HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — 870 days ago, a Warner Robins mother got a phone call from her son who was checking on her.
That was the last time Connie Wallace heard from her boy, Dustin Randy Wallace.
She reported he was missing nearly a month later, on Sept. 2, 2021.
This upcoming Monday marks the third Christmas Dustin missed with his family.
Connie says she sits by her front window every morning "hoping to see [her] baby walk up to the door."
"I usually sit on the couch every morning, and I look out that window because I have a birdhouse out there," she said. "I look for cardinals, because I know that's God's sign of saying, 'I have an angel watching over you.'"
Cardinals are a symbol of hope for Christians, like Connie.
"God's sayin', letting me know, that my son's okay," mom said.
Connie says she started seeing multiple cardinals come by her window about a month ago.
Since then, "it's been about a week or so I'd seen just one red cardinal," she said.
Dustin was last seen around the area of General Courtney Hodges Boulevard in Perry, according to the Houston County Sheriff's Office.
"We're treating this as though Dustin is still alive and he's somewhere," Lt. Matt Moulton said.
Moulton said there are no leads in the case that would indicate his investigators need to treat Dustin's case as a homicide as opposed to a missing person.
"We just don't know where he's at, but we're actively searching for him every day," Moulton said.
While they search, Connie feels the pain every day.
"It's a pain a mother can't even describe," Connie said. "I can't give my son an actual burial service. I can't go visit him. I can't even hear his voice. I can't touch him, I can't give him his hug."
The lights Connie decked in her home help motivate her to keep going and searching for her lost son.
"That's why I fixed him up a little memorial and decorated the house," she said.
"We won't stop looking for Dustin," Moulton said. "Ever."
The Houston County District Attorney's office is offering a $5,000 reward for any leads in the case.
If you have any information about Dustin's whereabouts, you can reach out to Sgt. John Kamens at the Houston County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division at 478-542-2085; Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 478-742-2330 or 1-877-68CRIME; or the Houston County District Attorney's Office at 478-218-4810.