Chicago police to tune missing person's policy

Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis says he is taking a closer look at the department's new policy of issuing more alerts on missing teenagers.

Chicago Police alerts about missing young people suddenly increased a couple of weeks ago after the department felt criticism for a lack of response to the disappearance of Jahmeshia Conner. She is the 12-year-old whose body turned up two weeks after she disappeared.

Some advocates for teenagers at risk say they're concerned the public might become de-sensitized with so many alerts, that the department may be crying wolf, putting missing teenagers on a par with likely runaways.

Police Superintendent Weis tells Newsradio 780 he is taking another look at the new policy.

"We are forming a panel to look at this, to make sure we have the best protocols in place. But I would much rather err on the side of caution than to ever have a situation where someone could criticize us for not putting something out."

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Missing Persons - Is the curtain closing on your case?

The Missing Person Center opened online today and is ready to shed new light on current and cold missing person cases.

Over 2000 people go missing every day and most are not found. It’s not because they can’t be found, it’s simply because there are not enough people searching for them. Most missing person cases go completely unnoticed and others are not even reported to law enforcement. Not every case gets media attention and it’s hard to say why some cases get more attention than others. There are many reasons I have heard from people on this subject and many people think race is the determining factor in exposure when someone goes missing. However, the truth of the matter is timing and how much effort the family of the missing person puts into pressuring law enforcement and the media to take action.

If you have a missing loved one it will be up to you to have your story told, to get the word out and to get searches done and keep your loved one in the media’s eye. If you don’t stay proactive, time will slowly close the curtain on your case and eventually, no one will be looking. Don’t fall victim to the numbers of missing person cases you have to compete with.

The Missing Person Center was created by Los Angeles based licensed private investigator, Lawrence Olmstead of Hollywood P.I.. The Missing Person Center was an idea he had for a long time and finally felt something had to be done. “I don’t know if it’s the economy, technology or drugs, but I have seen a dramatic increase of missing people over the last ten years than years past”, said Olmstead. Lawrence Olmstead has been an investigator for 25 years and is a Court Qualified Missing Persons Expert in homicide cases where a body has not been found. “The Missing Person Center” is the place where families will find the resources they need and the information to keep their loved one’s story available and pushed into the hands of the media on a regular basis”, expressed the investigator.

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A Missing Child, a Leadership Journey

ao Tzu said, "To lead people, walk beside them." I have tried to live up to this standard through my unexpected leadership journey as president and CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Twenty-five years ago, I was in public life in my native Louisville, Kentucky. It was not my aspiration to lead a national organization or even to leave Louisville. Yet following the tragic abductions of Etan Patz in New York, Adam Walsh in Florida, and twenty-nine children in Atlanta, I felt I had to do something.
At that time, police could enter information into the FBI's national crime computer about stolen cars, stolen guns, even stolen horses - but not stolen children. They had mandatory waiting periods before they would even take a report of a missing child. I felt our national laws and systems were inadequate and that children were suffering. I wanted to bring attention to these issues so policy makers would respond.

Read more here.

So why did Madeleine McCann detectives ask so few questions after major breakthrough?

Private detectives leading the hunt for Madeleine McCann faced questions last night after a Mail on Sunday investigation revealed apparent shortcomings in chasing a ‘strong lead’.

The detectives failed to make even rudimentary inquiries before announcing a ‘significant’ development in the worldwide search for the six-year-old.

Read more here.

Connecticut Rep. Proposses Legilation on Missing Adults

The unsolved case of a man who disappeared five years ago has prompted a Connecticut congressman to propose federal legislation aimed at improving efforts to find missing adults nationwide.

Read more here.

New Tracking System Unveiled to Track Elderly Missing Persons

DARLINGTON COUNTY, SC (WMBF) - A new tracking system to locate persons suffering from Alzheimers and other illnesses is making its debut in Darlington County.

Deputies with the Darlington County Sheriff's Office are training Tuesday and Wednesday to use the Project Lifesaver program that helps track down people with "at risk" wandering traits.

Sheriff Wayne Byrd says the program will be online at darcosc.com for the public to access information on those missing in the area. Transmitters will be provided to at-risk people that will be worn as a wristband or an anklet. If the person goes missing, family members can call police to track their loved one down.

