TAMPA, Fla. — It was an early start Tuesday for crime survivors in Tampa.

 Two dozen people boarded a bus just after 4 a.m., en route to Tallahassee. 

They are joining as many as 500 others from across Florida for a rally in support of more resources for crime victims and their families.

The group has seen significant success with legislators in recent years, but one mother who lost her son to violence says the work is far from over.

Darla Saunders has spent her last 18 years fighting for crime survivors.

Her life changed when her teen son was killed.

That unimaginable loss today fuels her work to support crime survivors, while at the same time honoring her son’s life.

Saunders watched her son live out his childhood, but at 18 he was suddenly gone. No goodbyes and no answers.

“When this first happened I was just really, how do you say, shocked, angry, looking for whoever,” Saunders said. “(I) didn’t know who I was looking for. I was just driving around all times of night.”

It’s been a long, desperate road for Saunders, but most would never know. Her son Isiah’s murder is still unsolved and that has led her to speak out about resources families of victims often don’t receive.

 “All those years, we really never really got the real, I believe, the mental support that we actually needed to actually heal,” she said.

Saunders has pushed on. 

She’s obtained her private detective’s license and found purpose through Advocates For Safer Communities, Inc.

It’s a self-funded, non-profit her family established to provide the assistance crime survivors need that she never got.

“A situation that nobody wants to be in, but they need the help, they need services. You just can’t get through it on your own,” she said.

From paid time off at work, to an overhaul of Florida’s probation system, Saunders has a list of successes she has helped bring about for families of victims.

She’s hoping to add to that list Tuesday in Tallahassee.

“Helping others is what helps me to be able to not forget, but to be able to put myself aside just a little bit so that I can help somebody else,” she said.

Saunders’ non-profit partners with the national organization Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice.

This year, the group is asking legislators for funding for a trauma recovery center in Jacksonville, more leniency for technical violations of Florida probation laws and the sealing of court records for non-violent offenders, giving them a better shot to get back on their feet.