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

Derrick James Engebretson
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
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
Derrick, date, approximate 1998; Age-progression to 18 (date, approximate 2008); Vehicle similar to the model reportedly driven by an unidentified male on the day of Engebretson's disappearance
Date Missing 12/05/1998
Missing From
Bonanza, Oregon
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Male
Race
White
Date of Birth 07/05/1990 (32)
Age 8 years old
Height and Weight 4'6, 85 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A blue snowmobile suit, a size 12 or 14 denim jacket, navy blue Route 66 pants, a black sweatshirt, an Oakland A's t-shirt, a hat, felt-lined camouflage-print boots and gloves with the Goosebumps logo.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, hazel eyes. Derrick has dog bite scars on his chin, between his nostrils and under his nose. He has a cowlick. His nickname is Bear Boy due to his love of the outdoors.
Details of Disappearance Derrick was looking for a Christmas tree in the Rocky Point area of Winema National Forest in Klamath County, Oregon on December 5, 1998. He wandered away from his father and grandfather during the day and apparently became lost.
Derrick has never been seen again. Extensive air and ground searches yielded few clues as to his whereabouts. A blizzard hit the area the evening he was reported missing, hampered search efforts and obliterated any tracks that might have been there.
Volunteers discovered a candy wrapper and a Bonanza School bookmark near Rocky Point several days after Derrick disappeared. Blood of an unknown origin was also located at the scene. It is not known if the materials were connected to Derrick's , but he had been enrolled at the school in 1998.
A crude shelter made of fir boughs under several fallen logs are located on the mountain, but tracker dogs at the site did not seem to detect Derrick's scent. In the days following his disappearance the temperature dipped below zero and there was a great deal of snow and wind; police are of the opinion that Derrick could not have survived long on the mountain. They speculated he succumbed to the elements.
Authorities investigated Derrick's as a possible abduction shortly after he disappeared. An unidentified adult male was driving a black Honda in the Rocky Point area on December 5. A photo of a vehicle similar to the man's car is posted with this summary. The individual reportedly asked for directions while in the forest.
A witness allegedly saw an unidentified individual struggling with a young boy near the area later in the day. The witness did not stop because he assumed the man was the boy's father. Investigators do not know if the incident is related to Derrick's . His father and grandfather have both taken polygraphs and are not considered suspects.
In 1999, police discovered graffiti scrawled on the wall of a public restroom that they thought might have a connection to Derrick's disappearance. They never released the wording of the graffiti, but a portion of the wall was removed and sent to a state laboratory for analysis. Investigators eventually concluded that the writing was a cruel joke.
In 2004, investigators announced that convicted child rapist Frank J. Milligan is the prime suspect in Derrick's disappearance. Milligan, a former aide in a children's psychiatric ward, is serving a sixty-year prison sentence for kidnapping a ten-year-old boy in 2000, raping him, and slashing his throat. The child survived the attack. Milligan also was convicted of sexually abusing an eleven-year-old boy.
Authorities theorize that Derrick made it to the roadside on the day of his disappearance and was picked up by Milligan. An inmate of Milligan's told police and Derrick's family that he bragged about killing the missing boy while in prison.
When authorities confronted him, Milligan confessed to killing the child. He said he would plead guilty to the murder if he was spared the death penalty. He offered to lead investigators to his body, but a search turned up nothing and Milligan later recanted his confession. He has not been charged in connection with Derrick's but is still considered a strong suspect.
Derrick carried a small hatchet at the time of his disappearance. His father says he is accustomed to mountain terrain and routinely walked distances up to twenty miles through the southern Oregon countryside. Derrick enjoyed reading R.L. Stine's Goosebumps books series at the time he went missing. His is unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Klamath County Sheriff's Office
541-883-5130
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The Columbian
The Oregonian
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Oregon State Police
The Medford Mail Tribune
Better a Millstone
Chat Area
Derrick James Engebretson
NamUs

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