Mouthpiece for the Missing
November 5, 2015 Leave a comment
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (WNCN) – The moment the world stops for a parent is when their child goes missing.
The numbers concerning missing children are staggering, as the FBI reports nearly 470,000 children went missing in 2014.
In North Carolina, at least 151 children are missing and 18 of those are missing from the WNCN viewing area.
October 31, 2015 1 Comment
Twenty-seven years ago, Virginia Douglas and her husband, Frank Douglas, pulled into the Reny’s parking lot in Belfast so she could use the store’s restroom. Virginia Douglas reportedly walked into the store and was never seen again.
The couple had come to Maine on a spur-of-the-moment trip from their home in Lexington, Massachusetts. No one the local police interviewed at the store recalled seeing her. They even doubted she had ever set foot in Belfast, according to news reports at the time.
Police suspected Douglas may have been the victim of foul play, but they could never confirm those suspicions.
October 14, 2015 Leave a comment
Uber announced a partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) Tuesday, by notifying all driver-partners when an Amber Alert is issued.
The Amber Alert system is a voluntary program between law enforcement and media sources that “activates an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases.” The system is designed to bring home children safely by recruiting the public to aid in search efforts through TV, radio, phone, and other announcements.
“The Uber network covers 75 percent of the US population,” Uber wrote in a press release Tuesday. “We are proud to harness this reach to support the Amber Alert program, and to quickly connect drivers with information that could make all the difference for neighbors and communities.”
October 12, 2015 1 Comment
To help solve cold cases of missing children, law enforcement agencies increasingly rely on age progression technology that tries to show what kids who vanished years ago might look like as grown-ups today.
But how well does age progression technology work? As an experiment, Rossen Reports supplied an independent forensic artist with photos of TODAY national investigative correspondent at age 8 (along with photos of his parents and his brother; family photos are important to the process) without identifying Rossen as the subject of the photos.
September 23, 2015 2 Comments
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) – Parents, if your child has ever wandered off and you couldn’t find them right away, those minutes probably felt like hours. So, you know what a helpless feeling that can be. WHNT NEWS 19 is Taking Action to help you protect your children.
It can happen in the blink of an eye.
“They escape, bolt and run and they’re gone in a heartbeat,” describes Linda Baucom, with the Pilot Club of Huntsville.
September 14, 2015 1 Comment
Clearwater, FL — Wednesday was Florida Missing Children’s Day, a day set aside to raise awareness for the more than 300 young people who have disappeared without a trace in the state of Florida.
In many cases, investigators share pictures of what they think those missing children might look like today – even decades after their disappearance.
Experts urge the missing children’s families never to give up hope, since improving technology may provide a break in the case — even many years later.
At a ceremony in Tallahassee, family members of Zach Bernhardt stood alongside detectives from the Clearwater Police Department.
August 31, 2015 1 Comment
PETOSKEY — Just six months after implementing a system to help find missing people, Emmet County emergency crews used the system Sunday to find a missing elderly man.
Thanks to the system, it took responders less than an hour from the time the man was reported missing to find him.
In a news release issued Monday, Emmet County Sheriff Pete Wallin said at about 7 a.m. on Sunday, sheriff’s deputies responded to a report that Edwin Long, 82, was missing from a residence in Bear Creek Township.
August 14, 2015 1 Comment
Fewer people have gone missing this year than last in Horry County, but the faces of missing people have never been so prominent.
Area police departments routinely use Facebook, Twitter and messaging alert systems to spread information about missing people or runaways in Horry County. Lt. Raul Denis, with Horry County police, said disseminating information through social media helps police find missing or wanted people faster.
“Social media enables us to spread the word further, and it has proved more successful for us finding people,” Denis said. “It generates tips, it works.”
July 10, 2015 1 Comment
LIVERMORE, Calif., July 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Vigilant Solutions announces today that its LEARN analytic software and commercial license plate reader (LPR) data helped a law enforcement agency locate a suicidal missing person. Because of the nature of this case, the agency has requested to remain anonymous and have certain aspects of the case obscured.
A detective from the agency reports, “An officer from the Missing Persons Unit called me and requested that I run a missing person’s license plate number through our LEARN database.” LEARN accesses the LPR data that the agency’s systems collect and also provides access to Vigilant’s own network of over 3.5 billion commercially generated LPR detections. “The missing person’s license plate had been scanned several times at a nearby address after she was reported missing, so officers were dispatched to the location. Upon arriving at the address, it was discovered that this was a parking lot for a retail store. The vehicle was located in the parking lot, and upon inspection a large blood stain was noticed in the driver’s seat. There appeared to be more blood in the back seat.”
July 4, 2015 Leave a comment
BAINBRIDGE, Ohio (WCMH)– Ross County Search and Rescue (SAR) has a new high-tech tool that can be used to look for missing persons, help in rescues and find evidence from a crime.
The $2,500 needed to buy this high-tech drone was donated to the SAR by MedFlight in a pilot program.
Mike Menendez is the Chief for Franklin Township Fire and Commander of the Ross County Search and Rescue, he is also the operator of the state-of-art drone.
The drone has been used in the search for evidence in the six missing and dead Ross County woman. But nothing related to that case has been found so far.
“If there is white clothing, white shoes I am going to spot that,” said Menendez.
I Have Vanished 