The former dental assistant has just faced another cruel blow. Yorke's fiance Kieron Lang, "the love of her life", and Gospel's dad, died five weeks ago.
The concrete layer was killed in a car crash on his way home from work. Yorke, Gospel and Lang's parents had just landed in Brisbane for a holiday when the news broke.
"When my cousin phoned me I thought he'd just fallen off his bike. But 10 minutes later she said, 'He's gone.' I didn't believe it. I was numb."
Kieron Lang was killed in a crash five weeks ago.
Yorke met Lang three years ago. She was a dental assistant and he owned a concreting business. Gospel, now 18 months old, was their "surprise" baby.
"I have never experienced the level of love I did with him.
"We had an honest relationship - it might have been short but it was real. He was an amazing dad.
"I was lucky to have an understanding partner who brought me out of my shell. He helped me be more confident in who I am."
Her mother, a 25-year-old single mum to Joseph, then 7, and Shannel, 3, was last seen in the early hours of the morning of October 22, 1992, at a packing shed on a Matapihi orchard south of Mt Maunganui.
Judy Yorke, who was "dainty, outgoing and generous", left behind few clues.
The night she went missing she was carrying a purse with a bankbook and her daughter's birth certificate inside. Those items have never been recovered.
Shannel Yorke with her daughter Gospel. Photo / Alan Gibson
Yorke's family thought her mother had gone off with friends, but they contacted police a week later when she failed to show up for her daughter's fourth birthday on October 28.
Speaking to the Herald on Sunday as the 25th anniversary of her mother's disappearance nears, Yorke says she is not a "hater" and she's not seeking revenge, but she wants the perpetrators "to face up to what they did".
"They have to live with what they did every day so they are probably suffering more than I am.
"I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing I killed someone. I hope they would do the right thing but I doubt they will," she said from her Te Puke home.
Yorke and her family believe they know who is responsible for her mother's disappearance.
Police confirmed to the Herald on Sunday they are reviewing the case to see if new advances in forensics can help.
"We have always had suspects and we always believed someone from the party was involved. The general consensus is she was killed at the party and disposed of later on," said inquiry head Detective Senior Sergeant John Wilson of the Bay of Plenty CIB.
Wilson added: "The key to this case is time has passed, people who may have had allegiances to the people involved in the disappearance and murder may have changed. "My hope is someone will do the right thing and come forward to tell us what they know."
Gospel is a chip off her father's block. "She's a busybody and adventurous - the three of us loved kayaking, camping and biscuiting," said Yorke.
"Every night we look at videos of Kieron and I tell Gospel, 'Your dad was an amazing man, your dad loved you'."