Read more here .

Many Missing Aussies are Elderly

About 35,000 people are reported missing to police annually, many of them older Australians suffering dementia or memory loss.

This year's campaign focuses on that group, which Governor-General Quentin Bryce said would comprise almost 500,000 Australians by 2030.

Read more here.

Social Security Administration Helps Find Missing People On Occassion

If you are trying to find someone concerning a matter of great importance, such as a death or serious illness in the missing person's immediate family, or a sizeable amount of money due the missing person, Social Security can attempt to forward a letter to the missing person. This must concern a matter about which the missing person is unaware and would undoubtedly want to be informed.

Read more here.

Being "Maliciously Missing" Not Illegal

How many times have you heard about a missing person case? To be sure there are hundreds of thousands of Americans reported missing every year. Some come right back home. But too often families of the missing either get the horrible news that their loved one's body has been found or they continue to suffer with the quiet torment of no news at all.

Then there is the group of missing people who aren't really missing at all. They are hiding. They're called the "maliciously missing" by a woman who knows the subject all too well.

Read more here.

Pan-Irish Missing Persons Hotline Wanted

A cross-Border helpline should be set up to deal with cases of missing persons across the island of Ireland, a campaigner on the matter has said today.

Tom Brown, whose sister Eileen Coss has been missing since November 1999, was outside the Department of Justice on St Stephens Green in Dublin to call on the Government to help establish an all-island helpline and a dedicated missing persons Garda unit, which would be funded by the Cross Border Fund.

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Most Missing Kids Quickly Found

An estimated 800,000 children are reported missing every year — a rate of more than 2,000 per day, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

But the vast majority of them are quickly found.

Most reported missing person cases turn out to be teenage runaways, said Maryland State Police Detective Sgt. Jim DeWees of the Westminster barrack. Most of them return home or are found at a friend’s house of some other familiar location, and police are able to make contact with them within 24 hours.

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Indian Nation Going Hi-Tech to Find Missing People

The Oneida Indian Nation Police Department has formalized an agreement with the A Child Is Missing Alert Program that has led to a high-tech method to search locally for missing children, elderly, college students and persons who may be mentally or physically challenged or disabled.

Read more here.

Age Progression Shot Released for Boy Missing 15 Years

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children recently re-released an age-progression photo of Jamel [Williams], who was reported missing 15 years ago today when he was 3. Accompanying the photographs of a blond, blue-eyed boy both as a toddler and as a teenager is a plea for information.

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Spain to Launch A New "Missing Person's Helpline"

The Interior Ministry is set to launch a new 'missing person's helpline' - 116000 - which can be used to report a missing or runaway person and where relevant information will be collated for the police.

The new 'missing person's helpline' will use the same number as is already being used in other EU countries like Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal and Romania.

Read more here.

Amber Alert Gets Mixed Reviews

Hours after Southfield Police issued an Amber Alert for a 2-year-old girl they say was abducted with her mother on Monday, the two were found safe and unharmed.

Police there are offering few details about the investigation, but officials say it's typical of the clear-cut type of case that requires an Amber Alert, the voluntary system that immediately informs the media and community of missing children that may be in danger.

Yet the Amber Alert system itself is not without its critics, and several recent high-profile cases in Metro Detroit alone offer a closer look at how the system works and how some argue it could be made better -- with quicker and more consistent activation, especially when minors may be moved across state lines.

Read more here.

Missing Person "Mystery" Missing Link

The curious case of Jamie Waqa has taken a turn, with friends saying the "missing" Kings Cross man has been at home the entire time and police now labelling his family "cryptic".

Mr Waqa's family - who are in Tamworth - also reportedly spoke to him yesterday, although police say he will continue to be considered missing until they have spoken to him.

Police yesterday issued a media release saying they had "grave concerns" for Mr Waqa, 23, who was believed to be living in Kings Cross or Darlinghurst.

Read more here.

