Missing Person Photos
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
Resources for Missing Persons
According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day.
Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends.
Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.
Missing Person Photos
Ara Denise Johnson
Ara, date, approximate 1986; David Elliot Penton, date, approximate 2007
Date Missing 04/02/1986
Missing From
Big Sandy, Texas
Missing Classification Non-Family Abduction
Sex Female
Race
Black
Date of Birth 03/26/1981 (41)
Age 5 years old
Height and Weight 3'0, 39 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description Orange panties.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Two of Ara's lower front teeth were missing at the time of her disappearance. She has a silver filling in her back right molar. Ara's nickname is Neecee (sometimes spelled "Nicee" or "Niecie"). Her middle name may be spelled "Denice."
Details of Disappearance Ara was last seen in her bedroom in her family's mobile home in the 300 block of Boulder Street in Big Sandy, Texas on April 2, 1986. Her father stated he last checked on her between 1:00 and 2:30 a.m.
When Ara's parents woke up between 6:30 and 6:45, she was gone. The back door to the residence was open, and the dark orange bedspread under which Ara was sleeping disappeared with her. Her bedroom was otherwise undisturbed, there was no sign of forced entry to the home, and no one heard anything unusual that night. Tracker dogs found no indication of Ara's scent near her home.
Ara's mother, father and another man all took polygraphs In 2007, authorities announced they considered David Elliot Penton a person of interest in Ara's disappearance and in the disappearances and murders of several other young girls, including Amber Crum, Angelica Gandara and Shannon Sherrill.
A photograph of Penton is posted with this summary. He is has been incarcerated in an Ohio prison since 1987. He also signed a plea agreement admitting to the murders of three girls in Texas. The Texas victims disappeared over a period of 18 months in the Dallas area, and ranged in age from 4 to 9 years old. Penton was also convicted of manslaughter in the child abuse death of his own infant son in 1984.
He fled while free on bond pending the outcome of his appeal, and remained at large until 1987, when he was charged with the murder of a friend's 9-year-old niece in Ohio. He was later convicted of this crime. Penton's cellmates went to investigators and claimed he had implicated himself in the disappearances of Ara, Amber and Angelica. He has not been charged in connection with any of these disappearances, however.
Foul play is suspected in Ara's . Authorities believe she was kidnapped by someone who knew her family's habits. She is the second child her parents lost; their six-year-old son accidentally drowned nine months before Ara's abduction. Her remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Upshur County Sheriff's Office
903-843-2541
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Child Protection Education of America
Texas Department of Public Safety
Vanished Children's Alliance
The Tyler Morning Telegraph
The Longview News-Journal
The Indianapolis Star
Missing Person Photos
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
Resources for Missing Persons
According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day.
Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends.
Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.
Missing Person Photos
