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
Cheryl Anne Scherer
Scherer, date, approximate 1979; Age-progression at age 58 (date, approximate 2017); Henry Lee Lucas, date, approximate 1979
Date Missing 04/17/1979
Missing From
Scott City, Missouri
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 08/19/1959 (63)
Age 19 years old
Height and Weight 5'0 - 5'1, 100 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A light blue pullover sweater with white trim, a dark blue zip-up windbreaker with a thin white lining and the hood trimmed in white, brown corduroy pants, tiny earrings, a silver ring with a tiny diamond, and a yellow gold necklace with a one-inch cross pendant.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Red hair, blue eyes. Scherer has a mole half an inch from her navel and a dime-sized dark brown birthmark between her shoulder blades. Her ears are pierced.
Details of Disappearance Scherer was last seen working her shift at Rhoades Rhodes Pump-Ur-Own Station self-service gasoline station in Scott City, Missouri on April 17, 1979. She disappeared from the station sometime between 11:40 and 11:50 a.m.
Two hours before her shift ended, she called her mother. Her mother later said the conversation was normal and Scherer was in a good mood. Twenty minutes later, her cousin drove past the station and thought he saw someone inside, but couldn't tell whether it was Scherer. Five minutes later, another station employee found the station unattended.
Scherer's purse and checkbook were at her workplace, and her car was parked in the parking lot with the car keys inside. Approximately $480 was missing from the station's cash register. Authorities believe that Scherer was abducted by person(s) unknown after a robbery. There were no witnesses to her apparent kidnapping.
Serial killers Otis Toole and Henry Lee Lucas, who traveled together and separately across the United States in the 1970s and 1980s randomly killing people, told police that they kidnapped and killed a girl in the area around the time Scherer disappeared.
Lucas was shown a photograph of Scherer and says she was not the girl he abducted, but police suspect she was because she was the only girl reported missing in the area at that time. A photo of him is posted with this summary.He is also considered a possible suspect in the disappearances ofEva DeBruhl and Elizabeth "Terri" Bishop, and he confessed to involvement in the unsolved disappearances of Janet Callies and a married couple, John and Faye Whatley.
There was never enough evidence to charge Lucas and Toole in connection with Scherer's , though it was established that they were indeed in Scott City when she disappeared, along with Toole's niece and nephew. Both men have since died in prison. It should be noted that they each had a history of making confessions to crimes they did not commit.
Scherer was considered an excellent employee; she had been working at the station for about fifteen months prior to her abduction and always arrived on time. She resided in Illmo, Missouri and was working to put herself through college. She paid her automobile insurance before her disappearance and it is not believed that she staged the robbery in any way. Her remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Scott County Sheriff's Department
573-545-3525
Other
Scott County Sheriff's Department
The Southeast Missourian
KVFS 12
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The Northwest Indiana Times
The Austin American-Statesman
The Lincoln Journal Star
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