CA Police Criticized in Missing Girl Case

Police called the disappearance of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu a missing persons case, not an abduction, for 10 days — until some farm workers drained an irrigation pond and found her body stuffed in a suitcase. Some residents and a law-enforcement expert say authorities in Tracy should have publicly expressed more urgency about the case and warned of the danger that could be lurking in their Northern California community.

But police say that despite their initial uncertainty about Sandra's fate, they did everything they could, scouring the area, calling in reinforcements and exploring theories from dealing with a runaway to looking for a kidnapper.

"Until we had an indication that Sandra had been killed, we were treating this as a missing persons case," said Tracy police spokesman Sgt. Tony Sheneman.

"We had no indication of an abduction," he said. "We wanted to be as careful as possible.

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Most Missing Adult Cases Unsolved

It was a warm night on June 30, 1996. Patricia Minassian finished bathing her 2-year-old son during a family vacation in Bourne.

Minassian told her in-laws she was heading to the car wash and was never seen again.

Her locked car was found a day later in the parking lot of Cahoon Hollow Beach in Wellfleet. There was no sign of the 37-year-old Hingham mother of three, no suicide note. She simply vanished. Her body has never been found. Her family doesn't know her fate.

Another family may be waiting to know the identity of the person whose bones were found last weekend in an East Falmouth cranberry bog.

Police are awaiting examination of dental records and DNA tests to determine whether the remains belong to a young East Falmouth man who was reported missing last June following a bout of depression.

But many missing person cases are never resolved. There are more than 40,000 unidentified human remains held in police and medical examiner property rooms across the United States, according to the FBI's National Crime Information Center.

Read more here.

Rescue Team Offers Free Services Statewide

The search for missing mother of two Kelly Morris exposed a void in local law enforcement: a fully equipped, rapid-response, search-and-rescue team that could carry out long, protracted operations.

That realization led to the creation of North Carolina Search and Rescue earlier this month. The all-volunteer group is available to law enforcement across the state at no charge.

“They get a free service at a time when budgets are tight. It’s overwhelming, the amount of manpower for us to pull 30, 40, 50 people together at one time. It’s just a phone call away,” said Nathan Huey, the CEO of N.C. Search and Rescue.

Read more here.

Statewide alert system for missing elderly and disabled inching closer toward passage

A widespread alert system for missing elderly, disabled or other vulnerable persons quickly passed a House committee this morning.

State Patrol Capt. Jeff DeVere envisions a notification system similar to the Amber Alert for missing children. The alerts could be broadcast on television and radio stations, as well as on freeway overpass reader boards.

DeVere said the State Patrol would work with agencies to create a localized alert system that would broadcast information about missing persons in the area where they disappeared or where they may have gone. He said agencies don't want to put out too many alerts because the public might grow so accustomed to seeing them that the notices are ignored

Read more here.

Reward Raised to $35,000 to Find Missing Toddler

A reward in the case of a missing Putnam County girl increased Tuesday to $35,000, thanks to a Jacksonville-based group that assists crime victims.

Representatives of various law enforcement agencies and the Justice Coalition gathered in Satsuma, near the home of 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings, to talk about the search for the child.

"We're looking for that one lead, that one tip, that will bring Haleigh home," said Putnam County Sheriff Jeff Hardy.

In a news conference, Haleigh's mother and father also spoke. The two talked to Haleigh, if she were watching during the televised conference, and told her they love her. They also addressed anyone who has Haleigh.

Read more here.

Parents Seek Info in Teen's Mysterious Death

The parents of a 16-year-old girl found dead in her car are hoping someone in the Baltimore area can answer the mystery of her death.

The 11 News I-Team reported Friday that there is evidence to suggest that Annie McCann committed suicide, but her case officially remains open.

Read more here.

PI Helps Family Search for Missing Teen

The family of a missing 14-year old California girl launched an all-out search Sunday morning that extended into the local mountains.

Hundreds of volunteers combed through rugged terrain in search for Amber LeeAnne DuBois, television news station San Diego 6 reported. DuBois was reportedly last seen shortly after 7 a.m. on Feb. 13 while walking to her high school in Escondido, Calif.

The FBI is “providing investigative assistance” to Escondido police, an agency spokesman told the San Diego Union Tribune on Saturday.

Read more at FoxNews.com.

