Smith said, "but eleven years is a long time for someone not to be seen."

Eleven years is a long time, and someone's old memories, or even images of a much older Brittney, might be the only things left to solve the mystery.

"It still crosses everybody's mind whatever really happened," Sheila Kuhbarder said, "but it's something we wish we could get solved."

The Sturgis Police are still asking anyone who may have information on Brittney Beers' disappearance to contact them.