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
Belinda Kay VanLith
Belinda, date, approximate 1974
Date Missing 06/15/1974
Missing From
Wright County, Minnesota
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 05/20/1957 (65)
Age 17 years old
Height and Weight 5'5, 110 pounds
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes.
Details of Disappearance Belinda was last seen at Little Eagle Lake in Wright County, Minnesota at 8:00 p.m. on June 15, 1974. She was house-sitting for a neighbor for the weekend, and planned to attend her sister's graduation party. Belinda's family called the house several times that day, but the lines were always down. The following day, they reported her missing.
Timothy Joseph Crosby is a suspect in Belinda's disappearance and in the murder of another woman, who disappeared in 1994 and was found strangled some months later.
Crosby, who was Belinda's age and had started attacking girls and young women by the early 1970s, lived alone in a cabin just 100 yards from the house Belinda was staying in when she disappeared. The day before she went missing, Belinda came to his home looking for his sister, but he told her she wasn't at home.
Late in 1974, Crosby was arrested for the kidnapping and rape of an eighteen-year-old woman. He has been arrested other times for sexual offenses since then and is currently civilly committed as a "violent sexual recidivist." He has not been charged in Belinda's disappearance, however.
Belinda is described as a popular, ordinary teenager who enjoyed gardening. Investigators don't believe she ran away. Foul play is suspected in her .
Investigating Agency
Wright County Sheriff's Office
763-682-7879
763-682-7637
Other
Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension
The Delano Herald Journal
The Doe Network
The St. Paul Pioneer Press
KSTP
Minnesota Court of Appeals
Belinda VanLith's Niece's Twitter Account
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
