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
David Robert Hursell
Hursell, date, approximate 1987; Robert Comer, date, approximate 1987; Comer in the 2000s
Date Missing 01/12/1987
Missing From
El Dorado County, California
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Male
Race
White
Date of Birth 04/08/1962 (60)
Age 24 years old
Height and Weight 5'9, 150 pounds
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, blue eyes. The tip of Hursell's right index finger has been crushed. His nickname is Dave.
Details of Disappearance Hursell was last seen in El Dorado County, California on January 12, 1987. He has never been heard from again. Robert Charles Comer (sometimes spelled "Corner") has been the prime suspect in Hursell's disappearance for many years. A photograph of Comer is posted with this summary.
Comer confessed to Hursell's murder in 1999 while on death row. He claimed he forced Hursell from his truck at gunpoint and placed him, in handcuffs, tied his shoelaces together, and forced him to walk away from him on a dirt road in Georgetown, California. Comer said he killed Hursell with a gun shortly thereafter.
Comer was apprehended by authorities in Arizona shortly after Hursell's January 1987 disappearance. He was driving Hursell's truck at the time of his arrest and was connected to his disappearance at that time. In 1988, Comer was convicted of an unrelated Arizona murder and sentenced to death.
He offered to divulge details regarding Hursell's to his presumed victim's mother in the 1980s. Comer demanded that Hursell's mother donate $6,000 to his defense fund or supply him with various appliances. She refused. Hursell's mother also turned down another prison inmate's offer to murder Comer in the late 1980s.
Hursell's mother appeared at the end of the broadcast of the made-for-television movie Terror In The Night in the late 1980s. The film depicted Comer's crimes in Arizona. Hursell's mother pleaded with the public for information regarding her son's disappearance.
Comer confessed to Hursell's murder while imprisoned in 1999, twelve years after Hursell disappeared. He drew a map of the location where he claimed to have disposed of Hursell's remains in 1987. Authorities located the area, but an extensive search in 2001 produced no clues as to Hursell's whereabouts. Investigators said that they were unsure if the body remained at the site after so many years.
Police do believe that Comer was truthful in his account of Hursell's death. He wrote to Hursell's mother and apologized for his actions. Comer eventually withdrew all his appeals and asked to be put to death as soon as possible, although his attorneys said he was incompetent to make this decision. He was executed in May 2007.
Hursell resided in Auburn, California in 1987. His remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
El Dorado County Sheriff's Department
530-621-6600
Other
California Attorney General's Office
KOVR 13
The Sacramento Bee
Clark County Prosecutor's Office
ABC 15
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
