Antinette “Toni” Keller’s memorial, located near a Prairie Park trail behind DeKalb Elks Club, 209 S. Annie Glidden Road, no longer features the towering sunflower planted in her memory.

According to an Oct. 24, 2010, Northern Star article, Keller disappeared Oct. 14, 2010. She told her friends she was going to Prairie Park.

Her burned remains were found in the park days later. In honor of Keller, sunflowers were planted in the area, including in Prairie Park.

However, someone has destroyed one of Keller’s sunflowers, which had been taken care of by several locals.

Every Thursday for the past year, Thelma Holderness, administrator of the Keller support page Summoning of Yellow, would stop by and clean up the site.

Holderness said she was at the memorial on Aug. 23 and the next day the plant was gone.

Stephanie Barringer, manager at the DeKalb Elks Club, said when she saw the flower was gone she was devastated.

“My heart sank, and I was mad that someone would do that,” Barringer said. “It was a nice memorial and it was blooming beautifully.”

Over the summer, Holderness would water the flowers on her way to work as a floor janitor for Neptune West. She said caring for the plant was a community effort to help the sunflower survive the hot summer.

“When I first heard it, there was a part of me that wasn’t really surprised,” Holderness said.

She thought it was a cruel act from someone unaware of its significance.

“My first thought was that there were some new kids in town checking out the park and people don’t know what the sunflowers have come to mean, but I was heartsick,” Holderness said.

“Toni doesn’t need to be forgotten,” Holderness said. “She was a part of our community, this trial’s not over, this is not in the past.”

William Curl is currently being charged with sexual assault, arson and first-degree murder in relation to Keller’s death.