Missing Persons
What is Missing Persons?
Why do they go missing?
Basic step how to find a Missing Person by yourself
What is the definition of “Missing People”?
Defining what is meant by the term ‘missing people’ is problematic: “There is certainly an implicit recognition by the police and by missing persons agencies of the problematic nature of a definition that originates with those left behind” (Biehal, Mitchell and Wade, Lost from View, 2003: 2).
The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) defines a missing person as:> “anyone whose whereabouts is unknown whatever the circumstances of disappearance. They will be considered missing until located and their well-being or otherwise established”. (ACPO, 2005: 8).
Malcolm Payne (1995) took a different approach, and defined ‘going missing’ as: “…a social situation in which a person is absent from their accustomed network of social and personal relationships to the extent that people within that network define the absence as interfering with the performance by that person of expected social responsibilities, leading to a situation in which members of the network feel obliged to search for the missing person and may institute official procedures to identify the person as missing” (Payne, 1995: 335).
There will be circumstances where a person is missing but police involvement may not be
required, ie, tracing a long lost relative. Appropriate action may be a referral to other relevant agencies that may provide assistance.
There are several typologies of missing people have been developed to try and recognize the very different types of situations in which people go missing. Missing persons can be categorised within one of the following groups:
| Categories of missing persons | |
|---|---|
| Lost Person: | this is a person who is temporarily disorientated and would wish to be found, eg, someone who as gone walking and does not know where they are; |
| Missing Person who has voluntarily gone missing: | this is someone who has control over their actions and who has decided upon a course of action, eg, wishes to leave home or commit suicide; |
| Missing Person under the influence of a third party: | someone who has gone missing against their will, eg, abduction or murder victim. |
However we will simplify to be two types of missing. :
- Missing Children
- Missing Adults
Adults make up missing persons cases as well. The main difference between missing adults and missing children is what happens. Most of the time when a child disappears, they are considered to be kidnapped. This also happens with adults, but there are also many cases of missing adults in which there is no clear-cut idea that they were taken.
Sometimes, adults are kidnapped in the same manner that children are; in these cases, there will be a suspect. However, sometimes adults simply go missing, which means that no one knows where they are. This does happen with children, but it happens more often with adults.
2.1 Missing Children
Missing Children are person less than 18 years old who disappeared. Missing Children is a child whose whereabouts are unknown to the child’s legal custodian, the circumstances of whose absence indicate that the child did not voluntarily leave the care and control of the custodian, and the taking of the child was not authorized by law. Or the child voluntarily left the care and control of the child’s legal custodian without the custodian’s consent and without intent to return. Children can be missing for a lot of different reasons. Here are a few reasons why Children go missing.
- Abduction by a Parent
Sometimes children are abducted by one parent if the courts have awarded custody to the other parent. You might have been taken to another country and you might have been told lies about the other parent. - Abduction by a Stranger
A child who has been abducted at a young age might not know they were abducted and might have been lied to. But there real parents will be searching for them. - Running Away
If children have run away from home then they are missing children and their parents and others are likely to be searching for them. - Adoption
Adopted children sometimes want to try to find there biological parents and sometimes those parents are trying to find there lost children. - Taken from Parents
Children can be taken into care if a court says the parents can’t look after them properly. Maybe children have lost contact with their family because of this and their parents and relatives may be looking for them.
2.1 Missing Adults
Missing Adults are person 18 years old or older who disappeared. Reasons for adults going missing are many and varied, voluntary and involuntary. Adults are free to choose to go missing, adults might decided to leave a relationship breakdown, or young adults who have left the family home because of conflict. However certain circumstances can make adults vulnerable to going missing. Here are a few reasons of Missing Adults.
- Abduction (of a minor) by a non-custodial parent or other relative.
- Foul Play
- A physical or developmental disability
- Mental illness : can cause someone to become lost, or they may not know how to identify themselves.
- Cognitive disorder
- Anxiety and depression
- Misadventure
- Dementia : Adults with dementia have been identified as high-risk for going missing by advocates for older adults.
