Missing & Unidentified Statistics
An astounding 2,300 Americans are reported missing every day, including both adults and children. This is six times the average daily amount of missing person reports recorded in 1984. However, only approximately 100 of those reports are stereotypical abductions or kidnappings by a stranger.
For example, the federal government counted 840,279 missing persons cases in 2001. All but about 50,000 were juveniles, classified as anyone younger than 18.
The National Center for Missing Adults, based in Phoenix, consistently tracks about 48,000 “active cases,” says president Kym Pasqualini, although that number has been bumped up by nearly 11,000 reports of persons missing after this year’s hurricanes.
In a phone interview, Pasqualini said a breakdown of the 48,000 cases reveals the democratic nature of America’s missing persons.
Slightly more than half—about 25,500—of the missing are men. About four out of 10 missing adults are white, three of 10 black and two of 10 Latino. statistics
Among missing adults, about one-sixth have psychiatric problems. Young men, people with drug or alcohol addictions and elderly citizens suffering from dementia make up other significant subgroups of missing adults.
About half of the roughly 800,000 missing juvenile cases in 2001 involved runaways, and another 200,000 were classified as family abductions related to domestic or custody disputes.
Only about 100 of the missing children reports each year fit the profile of a stereotypical abduction by a stranger or vague acquaintance.
Two-thirds of those victims are ages 12 to 17, and among those eight out of 10 are white females, according to a Justice Department study. Nearly 90 percent of the abductors are men, and they sexually assault their victims in half of the cases.
To further complicate categorization of cases, the FBI designates some missing-person incidents—both adult and juvenile—that seem most dire as “endangered” or “involuntary.”
For example, the agency deemed Taylor Behl, the 17-year-old college student missing in Richmond, Virginia, endangered.
Photo of Taylor Behl
More than 100,000 missing persons, the vast majority of them children, are designated as endangered each year. About 30,000 are deemed involuntary.
“The words ‘missing child’ call to mind tragic and frightening kidnappings reported in the national news. But a child can be missing for many reasons, and the problem of missing children is far more complex than the headlines suggest. Getting a clear picture of how many children become missing—and why—is an important step in addressing the problem.” Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
800,000 Missing Kids? Really? According to a 2002 study, 797,500 people under 18 were reported missing in a one-year period. Of those cases, 203,900 were family abductions, 58,200 were non-family abductions, 115 were “stereotypical kidnappings,” defined as “a non-family abduction perpetrated by a slight acquaintance or stranger in which a child is detained overnight, transported at least 50 miles, held for ransom or abducted with the intent to keep the child permanently, or killed.” These include: Over-staying a visit with a non-custodial parent qualifying as a family abduction. Some missing children have multiple entries in the database due to multiple disappearances on different occasions resulting in misleading statistics.
Out of Sight — A child’s chances of being abducted by a stranger are rare, and kidnapping ending in murder is rarer. There is one child abduction murder for every 10,000 reports of missing children, according to the Attorney General of Washington state. Parents feel children should be warned about “stranger danger,” but also fear scaring them and the greatest threat to a child is a family member or friend.
The media’s fixation with pretty white girls who become victims is so prevalent that the concept has been coined the “The Missing White Girl Syndrome.” Girls of a certain image receive disproportionate media play while missing and exploited minority children never make it beyond the local media and are soon forgotten. The Missing Pretty Girl Syndrome. Why do so many people seem to care so much more about beautiful missing white girls from privileged backgrounds than economically deprived children of all races and backgrounds.If you’re missing, it helps to be young, white and female, the legendary Damsel in Distress .
National Estimates of Children Missing Involuntarily or for Benign Reasons .
Federal Resources on Missing and Exploited Children:
The Jacob Wetterling Foundation– Protecting Children from sexual exploitation and abduction.
When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide
What About Me? Coping With the Abduction of a Brother or Sister (Guide)
Family Resource Guide on International Parental Kidnapping,
AMBER Alert: Best Practices Guide for Public Information Officers,
Amber Alerts interrupt radio and television stations regularly scheduled programming to notify the public that a child has been kidnapped. Since 95% of all people in cars listen to the radio, this is an effective way of disseminating information..The rules of use of the Amber Alerts vary, but the criteria for activation usually includes:
- A predefined age;
- Law enforcement believes a kidnapping occurred;
- An agency believes the child is at high risk of serious bodily harm.
