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
Darleen May Fitchett
Darleen, date, approximate 1960
Date Missing 01/19/1960
Missing From
Des Moines, Iowa
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 03/29/1931 (91)
Age 28 years old
Height and Weight Unknown
Medical Conditions Darleen was battling thyroid cancer at the time of her disappearance and needs life-sustaining medication as well as as painkillers. All her medications were left behind.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Darleen's maiden name is Boyd. Some agencies spell her first name "Darlene." She is supposed to wear prescription eyeglasses, but these were left behind.
Details of Disappearance Darleen was last seen at her home in the 600 block of east Pleasant View Drive in Des Moines, Iowa on the night of January 19, 1960. She was ironing clothes in the basement, and her three children heard her arguing with their father.
Darleen's nine-year-old daughter, Heather, heard banging sounds coming from the basement and the sound of her mother yelling for help. Heather tried to leave her bedroom, but the door was locked, and her father told her to go back to bed. Later, Heather heard more noises coming the basement, possibly sawing or digging noises.
At around midnight, Darleen's husband, Alanson "Lance" Malcolm Fitchett Jr., told Heather and her six-year-old brother that their mother had left and gone to California. He got them and their baby sister up to take them to his sister's home in Adel, Iowa so she could care for them.
Darleen has never been seen again. She left behind all her belongings, including her glasses, medications and vehicle, but the bedding and curtains from her bedroom also disappeared the same night she did.
The day after Darleen vanished, Lance traded in his dark green panel truck for a new van. He didn't report his wife missing of his own accord; concerned friends and neighbors told police about her disappearance. On February 8, 1960, when law enforcement asked him where Darleen was, he said she had left him for another man and gone to California.
At the time of Darleen's disappearance, the couple's marriage was troubled and both Lance and Darleen were seeing other people. Darleen's boyfriend, a sailor, had even come to visit the house in December 1959, with Lance's blessing. Darleen and her boyfriend even opened up a joint bank account at the local bank. The boyfriend was at sea at the time of Darleen's disappearance.
Lance was having an extramarital affair with Colleen Seiberling. Seiberling moved into the home shortly after Darleen vanished. In June 1960, just as Lance and Seiberling were about to move to California with the three children, Darleen's mother confronted the family and demanded to know what had happened to Darleen. Lance's sister told her Darleen had simply "left."
Heather told her grandmother about the events of January 19, and Lance gave written permission for Darleen's parents in Dexter, Iowa to raise the children. Heather later said that prior to her disappearance, Darleen had told her she was afraid Lance would kill her.
Although Darleen's body has never been found, police are investigating her as an unsolved homicide. In June 2014, they dug up the basement of the family's former home on east Pleasant View Drive; ground-penetrating radar showed that someone had dug a hole under the concrete approximately five feet by two feet. Their search of the basement turned up nothing, however.
Lance is the primary suspect in Darleen's presumed murder, but he died in 2005. Authorities would still like to find Darleen's remains for the sake of her family.
Investigating Agency
Des Moines Police Department
515-283-4864
Other
Iowa Cold s
The Des Moines Register
KCCI 8
Missing in the Metro Podcast
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
