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
Brandon Mitchell Brown
Left: Brandon, date, approximate 1985; Right: Age-progression to age 28 (date, approximate 2011)
Date Missing 07/25/1985
Missing From
Port St. Lucie, Florida
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Male
Race
Black
Date of Birth 12/19/1983 (38)
Age 2 years old
Height and Weight 2'0, 30 pounds
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics African-American male. Black hair, brown eyes.
Details of Disappearance Brandon resided with his mother, Carolyn; his father, James Michael Brown; his older sister, Sheketah; and his older brother, Barry, in 1985. Carolyn and James had been married for ten years and were employed as teachers. The family resided in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
The entire family disappeared on July 25, 1985. Carolyn's mother called police in August, worried because she had not heard from her daughter or her daughter's husband or children since July 4. Investigators did go to the Brown home but were initially unconcerned, as there were no obvious indications of foul play inside the residence.
Carolyn's purse was located in a corner of the garage; inside it, every piece of her identification had been cut up. An uneaten meal was spread out on the dining room table. One of the rooms in the house had been freshly painted; a closer look revealed that the paint had covered up bloodstains on the walls, but this was not noticed until later.
The family was officially listed as missing after the next school year began and neither Carolyn nor James reported to teach. Later, James called Carolyn's sister and told her she could have everything inside his home. Carolyn's sister asked where the rest of the family was and James replied, "Out there."
James resurfaced in Savannah, Georgia several weeks after his family's disappearances. He checked into the hospital under the name Demetrius Jones and stated someone had robbed him and shot him in the head. His true identity was discovered and he admitted he had murdered his wife and children and tried to take his own life.
James told authorities that he shot Carolyn while she slept inside their home during the night of their disappearances. James said that Brandon was sleeping beside his mother; he claimed that he smothered the child with a pillow, then disposed of both of their bodies in Palm Beach County, Florida. He told investigators that he drove Sheketah and Barry to Brunswick, Georgia along Interstate 95 on July 17, three days after Carolyn and Brandon were murdered. James said he shot Barry in the head and his daughter in the face, then disposed of their remains along the highway.
A jury acquitted James in Carolyn and Sheketah's deaths in late 1985. He was never charged with Brandon and Barry's homicides, as authorities were not certain of the location of the presumed murders. Extensive searches of the areas produced no evidence as to the family's whereabouts, and some investigators believe James lied about where he disposed of the bodies.
Several court-appointed mental health professionals diagnosed James as a paranoid schizophrenic; he stated he heard voices and saw visions. He was committed to a Florida mental health facility after the court's decision in 1985. He was moved to a halfway house in 1996 and released from the program in 1997. In 2005, however, he was imprisoned after he threatened to kill a bank clerk during a robbery.
Carolyn, Sheketah, Brandon and Barry have never been located.
Investigating Agency
Port St. Lucie Police Department
561-871-5000
Other
Child Protection Education of America
Florida Department of Law Enforcement
The Palm Beach Post
The Miami Herald
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
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