Tracking Wanderers Made Easier

Protecting the elderly and youth in Knox County is the focus of a non-profit organization that uses electronic technology to locate missing persons.

Founded in 2005 as Project Lifesaver, the program will relaunch Feb. 1 as Rapid Recovery of Knox County. In coordination with the Knox County Sheriff’s Department and the Galesburg Police Department, the organization provides electronic monitoring bracelets to anyone suffering from mental conditions where they may wander and become lost. “The programs helps children suffering from autism or Down syndrome or adults with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease,” explained Rapid Recovery board member Marianne Wiesen. “Anyone who is inclined to wander away would qualify.”

The group owns 14 electronic monitoring bracelets which may be rented for a monthly fee to qualifying families. The rental fee provides a new battery each month and monthly maintenance on the bracelet by a trained volunteer.

Read more at The (Galesburg, IL) Register-Mail.

43 Katrina Victims Still Unidentified

On the corner of Canal Street and City Park Avenue, six granite buildings hold the final mysteries of Hurricane Katrina.

Here, in these mausoleums, are 43 bodies of unidentified victims — people whose fingerprints, dental records and DNA were not enough to shed light on who they were. Three-and-a-half years after the torrential floods killed 1,500 people across the Gulf Coast and put 80% of New Orleans under water, workers in the city's forensic center are still trying to close the book on Katrina's final chapter.

Read the full story at USA Today.

Brea Landfill Searched for Missing 82 Year-Old Woman

Authorities on Thursday began searching a Brea landfill with earthmovers and a cadaver dog in an attempt to find an 82-year-old grandmother who vanished this week.

The son of Sara Mowry reported her missing from her Laguna Niguel assisted-living home Tuesday, said Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino.

About 20 investigators arrived at the landfill, in the 1900 block of Valencia Avenue, at midday, acting on an investigative lead, officials said. Amormino declined to elaborate.

The investigation has not been labeled a homicide; Mowry is considered a "critical" missing person who disappeared "under highly suspicious circumstances," Amormino said. No suspects have been named.

Read more at the Los Angeles Times.

National Center for Missing Adults Being Run by Volunteers After Budget Cuts

Last year, Kym Pasqualini's nonprofit agency ran out of money.

For 15 years, the National Center for Missing Adults helped track the thousands of adults who go missing in this country every year — and did its best to reconnect them with their families. The agency operated on roughly $1 million annually, thanks to a federal grant.

But in 2005, the bipartisan bill that initially funded the grant expired. With no explanation, Congress failed to reauthorize it.

For two years, Pasqualini and her employees stayed alive by trimming operations, cutting services, taking pay cuts — and waiting for Congress to get its act together. By the fall of 2007, they were completely out of money.nt and may require same day, out of County, or out of State service.

Read how volunteers are working tirelessly to keep the NCMA alive.

Should "Silver Alerts" Become as Prevalent as "Amber Alerts"?

The missing-person case of Robert Ouellette of Cotuit makes the case for a statewide "Silver Alert" system like the "Amber Alerts" issued for missing and kidnapped children.

Florida followed the lead of a dozen other states and created a Silver Alert program in October. It's been used at least 19 times, and all the subjects were found.

Cape police — led by Barnstable — have done a good job making the 80-year-old Ouellette a priority, and other agencies and individuals have spent time and searched back roads and parking lots, too. But a statewide alert system would carry the urgency over the bridge to millions of more eyes that could be looking for Ouellette's light blue 2000 Mercury Marquis, license plate 472 BXC.

Read more at the Cape Cod Times.

Google Street View Helps Find Missing Child

Using technology more commonly seen in television crime dramas, an Athol police officer and a deputy chief in the town's Fire Department were able to track a woman and her allegedly kidnapped 9-year-old granddaughter to a motel in south-central Virginia.

They notified Virginia State Police, who yesterday arrested Rose M. Maltais of 14 Grove St. without incident around 4:15 p.m.

Natalie Maltais will soon be back home with her legal guardians after Virginia State Police found her with her 52-year-old grandmother, Ms. Maltais, at the Budget Inn in Natural Bridge, Va.

Read the full story at the Telegram Gazette.