- Domestic violence
- Becoming a victim of crime, murder or kidnapping : body disguised, destroyed, or hidden
- Drugs/alcohol abuse
- Human Trafficking : This trade is often under the control of criminal networks and organised criminal gangs that will use extreme violence to ensure compliance. Substantial payments made by migrants often have to be paid off in kind on arrival in the USA. If the debt is defaulted on, violence is frequently used towards the migrant or their family in their home country. They may also be forced into prostitution or domestic slavery to pay off the debt.
- Leaving home to start again in a new place under a new name
- Seizure by government officials without due process of law
- Suicide in a remote location or under an assumed name (to spare their families the suicide at home, or to allow their deaths to be eventually declared in absentia)
- Death by natural causes or accident far from home without identification.
- Disappearance in order to take advantage of better employment or living conditions elsewhere
- Sold into slavery, serfdom, sexual servitude, or other unfree labour
- To avoid discovery of a crime or apprehension by law-enforcement authorities
- Joining a cult or other “religious” organization.
- To escape domestic abuse
- To avoid war or persecution during a genocide
- To escape famine or natural disaster
For young people, family dysfunction and conflict, miscommunication, issues associated with puberty and peer pressure, mental health issues, child abuse/neglect, poor coping skills and drug and alcohol problems are amongst some of the reasons for going missing.
When a loved one goes missing, panic as well as worry sets in. Although no one wants to think about the possibility of having a loved one go missing, if the worst does happen, being prepared can drastically improve the chances of finding the missing person quickly. For parents, especially, having a toolkit is essential for peace of mind. Knowing what to do and where to turn when the worst happens is imperative. In cases where a loved one has Alzheimer’s or another condition that can mean they can get lost easily, being prepared only makes sense. There are basic steps you may find them by yourself.
1. THE FAMILY MEETING
During this time of turmoil for your family it is important to focus on a family gathering and meeting. Understanding all you can about the recent demeanor of the missing can preface the investigation into the right forward steps to determining a theory and potentially locating the family member. Rather than running mindlessly in erratic directions and calling all the wrong people I want to help you focus on the proper direction of the investigation.
Profiling the missing person first provides law enforcement and your family much needed guidance. When a family member goes missing the entire family should draw together for a meeting. The IMMEDIATE meeting should involve open conversations about any recent communication each family member may have had with the missing family member. This important IMMEDIATE meeting could take place over the phone or in a family setting in person. You may access a number of free conference call websites (www.freeconferencecall.com) that could be setup where the entire family could access and connect by web or telephone.
FAMILY MEETING QUESTIONS TO CONFRONT
The missing persons siblings should discuss the following questions in the meeting:
- Did the missing person have any problems recently with paying off debt or having several problems with debt from recent years?
- Were there any drug or alcohol addictions?
- Did the missing person have any problems with a recent breakup from his/her partner
- Has the missing person ever been diagnosed with any sort of mental illness such as Depression, Schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, dementia, or Alzheimer’s disease?
- Has the missing person ever been a victim of domestic violence, a victim of crime such as burglary or robbery, rape, human trafficking, or any other sexual offense?
- Had the missing person had any recent problems at the workplace such as violence with a co-worker, disagreements with supervisors or co-workers, or recently been terminated?
- Has the missing person ever been diagnosed by as homicidal or suicidal?
- Does the missing person have any criminal history, specifically drug trafficking, human trafficking, or felony offenses?
- In recent month has the missing person discussed to family members if they were thinking of taking a long trip. If so, where and for how long.
- Has the missing person recently met anyone online or on the street abruptly? This is especially important for teenage girls and young women whom could be a potential victim for being lured into human trafficking in the US or even on a travel abroad trip.
- What family member talks to the missing person most frequently and how frequent?
2. THE DECISION TO FILE A MISSING PERSONS REPORT
After discussing the questions above and determining if the lack of communication from the missing person is uncommon behavior then this warrants a call to law enforcement and filing a missing persons report.
