Fort Myers, Fla., police say they’ve now identified three of the eight bodies discovered in a wooded area in 2007. The third man to be identified was Jonathon Tihay, who went missing some time in 1995 or 1996.

A drifter who sporadically kept in touch with his family, Tihay was never reported missing. That’s understandable. Tihay was generally unemployed, moved from place to place and engaged in petty crimes. Since most missing persons reports are taken where the person was last seen, his family probably had trouble nailing down his location. (more…)

Has brought change for the better.

The U.S. successfully implemented a missing child alert system that saves lives. By immediately getting the word out when a child disappears or has been abducted, law enforcement has untold thousands of pairs of eyes looking for the kid and any vehicle that may be involved. (more…)

Only this one has an ending.

From the “what are they thinking” department comes this story from the Phoenix area: Last week a woman contacted police and advised that her eight-month-old daughter, whom she had left with a stranger, was missing. Early reports indicate that the woman, mother of little Chrisette Ochoa, had been out drinking with the other woman and had asked her companion to keep the little girl. Someone eventually took the missing baby to a market, where she was found after news broadcasts surfaced. (more…)

Cry for their abducted children.

I found a story that is truly disturbing. It concerns the proliferation in India of abducted children taken from their families and sold into slavery, to adoptive families and into the sex trade. According to officials, an estimated 44,000 Indian children simply vanish each year. Although some are recovered, the story claims three out of the four are never seen again. Complicating matters, it says, is the reluctance of police to become involved. (more…)

…Who wasn’t.

John Delaney, found dead and decomposed in the bushes near a hospital in Manchester, England, was cremated five years ago. At least that’s what his family thought. As it turned out, Delaney was alive and living in a group home when his son, John Renehan, spied him on a television show about missing persons. (more…)

How do police know the score?

In Memphis, police officials are taking heat for not placing a missing teenager on its City Watch list until it was too late to save her life. Jaliesa Dickerson, a 16-year-old and the mother of a three-month old infant, vanished while walking to her high school. Five days later Dickerson’s body was found in a ravine not too far from her home. (more…)

…On Missing Loved Ones

Imagine how difficult it is for someone you love to go missing. Now imagine living with that disappearance every single moment of your life – not simply because their absence changes everything, but because you work hard to keep your loved one’s name and face out there. (more…)

…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. (more…)

…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. (more…)

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. (more…)