Since the late 1970s there have been reports of children of former members of the Children of God, The Family, and The Family Internationalbeing abducted and moved to other countries to keep them from parents, law enforcement and child welfare from finding them.
Missing Person’s & Unidentified Remains: The Nation’s Silent Natural Disaster
→ If you ask most Americans about a mass disaster, they’re likely to think of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Hurricane Katrina, or the Southeast Asian tsunami. Very few people—including law enforcement officials—would think of the number of missing persons and unidentified human remains in our Nation as a crisis. It is, however, what experts call “a mass disaster over time.”
The facts are sobering. On any given day, there are as many as 100,000 active missing persons cases in the United States. Every year, tens of thousands of people vanish under suspicious circumstances. Viewed over a 20-year period, the number of missing persons can be estimated in the hundreds of thousands.
Due in part to sheer volume, missing persons and unidentified human remains cases are a tremendous challenge to State and local law enforcement agencies. The workload for these agencies is staggering: More than 40,000 sets of human remains that cannot be identified through conventional means are held in the evidence rooms of medical examiners throughout the country. But only 6,000 of these cases—15 percent—have been entered into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database.
Efforts to solve missing persons cases are further hindered because many cities and counties continue to bury unidentified remains without attempting to collect DNA samples. And many labs that are willing to make the effort may not be equipped to perform DNA analysis of human remains, especially when the samples are old or degraded.
Compounding this problem is the fact that many of the Nation’s 17,000 law enforcement agencies don’t know about their State’s missing persons clearinghouse or the four Federal databases—NCIC, National Crime Information Center; CODIS(mp), Combined DNA Index System for Missing Persons; IAFIS, Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System; and ViCAP, Violent Criminal Apprehension Program—which can be invaluable tools in a missing person investigation. (See sidebar, “The Federal Databases and What They Do.”) Even in jurisdictions that are familiar with the State and Federal databases, some officials say they have neither the time nor the resources to enter missing persons and unidentified human remains data into the systems.
Click here to continue reading Missing persons and unidentified remains: The Nation’s Natural Disaster written/edited by Nancy Ritter from the National Institute of Justice and Editor of the NIJ Journal.
Below is a message and resources published by John Walsh Host of America’s Most Wanted (AMW) and The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)
AMW Logo
If Your Child is Missing
Act IMMEDIATELY. Read more here or call 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
A Message from John Walsh
Pictured: John Walsh
When my son Adam was murdered, I began my journey through an America that I wish I knew nothing about. An America where adults do appalling things to children. Back in 1981 when Adam was abducted, there weren’t any resources for endangered children and their families. My wife Revé and I had no idea what to do. In an instant, our lives were turned completely upside down. We just began beating on doors asking for help. We called anyone and everyone. It felt as if we were in charge of the investigation. While we feared for our son’s safety, we were also angry at the system that was supposed to protect our son and help us.
Adam’s abduction was our private hell — but it was not an isolated incident. Life is an obstacle course for children in America today. Sadly, stranger abduction cases are just the tip of the iceberg. Physical and psychological violence and abuse, abduction, molestation, and sexual exploitation are all overwhelming in magnitude yet largely unrecognized and underreported
NCMEC Logo
From the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
With viewers’ help America’s Most Wanted has helped reunite abducted children with their parents and put lots of perverts behind bars. But we’re only on TV for 1 hour a week. NCMEC is there 24/7. Since 1984, they’ve handled 2.5 million calls, assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 157,720 children. Their Cyber Tipline has handled more than 1,075,400 reports of child sexual exploitation.
What to do If Your Child Is Missing
Information about International Abduction
Where to Report Child Sexual Exploitation
Child-Sexual-Exploitation State Resources
Learn about Keeping Your Child Safer
Learn about how to stay safer online with the NetSmartzWorkshop
You Can Make a Difference
NCMEC was established in 1984 as a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization to provide services nationwide for families and professionals in the prevention of abducted, endangered, and sexually exploited children.
Other resources:
- The Doe Network – Missing and unidentified database
- The Charlie Project – TCP provides the public with thousands of cold cases for both missing, and unidentified people
- NAMPN – North America Missing Persons Network (similar to the Doe Network)
- NamUs – Large database of missing and unidentified people
- FBI Missing People – List of cases being investigated by Federal Bureauof Investigation
- WIKI; List of Missing People – A list of missing persons by date
- Been On The Look Out For – A list of missing people by state
- Missing Persons Of America – A non-profit website which details stories of missing people in America
- UK Missing People – A United Kingdom based website for missing people
21 responses to “Missing & Unidentified Statistics”
Tere Ryder
December 17th, 2013 at 14:02
Thank you for this site and your work We have shameful statistics in this country.
