The family is selling t-shirts to raise money for their daughter Holly to use as she chooses, if and when she is found alive. So far, over $30,000 has been made from t-shirt sales. The t-shirt company says they get 300 to 500 calls a day from people wanting to buy them. Although two local media sources state that the proceeds from the sale of t-shirts will go to the reward fund, local TV station WREG's account differs. Here is an exact quote from a woman who spoke to Karen Bobo, Holly's mom, which tells a different story:

QUOTE

T-shirts bearing the favorite scripture of Holly's mother were sold for the Holly Bobo Fund.

The proceeds are not going to the reward fund, but to Holly herself.

D'Lynn Burton, a close family friend and neighbor, helped sell the shirts. Her mother asked me. When Holly comes home, she wants her to have some money so she can go on a vacation, or just treat herself to anything she wants.

END QUOTE

(source: "Holly Bobo: Friday Search Updated, 04/22/11, WREG News Channel 3, Memphis, TN)

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This is a red flag to the public and to the authorities that something is not right and to take a closer look at the family.

This is reminiscent from two British false abduction report cases:

Madeleine McCann was a three-year-old at the time she was on vacation with her family in Portugal in May 2007, when her parents immediately stated they knew she was abducted, even though they had left her and her younger siblings alone in their rental apartment while they dined at a nearby restaurant, and she was missing when they returned. They immediately set up a Madeleine Fund, selling wristbands and t-shirts, and accepting donations--equalling over 2 million British pounds (and likely much more), while planning long-range fundraising activities, at a time when she had only been missing a short while. Kate and Gerry McCann are still "free" even though physical evidence gained early on in the investigation pointed to her death in the family's apartment. They had the protection of the UK government with the enforced cooperation of Portugal's government and the use of the UK media to distort the truth. It is believed by some that well-connected pedophiles, including one of the family's friends who traveled with them to Portugal may be involved with whatever happened to Madeleine. It's quite a story. Many people, including the original investigator who had been removed from the case when he started to get too close to the truth, are still attempting to bring justice to little Madeleine, who has not yet been found. Read more at McCannfiles dot com, Joana Morais's blog, and the Madeleine Foundation website. The truth is more complicated, convoluted, and astonishing than the most masterful crime story ever written.

Next: Shannon Matthews's case

Following up on my previous comment just made:

Too many family members report false abductions that then turn out to be a coverup for the death of their relative or a hoax to just take people at their word. Do a search for false abduction or false disappearance and you'll get to read many such examples.

If Holly's family wants to personally give her something if and when she is found, that's wonderful. But starting a Holly Fund to collect money from other people to give to Holly if she returns? That's distasteful and a red flag to the authorities and to the public that there may be something very wrong here.

Shannon Matthews, a 8-year-old British girl, allegedly disappeared on the way home from school, months after the Madeleine McCann "abduction." Three weeks later she was found alive. Mum and her boyfriend's uncle had stashed her at his place, raising money from the public. They watched the Madeleine McCann case and wanted to get in on raising money for themselves from the public. They're both serving 8-year sentences in prison now. It cost over 3 million British pounds in tax dollars for the intensive search for the missing girl.