The Squeaky Wheel Tour for Missing Persons

On October 17, 2000, Regina Marie Bos, a 40-year-old mother of three, performed during an open mic at Duggan’s Pub, a neighborhood saloon near her home in Lincoln, Nebraska. Her Saturn was parked across the street. Known as Gina, Bos left Duggan’s at closing time, stowed her guitar case in the trunk of her car, and then disappeared without a trace. Gina Bos was neither seen nor heard from again.

Finding out what became of Bos would turn into a life’s cause for her sister, Jannel Rap. After Lincoln police and private investigators failed to turn up any clues, Rap founded a nonprofit and named it the GINA for Missing Persons FOUNDation in honor of her sister.

“In the past ten years,” says Del Mar Heights singer-songwriter James Morris, “411GINA has worked with the families of missing people, local law enforcement, and music artists to help find 500 missing people.”

Morris is 15 and a sophomore at Cathedral Catholic High School in Carmel Valley. To date, he has performed at house parties, Soma, and the San Diego County Fair. “I play a lot of charity shows. I’m hoping to expand that.” He met Jannel Rap last year at a music-industry convention in Las Vegas.

There, he learned about the GINA annual fundraiser called the Squeaky Wheel Tour. This year, it kicks off in San Diego. Morris says the venue is undecided as yet but that he will be a part of the tour.

“During the Squeaky Wheel Tour, we bring all the missing people to attention that families and law enforcement have asked us to work on.” Morris says that tour artists “adopt” a missing person and talk about them onstage. He says the cause resonates with him because teenagers are the largest demographic of missing people. “As a high school student, it was horrific to watch the tragedies of Chelsea King and Amber Dubois unfold. I remember seeing Amber’s grandfather every day at church for the longest time. I hope my efforts can help prevent more tragedies like these from occurring.”

In the past, the Squeaky Wheel Tour has gotten a hand from national touring acts (“Maroon 5 has helped us out several times,” says Jannel Rap), and the outreach, Rap says, has become global as musicians around the world in various countries have taken on the cause. “This year is different,” Rap says, as she is kicking off the Year of the Squeaky Wheel in recognition of the tenth anniversary of her sister’s disappearance. More information about the coming tour can be found at 411GINA.org.