Tere Ryder
Edmonds, Washington
sagedoyle
April 5th, 2014 at 18:03
I’ve been watching the television series “Disappeared” and one of the episodes featured Kara Kopetsky. I’ve been curious about some updates about these cases, and she happened to be the first I looked up, which is how I found this site. It seems that nothing much has been updated since 2013 on this blog, but I was wondering if there are any posts that would be benefited by my reblogging on one of my blogs, the poetry one. I have over 3,000 followers. Let me know if there’s anything like that, that I can do to help.
torrie
June 9th, 2014 at 20:38
Hello I have a question about a possible missing child from the state of indiana possibly around the year of 1976 … I’ve looked and looked on any reports of a 1&1/2 yr old to a 2 yr old little girl abducted by her babysitters man and woman and the case has gone cold obviously … can someone help me find out where to look for pictures of little girls missing with photo inhancement
recorded webinars
September 4th, 2014 at 16:19
After looking over a number of the articles on your web site,
I truly appreciate your technique of writing a blog.
I book-marked it to my bookmark site list and will be checking back in the near future.
Please visit my website as well and let me know how you feel.
http://jimenezynim.wordpress.com/
September 12th, 2014 at 04:54
Having read this I thought it was extremely informative.
I appreciate you finding the time and effort to put this information together.
I once again find myself personally spending way too much time both reading and leaving comments.
But so what, it was still worthwhile!
Vicki Lynn McEntire
September 18th, 2014 at 06:02
please help me find my brothers remains, …. I was not allowed to report him missing until one year passed (I knew he was missing), … a year later I report him missing, and even though I kept telling them he was last heard from Tennessee, I was asked to look at Amarillo Texas bodies(photos),…I knew he was not here, but cooperated, then the new investigator bragged about how he found them all,…..closed the case in Ama TX., and never forwarded anything to Tennessee, MO, or Ill. There is a reconstruction of a skull that I just knew was him….part of the jaw was gone…..although my mother and I have submitted dna, it was not possible to get off the remains (partial skull)…it was ruled out to be my brother, but my gut instinct still says it is him! (806) 622~9376 Thanks , Vicki McEntire
Gary Montoya
September 20th, 2014 at 23:36
Corpse found around 1985 on Jicarilla reservation area looking for info
Kia Bible
January 20th, 2015 at 02:38
A good friend of mine Ashley heart is in pain!! Melissa Eagleshield (Her Mother), 42, disappeared at around 7:30 p.m. Sunday Oct. 5th 2014 from a residence on a private road off of County Road 126 south of Island Lake, Mn. We are at a stand still and are looking for as much help as we can get!!
The search area, several square miles in size, is also in difficult terrain and there have been few leads. We had a track leading to an area that would be roughly west of the area. It came up to a beaver pond type area. And that’s the last place the tracking dog had any scent. The search would most likely continue in the area as authorities do not have information that would lead them elsewhere.
If you have any information leading to Melissa “Mitzi” Eagleshield’s disappearance, you’re asked to call the Becker County Sheriff’s Office at 218-847-2661.
denise
February 2nd, 2015 at 23:43
Could my husband been a missing child? We do not find any birth records and we have no way of tracking it. His mother died 30 years ago we do not know what his real last name was. Did his real father know about him? Where do we turn now
torrie Mayfield
February 3rd, 2015 at 08:09
If your husband is to believe himself as a missing child and has exausted all leads into a birth certificate the next step is to go to your local sherriffs dept and ask to have a dna test done and then submitted into the national data base of missing and exploited children … tell them he believes he is a missing person with no memory of how he came to be where he is now … hope this helps
letsfindthem
February 3rd, 2015 at 13:26
Hi Denise, he does have a SSN, Birth Cert, ID or anything? How did he make it threw life without these things? That is unusual.
Hank Ferguson
February 21st, 2015 at 12:57
Florida Missing Adults Day 2015,
held at Jacksonville City Hall on February 20th, 2015.
Event photos online
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10204675849074888&type=1&l=bd7644e7
angiemamac65@aol.com
March 6th, 2015 at 11:07
HELLO JUST FOUND OUT AND OLD FRIEND HAS BEEN MISSING SINCE 1998 WELL KNOWN BASKETBALL PLAYER LAST SEEN PUERTO RICO … ANGEL {MONCH} CRUZ HELP US FIND HIM…
Brendsa
May 19th, 2015 at 19:20
I am looking for my children’s father.His name is Brain Allen Arnold and is from NW TN.My daughter heard fro him in 2011 and he supposively was on the streets in stats of WA.
