Officer.com Police Blogs & Podcasts

Carole Moore
Missing Persons Contributor
Officer.com

…From the Social Security Administration.

Did you know that the U.S. Social Security Administration will forward a letter to a missing person?

It’s not as simple as asking the agency to send a message because you’ve lost track of that person. The program has some pretty stringent rules. And obviously, in cases where foul play is most likely, Social Security is unlikely to yield any results, anyway. But if you can meet the requirements, there is the possibility you could at the very least contact a missing loved one who, for whatever reason, has voluntarily disappeared. Read the rest of this entry »

Carole Moore
Missing Persons Contributor
Officer.com

…And Amber Pennell is living proof.

When Amber Pennell disappeared on her way home from work one night, her husband and family feared the worst. The 21-year-old mother of two wasn’t the type to pull up stakes and move on. She had a job in Lenoir, N.C., and worked hard to help support her two children, 3-year-old Gracelyn and 1-year-old Cameron. She had a strong marriage and no reason to leave. Everyone suspected the worst. Read the rest of this entry »

Carole Moore
Missing Persons Contributor
Officer.com

Has a peculiar connection to a North Carolina homicide.

The unsolved disappearance of a morning news anchor 13 years ago recently made the news in a very strange way when the woman’s journal was leaked to the media. In a bizarre twist, the case has an odd parallel to another high-profile case hundreds of miles away. Read the rest of this entry »

Carole Moore
Missing Persons Contributor
Officer.com

Just might bring someone’s child back home.

Here’s an interesting idea: Make decks of cards with the names and faces of the missing and information about cold case homicides and distribute them in prisons. The inmates play with the cards and maybe, just maybe, a memory is triggered or somebody gets a case of guilty conscious. Read the rest of this entry »

Carole Moore
Missing Persons Contributor
Officer.com

For closure on their lost loved ones.

Although many of you are too young to remember the bracelets worn by some Americans to keep alive the memories of prisoners of war or missing in action during the Vietnam conflict, I remember them because I wore one. Now, decades after that war ended, many families still hope to one day be allowed to bury their lost family member. Read the rest of this entry »

Carole Moore
Missing Persons Contributor
Officer.com

Isn’t the same as losing your keys. I don’t usually go off on people, but in the case of missing toddler Caylee Anthony, I’d like about 10 minutes alone with the child’s mother, Casey. What a self-absorbed, immature piece of work she is. And I’m not so sure that the rest of her family is much better. Who waits a month to report a missing two–year-old? Read the rest of this entry »

Carole Moore
Missing Persons Contributor
Officer.com

The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently announced that VICAP, the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, is about to debut online. It’s about time.

Developed in 1985 to give law enforcement a vehicle for tracking and, hopefully, identifying, serial killers and murderers on the move, VICAP now functions as a central repository for information on many different types of cases, including missing persons, child abductions and unidentified recovered remains. Read the rest of this entry »

Carole Moore
Missing Persons Contributor
Officer.com

And Part of the Answer.

The other day I received this comment on the blog:

“I was wondering why law enforcement doesn’t reach out to different DNA databases for unidentified persons. We know to make a match the missing person has to have been reported missing and entered into that database. Many of the cold case solved cases prove to be a missing person that was never reported missing so wouldn’t be in a database for the UID to be compared to. Ancestry.com has a DNA project where a person can either order a DNA kit to submit or you can submit your own DNA values. It won’t tell you who an unidentified person is but it may give a lead to what Family the person came from. I know people that have said they used it and found cousins they never knew existed. It might at least narrow the search field.” Read the rest of this entry »

Carole Moore
Missing Persons Contributor
Officer.com

Into a very smart criminal justice tool.

In 1981, John Walsh was like most American dads. He went to work each day, came home, mowed his grass and spent time with his wife and six-year-old son, Adam. On July 27th of that year, Adam, a moppet with a heart-breaking grin, disappeared and was later found brutally killed. His son’s murder led John and his wife, Rev, to look for ways to better serve the cause of justice and prevent other children from meeting the same fate. Read the rest of this entry »

Carole Moore
Missing Persons Contributor
Officer.com

For those who’ve lost their ways home.

Ellen Leach is one of many volunteers who work with the Internet, law enforcement and families to match found and unidentified bodies to persons who have been reported missing. Her organization is called Porchlight Missing and Unidentified. The Gulfport, Mississippi, resident claims three “solves” – not a bad record for someone who has no official connection to law enforcement. Read the rest of this entry »