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.



Missing Person Photos

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

Barbara Jean Dreher
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
Dreher, date, approximate 1984
Date Missing 08/12/1984
Missing From
Washington D.C., Washington D.C.
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
Black
Age 39 years old
Height and Weight 5'2, 130 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A green shirt and white slacks.
Associated Vehicle(s) Burgundy 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (accounted for)
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Dreher's ears are pierced.
Details of Disappearance Dreher was last seen in Washington, D.C. on August 12, 1984. She dropped off her two young sons at her adult daughter's home at 5:00 p.m. She said she was going to pick up some money and would return shortly. She was driving a burgundy 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme at the time. She never returned to her daughter's home and has never been heard from again.
Prior to her disappearance, Dreher had occasionally spent extended periods of time with her estranged husband in Hillcrest Heights. She was not reported as a missing person for nine days as a result.
A few days after Dreher went missing, one of her relatives saw another man driving her car. The relative followed the driver to an apartment building in the southwest section of the city, where he parked Dreher's car and got out. Her relative called the police and identified a man as the driver when investigators arrived at the scene.
The man denied having driven Dreher's car and said he did not know her. Since her vehicle had not been listed as stolen, the man was not taken into custody. Dreher's car was impounded, however. A ski mask, gloves and rope were found inside it, as well as some items belonging to Dreher.
The person had a violent criminal record. When he was eighteen, he had pleaded guilty to killing two people, a 23-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl. The victims were repeatedly stabbed by a group of four men, and the girl was gang-raped by three of the men before she was killed. The man didn't get a lengthy sentence for his role in the deaths. A year after Dreher went missing, he was charged with abducting and raping a woman, but the charges were later dismissed.
In the years since Dreher's disappearance, the police lost a lot of evidence in her , including the original missing persons report, and the ski mask and rope found in her recovered vehicle. Her missing persons file had to be restarted and a second report missing, using the original 1984 number.
Dreher had been employed as a secretary for the Washington public school system for fifteen years prior to her disappearance. She has five children, and one of her sons described her as a devoted but strict mother. He doesn't think she would have abandoned her family. Foul play is suspected in Dreher's , which remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Violent Crime Review Project
Violent Criminal Apprehension Program
202-727-5037
Other
The Doe Network
The Washington Post
The Washington Examiner

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.



Missing Person Photos

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