Terrie
August 18th, 2015 at 04:58
I was wondering if there is a law that all unidentified bodies must have DNA taken and put into a registry. I watched a TV show about a man in Chicago whose body was found and he was matched to his family when they gave their DNA thinking he may have been one of the bodies found under Gacy’s house.
Joseph Godron Cleveland
March 22nd, 2016 at 23:55
There been lost of red flags ever since i meet melissea D lincow and there been all of red flags ever snice 2011. snice you started America most Wanted snice 1984. And well i have to admitted i dont know who i really am but my brith cerificated is one case that might be and inserted to you from Provdenice Saint Joseph hospital in burbank calforina It said Jose Carbajal jr born on March 26 1984 Father Name Jose Carbajal born in mexico Age 31 singed the next day “Parent or informant” on march ,27 1984 Maria de los angeles chang the on April 6 1984 the doctor singed with name address medical id number with all information with the counter that i die on April 6 1984 so i believe this the bottom and started of your careers it turn out snice i been in out of treatment center and also a cerificted subtances abuse doctor from icdc college van nuys ca there like i mention too many red flag and by centro de admista my therpist Nacy mecha was my therpist for almost 2 years and the frist time i meet her i was there by mistake cause soical services la county 211 gave me the wrong address and well i me and my therpist were in the shock of our lives surpized that the only computer and it seem it doesnt show anywhere expect at the mental heath office services in the city of san fernando calforina it said “Jose Carbajal jr ss# 616017772 reciving ssi benfits reciving home therpy” i am very arware that federal didnt take in to affect until 1989. so me and my therpist play it smart we just contiune with one on one therpy just to see what happends. regarless what the computer say. druing the 90’s i drop out of high school to became a subtances abuse counsler snice back then it wasnt required to have a high school diploma to join and paticapited in soical services by time i grauated from icdc college alcohol and drug counseling was the “black market” of the department of soical services. And there in fact federal shamsha 18888277180 records from northrige hospital and dbsa depression support allenices and also where my son was born on April 16 2003 as Anthony Joseph Ruiz and her sister Janet jesus Ruiz and me as Jose carbajal jr were all postive for meth but the doctor or one called dcfs in fact i even me and his mom brought him home from the hospital also Sabrina Medina is my widow sister-in-law and my only brother rest in pecae had a wrongful death which i personally had to agure and deal with over 11 dectives in the state of hawaii wikkie until 1 dective told me the truth anyways as you could tell that i know too much and i believe i know so much law enforcement and soical services keep leaving me to isolated in fact it seems lapd and sheirff department are even going out of there way to pay people and have them signed not to talk to me and documents saying i been undercover snice 2011 maybe you could figure out what really going on snice my brith cerificated wasnt even vaild unitl la county clreak offices certificate this brith cerificated until 2012 but thru ancestry i found that i was a perfect macth for 33 us president and General Rondal Wilson Regan and maria de los angles chang 2 of her family members forgein hollywood star from the goverment of hong kong china were i believe involed in cbs stuidos were Wilson before he was a president he was a hollywood moive star and my mom 2 hollywood star were here in 1984 and both of those hollywood forgein stars went back to the government of hong kong china as jehova witness maybe who know maybe one wilson and one out 2 of my adpoted mom relatives is actually is my mom but during the 50’s if a women had a child out of widlock it would be a very bad thing and even force women into hidding so who know maybe they did prono? hahaha just find a sense of humor anyways the most important part of my reason why am i posted this information it because of person by the name of melissea lincow and this person has really change me because all the thing i got away with and having people in soical services stand up for me and even cover for me to tell you the truth i was not a member of society bottom line snice jan 2015 when i meet her at oliveview hospital and got to know her and it surpized me that she a really goid person in fact she very smart hasnt done a drug and even by therssea a subtances abuse clounser/ a member of dbsa in charge of los angles county department of mental heath said it herself it must take strong person with a disability know as ocd refuse to take medication well by dbsa all hat off to her and for about 3 months she keep teaching about capitalism and keep getting upset over the fact about soical services and department of family and childeren services actually took her only daughter away from her and dcfs gave the rights to her ex boyfriend name jason which by the way abuse her by harssing her and anyone that take advantage of a person that mentally ill psyiscally emtionally and mentality is a form of slavery well maybe we could help each other out cause thru ancestry i found 24 4th cousin that seem