Who Would Care If You Disappeared?

The name John Doe means something to several special groups of people. It means one of over 7,049 unidentified remains by NCIC as of since January, 2008.

The growing problem of abductions, runaways, and family abductions is very real. The North American Missing Persons Network has 45 missing persons listed for July through September of 2008. Many are listed as endangered runaways, some as family abductions. But there are also those that just…disappear.

Take the case of a woman listed as missing on October 5. She was last seen leaving work. Her employer reported her missing the next day when she didn’t return to work. She’s just gone. Or the older woman who had traveled to Tennessee to visit a new grandchild. She left to return home to Texas, but has not been seen since October 8.

There are multiple agencies and groups dedicated to working on these cases, both officially and unofficially. Perhaps the most interesting is a group called The Doe Network.

This group, mainly volunteers who utilize the internet for clues, try to match the missing with the huge volume of unidentified remains across the country. They maintain on their website photos and files on both the missing and the unidentified. The database is searchable and some states have very few, while others have long, agonizing lists. It is heartbreaking to see someone’s son, daughter, mother, brother, aunt listed as a case number with an artist’s sketch of what they may have looked like moments before death.

The Doe Network is joined in its work by the Louisiana State University FACES laboratory where forensic scientists work to recreate identifiable features from the deceased, wherever and whenever they are found. They also work with DNA to resurrect and solve cold cases, many from dates before DNA testing was in use.

The Doe Network is the sponsor of an initiative called Project EDAN – Everyone Deserves A Name. Twenty-one forensic artists volunteer their time through this project to help law enforcement agencies with facial reconstructions of unidentified persons.

Other noted groups that work in the same arena are The Lost and Found (LFGRC.org). This group airs an internet radio program of an hour long public service announcement every Tuesday night. There is the Outpost for Hope, the CUE Center, the Cold Cases Group, and NamUS (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System). There are many others, some created in the name of a missing or murdered person.

Each of these groups has volunteer needs. Many ask that volunteers download posters of the missing and endangered runaways and circulate them. At least one asks that you list a phone number and become a contact for runaways.

And, luckily, they all have success stories. Harlan Absher, last seen in 1993, was located deceased in 2007. Wendy Louise Allen was found safe in 2006. She had been missing since 1979.

Kidnapping, runaways and family abductions can happen anywhere, anytime, to anyone. It’s at least comforting to know that there are some who will never forget, and never give up the search.