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
Autumn Marie Traub
Traub, date, approximate 2006; Roy Phillip Ballard
Date Missing 09/13/2006
Missing From
Lakeland, Florida
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 03/21/1973 (49)
Age 33 years old
Height and Weight 5'2, 225 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A purple shirt with images of dogs on it, red sweatpants with paint stains, and flip-flops.
Medical Conditions Traub suffers from seizures.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, hazel eyes. Traub has a tattoo of a dolphin with seven hearts on her right calf. She may use the last name Niles.
Details of Disappearance Traub was last seen in Lakeland, Florida on September 13, 2006. Her stepfather, Roy Phillip Ballard, picked her up at her home between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m., and claims he dropped her off at a Walgreens store in the 300 block of east Memorial Boulevard between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m.
Traub has never been heard from again. She left behind a husband and a fourteen-year-old daughter.
A photograph of Ballard is posted with this summary. He and Traub's mother took care of her daughter when Traub was incarcerated prior to her disappearance. After Traub was released from jail, she took her daughter back, and Ballard was upset about it. He asked for custody of the girl, but Traub refused. Once she was returned to her mother's care, Traub's daughter accused Ballard of molesting her.
In October 2006, the month after Traub disappeared, Ballard was arrested and charged with her murder. Authorities believe the custody issue with Traub's daughter was the motive for the alleged homicide.
Spots of Traub's blood were found on some bags in the trunk of Ballard's 2004 Saturn, along with plastic shopping bags, duct tape, gloves and a dirty shovel. Ballard claimed he needed the shovel to dig at his workplace, but the dirt on the shovel was not consistent with the soil where he works. Ballard's own blood was found in his car's interior.
He is also known to have purchased an 18-inch steel pipe and duct tape on September 2, eleven days prior to Traub's disappearance; investigators believe these items were used in her kidnapping and murder.
At Ballard's 2008 trial, Traub's daughter testified against him and said he had sexually abused her and told her he wanted to marry her. One of Ballard's cellmates testified that Ballard had told him how he killed Traub, knocked out her teeth and disposed of her body.
Ballard maintained his innocence, but he was convicted in July 2008. In October, he was sentenced to death. In 2011, the death sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole.
Traub's body has never been found. Foul play is suspected in her due to the circumstances involved.
Investigating Agency
Lakeland Police Department
863-834-6900
Other
Florida Department of Law Enforcement
Tampa Bay's 10
The South Florida Ledger
The Tampa Tribune
Florida Supreme Court
Florida Department of Corrections
Florida Arrests
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