isolated neglected confuse scared and by samtha subtances abuse locater 42 C.F.R. part 2 with a red flag that cleints are being abuse thru dcfs and on my wii u super mario maker there was another red flag it said “Oh No it the CALMAR Familiar” somthing with social sercurity office and Director of FBI 1935-1972 Entitled to titel 2-16about the railroad contact which is about Disability Surival Retirement benfits but it seems like i am getting no where however melissea lincow is suffering thru trama and medical mental heath malpractice because thru jehova mental heath services it turn out she need psychotherapy but if you do take your time and just double or even triple chech thatv my source and information is 100% truce base on edivences therpy i would like to help anf get to know my 24 4th cousin get melissea lincow her daughter back and get her the support and proper services for het and her daughter to help jose and maria carbajal cause there is edivences or red flag about being abuse us citizen that are human trackiff as childeren by other counrty and being brain wash black mail and crouppted to actually believe that they were illegal imgrant and being taking advantage of snice they meet at resturant in 1974 in north hollywood ca basically i have to admitted that i also was probbly the frist case in medical mental health history that with a 22% chance of a child being born with autism and ocd cause i believe the doctors law enforcement and soical services in los angles have documents that i have a hidden disability and my son was declare autism at age 4 after being an voctional expert expert criminology with even soical sercurity have documents as i am a voctional expert they ask me this question does work even exist in our national ecomony as of today? well since america already been established melissea lincow is the expert in answers this question “What does it mean to pay rent?” so just hopefully i not having some real serious issues of a disbility of a new mental health conitidtion of me being born with 22% chance of having autism with ocd and maybe it all in my head? so feel free to give me a called if anything that inserted you from the started of your careers and the start of my careers as well to stand for what right cause trust me if got really know melissea lincow it would shock you as well because it really hard to believe dcfs actually took her daughter away from her (661)9987177 thank you if anything take your time in read what i have to say
Shwan Spencer
August 19th, 2016 at 03:45
So half the kids or adults who went missing due to someone they know kidnapping them or a random act of kidnapping we can actually have proof and some insight to what actually happened. But what happened to those who went missing, cases where people suffering from some kind of illness or was drug addict, or was too old to know right from wrong? Some might say they were sick and old so they probably died from natural causes in a place where nobody can seem to locate them. Or some people might say some addicts disappeared because they were addicts. An addict can easily be written off as somebody who knew right from wrong but addiction made this person care less about what happens as long as they get there fix. But I’m from poverty and drug addiction are really high, so trust me when I tell you, most addicts know right from wrong sick or not. I’m just reciprocating what I just read. Four out of ten white males will disappear in a day, 3/10 for blacks and 2/10 for Latinos. I don’t know if people think the way I do,but for people to disappear without a trace( no matter the background or race) and yet still coming out with diseases that can come and go in a instant. Can you elaborate that more for me?
Maguss hack
February 28th, 2018 at 08:01
Fantastic items from you, man. I have have in mind your stuff prior to and you are simply extremely great.
I actually like what you’ve acquired here, really like what you’re stating
and the way in which during which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still care for to keep it
wise. I cant wait to learn far more from you. This is actually a terrific web site.
web site
June 14th, 2018 at 00:55
An impressive share! I have just forwarded this
onto a co-worker who was doing a little research on this. And he in fact ordered me
lunch because I found it for him… lol. So let me reword
this…. Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending the time to discuss this subject here on your internet site.
blender bottle tips
October 16th, 2018 at 21:10
Hi, its good post regarding media print, we all be familiar with media is a great source of information.
Real Estate Company
January 30th, 2019 at 00:19
When I originally commented I seem to have clicked
on the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and from now
on every time a comment is added I get 4 emails with the exact same comment.
Perhaps there is a way you are able to remove me from that service?
Thanks a lot!
2 Trackbacks / Pingbacks
Пропавшие Без Вести И Неопознанные Статистика / Пропавшие Без Вести И Неопознанные Люди | Sonya news January 10th, 2021 at 18:09
[…] https://letsfindthem.wordpress.com/missing-unidentified-statistics/ […]
Missing & Unidentified Statistics | Missing & Unidentified People | Sonya news January 10th, 2021 at 18:10
[…] https://letsfindthem.wordpress.com/missing-unidentified-statistics/ […]