Crimes Solved Through the Power of Prayer: A Mother’s 29-Year Testimony

A mother’s testimony of grief, justice, faith, and hope after 29 years of unanswered questions

Yvonne Pointer’s story began with a mother’s deepest grief.

On December 6, 1984, her 14-year-old daughter, Gloria Pointer, was abducted, raped, and murdered on her way to Harry E. Davis Junior High School in Cleveland, Ohio.

In one unimaginable moment, Yvonne lost her daughter, her sense of safety, and the future she had pictured for the child she loved.

Gloria was not a headline to her mother. She was her daughter. She was a young girl with a name, a life, a voice, and a future. She had birthdays still to celebrate, dreams still to discover, and years her mother expected to share with her.

But Yvonne’s testimony is not only a story of tragedy. It is a story of faith tested in the fire, prayer that continued through decades of waiting, and a God who met a grieving mother in the darkest night of her life.

Yvonne had come to know Christ in 1975, years before Gloria’s murder. She had already experienced the saving power of God in her own life. She knew Him personally, not as an idea, but as the God who had rescued her, kept her, and changed her.

So when tragedy came, her faith did not disappear. It was tested in a way she had never imagined, but it did not leave her.

Yvonne knew God could help her. She knew He could keep her mind and hold her together. But she had never walked through the pain of a homicide before.

“It actually didn’t drive me away from God,” Yvonne said. “It brought me closer to God.”

When Justice Did Not Come

Then came another wound that would not close: Gloria’s case remained unsolved for 29 years.

For nearly three decades, Yvonne lived with grief that had no clean ending. There had been no arrest, no earthly justice, and no answer that could quiet the questions. She had made a commitment after Gloria’s murder that she would find out what happened to her daughter, but year after year passed without resolution.

That kind of waiting becomes part of a mother’s life. It follows her through ordinary moments. It surfaces when the house is quiet. It lies beside her at night when there is nothing left to distract from the pain.

Yvonne fasted. She prayed. She sought God. She served others. She kept asking the Lord to help her.

But the wait was long.

“I think the lowest point was with all the work that I was doing through Christ, that we still did not know,” she said.

When God Became Her Reason to Live

One night, the grief felt unbearable.

Yvonne was not talking about suicide, but she was honest about the depth of her pain. She did not want to keep living with the sorrow she carried.

She cried out to God and asked Him to come get her.

“I don’t have a reason to live,” she kept saying.

Then God answered her.

“Then I will be your reason.”

Those words did not erase the loss of Gloria. They did not remove the questions. They did not shorten the years of waiting. But they gave Yvonne something she desperately needed.

God Himself became her reason to keep living.

From that place, the Lord began giving her purpose through service to others.

“He started giving me purpose through service to others,” Yvonne said. “And I could tell you today, the service is what saved my life and gave me hope. And to this day, it is still what gives me hope.”

Yvonne could not bring Gloria back. But she could serve. She could pray. She could stand with other families whose children were missing, abused, or murdered. She could take the pain she carried and use it to offer hope to someone else.

Scripture says, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

Yvonne’s story reminds us that God does not abandon His children in the valley. He draws near, strengthens His children, and gives purpose even when life feels unbearable.

A Burden for Other Missing Children

Even as Yvonne carried the grief of Gloria’s murder, her heart remained burdened for other children and families.

The hardest part, she said, is knowing that children are still being abused, harmed, and murdered. Even after years of prayer, service, and sacrifice, the suffering of children continues. That reality remains painful to her because no child deserves to be harmed or murdered.

That burden became part of her life’s mission.

Two missing Cleveland girls, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, weighed heavily on her heart. They had been missing for 10 years, and Yvonne continued to pray for them. She knew what it meant for a family to live with unanswered questions, and she could not forget them.

Her grief did not make her turn inward. Through God’s grace, it became a calling to serve others.

A Prayer in the Middle of the Night

During those years, there were nights when Yvonne could not sleep. In the middle of the night, she would watch Inspiration Ministries. She loved hearing the testimonies and watching the programs.

When the ministry encouraged viewers to sow $58 a month and share their prayer requests, Yvonne felt compelled to respond.

She got up in the middle of the night, wrote the check, and typed out her prayer requests.

She prayed for Gloria’s case to be solved.

She prayed for Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus to be found.

This was not a casual prayer. It was the cry of a mother who had waited nearly 30 years. It was the faith of a woman who had suffered deeply and still believed God could move.

Yvonne continued to pray, continued to believe, and continued to sow into what she believed was good ground.

