by Jeanni Ritchie
National Missing Persons Day is observed on February 3 every year. This day is important because it draws attention to the thousands of missing persons throughout the country and increases the chances of them being found.
National Missing Persons Day is observed not only for the missing people but also for their families and friends who have to deal with the trauma of having their loved one go missing without a trace.
I remember seeing Kellie Martin in The Face on the Milk Carton (based on a 1990 Caroline Cooney novel of the same name) and was as horrified as she was when she saw her own picture on the back of a milk carton in a school cafeteria one day.
A few years later Jacquelyn Mitchard’s book The Deep End of the Ocean was also given the silver screen treatment with Michelle Pfeiffer playing the mother whose son went missing from his stroller at the mall only to show up on her doorstep wanting to mow her lawn for a few extra dollars.
While impactful, these were fictional tales that wrapped up in a two-hour span.
Life isn’t always that easy.
A good friend of mine went to her grave never knowing exactly what happened to her daughter thirty years before. It’s the not knowing that’s the hardest part. A sliver of hope remains but it also brings terror and heartbreak and jumping every time the phone rings.
There are over 500,000 active missing persons cases in America today. At last report, there were 579 active missing persons cases in Louisiana. Over half of those are children.
With the introduction of missing child safety programs like Code Adam and Amber Alert, police and public response are now much quicker when a child goes missing.
Adam Walsh was the 6-year old son of John Walsh, abducted from a Sears store while shopping with his mother in 1981 before being killed. When a Code Adam is initiated, employees check hiding spots and bathrooms while a designed employee checks all persons leaving the building with a child. Today, many department stores, retail shops, shopping malls, supermarkets, amusement parks, hospitals, and museums participate in the Code Adam program.
The Amber alert was created in reference to Amber Rene Hagerman, who was abducted and later found murdered on January 17, 1996. The decision to declare an Amber alert is made by each police organization investigating the abduction. Public information in an Amber alert usually includes the name and description of the abductee, a description of the suspected abductor, and a description and license plate number of the abductor’s vehicle if available.
As of December 31, 2024: 1,231 children have been recovered due to AMBER Alerts.
While missing persons are no longer put on milk cartons, there are multiple websites as resources:
National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) is a national centralized repository and resource center for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases across the United States. namus.nij.ojp.gov
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a private corporation whose mission is to help find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation, and prevent child victimization. cbi.colorado.
I-Familia identified missing persons globally through family DNA matching. interpol.int
The Amber Alerts website shows active cases at missingkids.org
FBI.gov keeps a list of names and photos of Kidnappings and Missing Persons.
LSU maintains the LA Repository for Missing and Unidentified Persons website to provide a way to search Louisiana’s database of missing and unidentified people. identifyLA.lsu.edu
Always stay vigilant when you hear of a missing person in your area through Amber alerts or news bulletins. You could be the difference between life and death for someone.
Jeanni Ritchie is a contributing journalist from Central Louisiana. She can be reached at jeanniritchie54@gmail.com.