BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — It’s been 18 years since Yolanda Bindics first went missing in Jamestown. Her remains were found two years later in a wooded area in the Town of Charlotte.
No one has ever been charged with her murder.
Since that time, her sister Margaret Queen and the entire family have never rested.
Queen wrote about her experiences over 18 years in a new memoir called The Silent Conviction.
“18 years later, and many attempts to address the conflict of interest, my concern finally fell on listening ears,” Queen wrote. “Another prayer was answered. The Sheriff who all along had jurisdiction over Yolanda’s homicide case formed a cold case unit.”
The words written by Queen about Bindics’ murder come straight from 18 years' worth of pain, waiting, hoping, and praying.
“This tragedy found its way into my life, but inspired by my faith, my hope was restored,” she said.
After new investigators took over the case in 2022, renewed hope spilled through the Bindics family. Queen, saying she felt then was the time to put her and her family's experiences to paper.
Queen says she wanted Bindics to be remembered for more than just a mother of four.
“There’s more to Yolanda than being a mother of four,” she said. “That was a significant part of her life, but she was a sister, best friend, aunt, daughter.”
Throughout the book, Queen takes us through Yolanda’s story, from childhood growing up in Buffalo to the time of her disappearance. Along the way, she shares the raw gutting emotion of losing a sister and best friend.
“It’s broken us as a family,” she said. “God has given us the strength to get through every day.”
When explaining why she titled the non-fiction story The Silent Conviction, she said, “So many people have silently convicted her killer without there being an arrest or being heard by the court.”
When asked how she ended the book with no conviction yet, Queen had this to say: “Much less throughout the years, I have gathered and learned that the persons of interest—one there were a lot of things didn’t make sense for one of them, whereas the other one- he couldn’t even stand the mention of her name, and that’s how I ended it.”
While she plans more books, Queen’s next chapter could reveal a conclusion.
“There’s always hope,” she said.
The Silent Conviction is available on Amazon.