Her testimony is not a formula. We do not give to earn God’s answers. We give as an act of faith, worship, and partnership in the Gospel, trusting that every answer belongs to Him. God is sovereign, His timing is His own, and Scripture teaches us to pray, trust, sow in faith, and not grow weary in doing good.

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

Yvonne had every reason to give up, but by God’s grace, she did not.

After 29 Years, Breakthrough Came

In 2012, after 29 years of waiting, an arrest was made in Gloria’s case.

For Yvonne, this was more than a legal breakthrough. It was an answer to decades of prayer. It was a reminder that time does not weaken God’s power, and the passing of years does not place a situation beyond His reach.

Then another breakthrough came.

After about 10 years in captivity, Amanda Berry escaped from Ariel Castro’s Cleveland home. Her escape led to the rescue of Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight, and Berry’s young daughter, who had been born during captivity.

The cases Yvonne had carried in prayer were suddenly brought into the light.

Yvonne believes God heard and answered her prayers. She also believes her partnership with Inspiration Ministries played a meaningful role in what God did during that season.

“I just believe that we serve a miracle-working God,” she said. “The best thing about this is that He has proven Himself once again.”

Yvonne continued, “I personally believe that God did hear and answer prayer. It showed me that not only if you sow a seed, but you sow a seed in good ground, that God will hear and answer your prayer.”

She was careful to acknowledge that people may see giving and blessing differently.

“Sometimes people say, ‘Well, you don’t have to do that in order to get a blessing.’ I don’t know what you have to do,” she said. “I just know what happened.”

Those are Yvonne’s words and Yvonne’s testimony. She believes in her heart that Inspiration Ministries played a huge role in Gloria’s case being solved.

Only God fully knows all He was doing behind the scenes. But Yvonne’s story reminds us that prayer matters, faith matters, and God is able to move in ways we could never orchestrate on our own.

God Brought Purpose from Pain

Yvonne’s life did not stop with answered prayer.

Her purpose became clear: to take the pain and use it to provide hope and inspiration to others.

“I believe that as long as there’s life, there’s hope,” she said.

She pointed to the truth of Proverbs:

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12).

Yvonne knows what it is to live with hope deferred. She knows what it is to wait, grieve, pray, serve, and keep believing when answers do not come quickly. But she also knows what it is to see God bring a desire to pass after years of heartbreak.

Her testimony now speaks to others who feel hopeless.

“If I can get through that, you can too,” she said.

Yvonne’s journey even led her to death row, where she had the opportunity to meet and pray for the man who murdered her daughter. That moment does not erase the horror of what happened to Gloria. It does reveal the depth of God’s work in Yvonne’s heart and the extraordinary purpose He brought from her pain.

“My purpose in life is to provide hope to the hopeless,” she said.

Your Prayers Matter

You may be facing a situation today that feels impossible. You may have prayed for years and still be waiting for the answer. Your heart may be tired, and you may wonder whether God sees the tears no one else sees.

Yvonne’s testimony is a powerful reminder that God hears the cries of His people.

Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).

Keep praying when the answer has not yet come. Keep trusting God when the road feels long. Keep bringing your pain, your questions, and your deepest burdens to the Lord.

God is able to bring light into places that have been hidden for years. He can redeem pain, give purpose in grief, and use your life to help someone else encounter the hope of Jesus Christ.

And the greatest hope we have is found in Jesus Himself. Through His death and resurrection, He conquered sin, death, and every darkness. In Him, the brokenhearted can find forgiveness, salvation, comfort, and everlasting hope.

As you pray, you can help share that hope with others.

Your gift helps share the hope of Jesus with people who are desperate for prayer, healing, and a reason to keep going. Partner with Inspiration Ministries today at inspiration.org/rescue.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does this true crime testimony teach about the power of prayer?

Yvonne’s testimony reminds us that God hears the cries of His people. Even after years of grief and waiting, she continued to pray, trust God, serve others, and believe He could bring hidden things into the light. Her story is not a formula, but it is a powerful reminder that prayer matters.

How can prayer bring hope after grief?

Prayer brings our pain before the Lord instead of leaving us to carry it alone. Scripture says, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). God can meet us in sorrow, strengthen us in waiting, and give purpose when life feels unbearable.

How can I partner with Inspiration Ministries to share the Gospel?

You can partner with Inspiration Ministries to help share the hope of Jesus with people who are desperate for prayer, healing, and a reason to keep going. Visit inspiration.org/rescue to learn more.