Squeaky Wheel Tour

In an international effort to get the word out about missing persons, and to show their faces to the public again, a group of musicians is traveling the country playing music and being as loud as they can be.

It's called the Squeaky Wheel Tour, and it's a bunch of artists just trying to be as loud as they can about their cause. The "Squeaky Wheel" gets noticed, and that's why they chose the name. Jannel Rap, lead singer of Clementine has a personal connection to a missing person. Her sister Regina Bos disappeared in Lincoln, Nebraska, on October 17, 2000. She's never been seen or heard from again. Ever since, Jannel has been working to raise awareness and try and find these missing people.

A black Cloud Settled in Over Us and the Nightmare Began

The number of people who go missing in Chicago and around the country staggers the imagination. In Chicago alone, 20,022 people were reported missing last year. That comes to 54 people, on average, reported missing here each day. Nationally, more than 800,000 people were reported missing last year.

When a Loved One Goes Missing

The case of Tanya Rider, the Maple Valley woman found in her crashed car seven days after she vanished, raised questions about searches for missing people.

Since she was found Sept. 27, concerns have surfaced about how quickly cell phone records can be obtained, how her husband’s initial 911 calls were handled and why she wasn’t found sooner.

How Do Police Determine What Missing Persons They'll Look For?

Two missing person cases in our area prompted us to take a look at how police decide what cases they'll devote their time to. Authorities began searching for 65-year-old Michael Chase after he disappeared after his appointment at the Salem VA Medical Center. He was found safe earlier today in Christiansburg.

Things were a little different for authorities in Bedford and Botetourt Counties. Their search for 19-year-old Samantha Bittler ended tragically. Bittler was thrown from her car and died from head, chest and neck trauma. She was found nine days after her family began their search for her.

How do police determine what missing persons they'll look for?

Two missing person cases in our area prompted us to take a look at how police decide what cases they'll devote their time to. Authorities began searching for 65-year-old Michael Chase after he disappeared after his appointment at the Salem VA Medical Center. He was found safe earlier today in Christiansburg.

Things were a little different for authorities in Bedford and Botetourt Counties. Their search for 19-year-old Samantha Bittler ended tragically. Bittler was thrown from her car and died from head, chest and neck trauma. She was found nine days after her family began their search for her.

Lyalls' Missing Persons Work Goes National

Those who have gone missing in New York state are remembered each year on April 6, the birthday of Suzanne Lyall, the University at Albany student who disappeared nearly 10 years ago.

Doug and Mary Lyall are keeping their fingers crossed that a National Missing Persons Day will also be April 6. It all happened very fast last week.

Political Connection: Subconscious Racism Apparent in Coverage of Missing Persons

Have you heard of Laci Peterson, JonBenet Ramsey, Elizabeth Smart, or Natalee Holloway?

If you rely on the American media for your source of information, you probably have. The mainstream media was on these missing persons cases from the get-go, plastering their pretty smiling faces on every news channel. Hours upon hours of airtime have been devoted to these missing individuals. Newspapers, radio stations, and especially television networks have covered the exhaustive FBI and volunteer searches, the candlelight vigils, and every new development in each case until everyone in America knew their names. In the case of Natalee Holloway, it didn't stop there. The 18-year-old Alabaman didn't just garner mere national attention. The Dutch Marines and the Aruban government pitched in with the "rescue" effort when she disappeared during her Caribbean class trip.

What about Angela Frances Lynne Delucca, Diamond and Tionda Bradley, or Christian Ferguson? Have you heard of them?

Probably not. These children are only a few of the 58,000 American children gone missing each year. And unlike Elizabeth Smart and Natalee Holloway, they are among the number of missing minorities that are far less likely to garner attention from large media networks like ABC, CNN, FOX, or MSNBC. It seems like the media has chosen to focus almost exclusively on missing white photogenic women. Why is it that we constantly hear about each new development in their cases, while for the majority of missing children, the only mention they receive is a poster in the entrance of the local Wal-Mart?