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

Bonita Karen Sanders
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
Bonita Karen, date, approximate 1986; Age-progression to age 19 (date, approximate 2003); Abdul Salaam, date, approximate 1988; Bonita Sanders in January 1987
Date Missing 09/14/1986
Missing From
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
Black
Date of Birth 09/17/1984 (38)
Age 1 year old
Height and Weight 2'0 - 2'6, 20 - 30 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A short-sleeved yellow shirt, blue pants and blue and white sandals.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Bonita Karen has an abdominal hernia scar. She also has a scar on her the joint of left wrist. One of Bonita Karen's hands is slightly deformed and curves inward. She is left-handed. Her nickname is Nita.
Details of Disappearance According to Bonita Karen's mother, who is also named Bonita, her daughter was last seen strapped in her stroller on the porch of her family's residence in the Virginia Court Apartments in the 900 block of Baltic Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey at 6:00 p.m. on September 14, 1986. Bonita Karen was eating a popsicle and Bonita's other children were playing outside at the time.
Bonita claimed that she looked outside at approximately 7:00 p.m. that evening and discovered Bonita Karen had disappeared from her stroller. Bonita claimed that she searched Baltic Avenue and the surrounding streets for her daughter, but she could not locate her. She reported her daughter as missing at approximately 8:30 p.m. Bonita Karen has never been seen again.
Bonita Karen's father, Abdul Salaam, was immediately eliminated as a possible suspect in his daughter's . He had been seeking custody of Bonita Karen at the time she vanished and was imprisoned on a robbery charge.
He and Bonita were together for eight years and Bonita had four children during this time, two of whom were Salaam's, but she and Salaam never ly married. Salaam has stated he never believed Bonita's account of their daughter's disappearance. Photos of Bonita and Salaam are posted with this summary.
Bonita allegedly abandoned Bonita Karen at birth and also attempted to abandon another newborn after Bonita Karen disappeared. Bonita reportedly walked out of an Atlantic City hospital in 1984 and left Bonita Karen at the facility. She was not charged in that , but Bonita did face charges when she gave birth to a son in October 1986, one month after Bonita Karen was last seen.
Bonita checked into Atlantic City Medical Center under the alias "Laura Smith" to deliver and was discharged on October 7, 1986. Bonita apparently then left with her newborn son and took a cab to an Atlantic City bus terminal. She boarded a bus to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and left the baby lying face-down in a terminal restroom in Atlantic City, where he was rescued shortly thereafter.
Bonita was sentenced to nine months in jail for endangering the welfare of a child in January 1987 and her three other children were placed in foster homes. She was paroled after five months, but served another 15 months when she was arrested for shoplifting baby clothes while on parole.
The father of Bonita's newborn son told authorities that she lied to him and said she had an abortion when she was pregnant with the child. He did not know she had carried the baby to term and given birth until he was contacted by law enforcement. Bonita had three more sons after the one she abandoned in 1986.
The prosecutor in Bonita's told the court that she was uncooperative during the investigation into Bonita Karen's 1986 disappearance. He stated that she provided false leads and also lied to authorities. Bonita evidently never inquired as to the status of her daughter's .
Salaam believes that his daughter was not abducted and has asked investigators to search the yard in back of the Virginia Court Apartments for human remains. Authorities utilized cadaver-sniffing dogs earlier in the and could not locate any evidence in the area.
Salaam also stated that New Jersey's Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) was supposed to check on Bonita Karen's well-being prior to her disappearance at his request. DYFS arrived at the Sanders's residence, only to discover no one was home during their first visit.
By the time DYFS prepared for a second attempt to see Bonita Karen, she had vanished. Salaam continues to search for his daughter.
In 2009, authorities began searching a wooded area in Pleasantville, New Jersey for Bonita Karen's remains. Reportedly, Bonita's best friend went to police and said Bonita had buried her daughter there.
Nothing was recovered at the search site, however, and investigators discontinued their efforts after a week. A forensic anthropologist noted that given Bonita Karen's age and the time that has passed since her disappearance, it's possible that even if her body had been there at one time there would be no trace of it now.
Some law enforcement officials believe that Bonita Karen choked to death on the popsicle stick she was holding on the day of her disappearance and was buried somewhere off the family's residence. There is no evidence to support this theory, however.
Bonita Karen's disappearance remains unsolved and is still open. Authorities now believe she was never kidnapped, but died on the day she vanished and was buried.
Investigating Agency
Atlantic City Prosecutor's Office
Major Crimes Unit
609-645-7700
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Child Protection Education of America
The Press of Atlantic City
The Garden of Missing Children
Crime Stoppers of Atlantic County, New Jersey
America's Most Wanted
Newsday
WPVI-TV
The Philadelphia Inquirer

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