Missing person

From MysteryWiki

A missing person is an individual whose status as alive or dead is officially unknown due to extraneous circumstances, such as their willing or unwilling disappearance. In many situations, due to the legal complexity of missing persons cases, these persons may be declared dead in absentia.

Types

Abductees

If a person is an abductee, they may be taken from their normal residence and possibly unlawfully imprisoned. Abduction and kidnapping typically overlap in this regard, but not in all circumstances.

Child Abductees

Castaways

Fugitives

Oftentimes, fugitives disappear for a certain amount of time, sometimes apparently never resurfacing, thereby becoming missing persons.

Kidnappees

A missing person could have been the victim of a kidnapping. In common law, kidnapping refers to secreting any person against their will and/or against the will of their lawful guardians.

Bride Kidnappees

Express Kidnappees

Nonperson

A nonperson or unperson is a member of any group who loses a certain status, thereby effectively ceasing to exist, possibly based on the removal and destruction of any records relating to their existence. This status may be referred to as being damnatio memoriae[1].

Persons Missing in Action

Runaways

History

U.S. President Ronald Reagan declared 25 May Missing Children's Day in the United States, following the 1979 disappearance of six-year-old Etan Patz in New York City.

In 1996, the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) was created during the G-7 Summit in Lyon, France at the initiative of then U.S. President Bill Clinton. The commission was created with the initial mandate to help account for the some 40,000 persons reported missing as a result of the Bosnian War, one of the Yugoslav Wars.

A joint venture of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) and the U.S. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) called the Global Missing Children's Network (GMCN) was launched in 1998. On 25 May of that year, the GMCN declared that day International Missing Children's Day.

Jennifer Marra of Michigan created the Doe Network in 1999, a web database for international long-term missing persons and unidentified victims of various crimes. The Doe Network functions as a non-profit organization of volunteers who work with law enforcement, helping to identify John/Jane Does (hence the name).

Notes

  1. Lat. "condemnation of memory."

External Links

References

No adequate sources have been found so far.