CONTACTING LAW ENFORCEMENT
The family must contact the law enforcement agency logistically in accordance to the last location in which the person was either living, vacationing, or visiting. Be sure to inform the on-duty officer taking the report that this is erratic and unusual behavior of the missing person. Be sure to have information ready for law enforcement such as
- The missing persons information such as
- SSN
- DOB
- Accurate Physical Description such things as
- Height
- Weight
- Hair color
- Eye color
- Tattoos
- Last known clothing that was worn at time of disappearance
- Prepare a list of friends, associates, employment information
- Other pertinent information for law enforcement
Also see more detail how to file a police report
3. YOUR OWN AMBER ALERT FOR YOUR MISSING FAMILY MEMBER
Guessing if law enforcement will get involved and assist your family is a complicated and sometime social justice issue. If your family member is an adult then law enforcement will hopefully assess it properly for you and understand that Kristen’s Law requires law enforcement to enter the subject in their NCIC database. However, your family should not rely completely on law enforcement. Here are some preliminary investigative tasks that require phone calls:
- Jails in the area
- Psychiatric Units at Hospitals and Private Facilities in the area
- Hotels in the area
- Friends and Associates nationwide
- Transportation depots such airlines, bus routes, taxi services, and train rail or subway system.
- Homeless shelters in the area
Contacting the above will assist your family in the preliminary stages of the investigation covering emergency facilities such as hospitals and unfortunate arrests or possible commitments to psychiatric units. Hotels and homeless shelters are vital sources for searching when there are NO suspicions of foul play. A number of people homeless are suffering from bi-polar or schizophrenia and simply cannot make accurate judgments without their medication.
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PLEASE KEEP THIS POSTING ON YOUR PAGE FOR YOUR FRIENDS AND OR FANS!!!!!! PLEASE JOIN OUR NEW PAGE ” THE VOICE FOR THE MISSING” ITS A GROUP PAGE. OUR GOAL IS TO CHANGE THE WAY WE HANDLE MISSING PEOPLE. PLEASE go to Faith Hills facebook page and ask her to watch Michelle’s video with the song “COME HOME” BY FAITH HILL, DO THIS FOR MICHELLE AND HER FAMILY. LETS SHOW THE LOVE AND SUPPORT TO ALL MISSING PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD. Its a new day and one we hope will bring us closer to finding Michelle Parker, Mother of 3, missing since 11/17/11. As you have read many times here we need an ARMY of us, to back the changes I think will help when someone goes MISSING. Without at lest half a million of us wanting the changes. I don’t think our Government will listen to us. 1) We need to be told of someone missing right away (not hours later, 48 in some places) 2) we need to have face book tell us right away in the area it has happen 3) we need our cell phone to let us know someone is missing 4) We need the signs on our highways, that tell us something is happening. To have a blinking light about 1/4 mile ahead of the alert. So we can slow down and read it. I’m asking you if you believe these changes MUST BE MADE for the good of all of us, PLEASE HELP. We need to be ” THE VOICE FOR THE MISSING”!!!!!! I want to put together a Woodstock type event this year for the MISSING. With your help we can make this happen. I’m BLOCKED for 30 days by facebook and can’t ask you to my friends list fb calls what I’m doing “SPAM”. If they took the time to read we are looking for the mother of 3 children that need her home. YOU MUST ASK ME TO BE YOUR FRIEND. PLEASE JOIN ME AT Frank Mic on facebook. THANK YOU FOR READING THIS ALERT. We need DONATIONS of any kind, so if you can help PLEASE let me know! THANK YOU!!!!!! WE ALSO NEED DONATIONS OF ANY KIND. THANK YOU FOR READING!!!!!!!!!!!We are having a Bike Run for, “THE VOICE FOR THE MISSING”, on the 4th of March at Surf Side Tavern, 2225 S. Ridgewood Ave S. Daytona, Fl. We could use Any kind of DONATIONS!!! I would like to get a car, boat and a bike as Donations, They would be used at many events and given away at the Woodstock type event. I know I DREAM HIGH!!!! But it could be done and those who can gave are willing!!!!!!
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stephany holder 39 yrs old missing since 12-10-2010 last known place provena hospital in champaign il please help
my sister is a 39 yr old white female strawberry blonde hair blue eyes 5’6″ average wait 150 – 165 lbs she has not been seen or spoken 2 by family or friends since december 10th 2010 her last post on facebook was december 12th 2010 her name is stephany and she was a truck driver with a serios illness i dont even no where 2 start 2 file a missing persons report due 2 lack of stable housing due 2 truckin please help or offer any info on how 2 make a report of her missing thank u
Chris Jewel, age 37, from Pottsville, Ar., Oct 29th, 2010 went missing after dropping his daughter off at school and has not been seen since. Please help this family.
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