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

Diana Moreno-Acevedo
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
Moreno-Acevedo, date, approximate 2003
Date Missing 02/20/2003
Missing From
Freehold, New Jersey
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
Hispanic
Date of Birth 06/13/1967 (55)
Age 45 years old
Height and Weight 5'3, 145 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A shirt, blue jeans, brown boots, and possibly rings on her thumb and ring finger.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Hispanic female. Black hair, brown eyes. Moreno-Acevedo is a native of Colombia. She has a tattoo of a fish on her right shoulder.
Details of Disappearance Moreno-Acevedo was last seen at her apartment in the 30 block of East Main Street in Freehold, New Jersey on the morning of February 20, 2003. She has never been heard from again.
Foul play is suspected in Moreno-Acevedo's disappearance. While her remains have not been found, police are investigating her disappearance as a homicide. They think she was murdered sometime between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. the day of her disappearance.
On February 20, Martinez took a taxicab to West New York, New Jersey. She paid $130 for the trip and had with her two suits so heavy the driver had trouble carrying them. He dropped her off at Kennedy Boulevard in front of the office of Martinez's plastic surgeon, which was not open for business at the time. At 12:30 p.m. that day, she returned to Freehold without any luggage.
That same morning, two men in a black van were seen driving away with a rolled-up blanket or carpet they removed from Moreno-Acevedo's apartment building. Police say a blanket is in fact missing from her apartment.
Blood was found in Martinez's bedroom and elsewhere in her apartment, and broken pieces of her fingernails. A broken knife handle was also found in her bedroom; authorities say the blade it was once attached to would have matched the holes in the shirt they found in the alley.
Martinez admitted to investigators that Moreno-Acevedo has been murdered but blamed the crime on a third woman and ex-lover of Moreno-Acevedo who also shared their apartment. Martinez claims the woman and Moreno-Acevedo got into a fight and Moreno-Acevedo was stabbed to death.
Martinez says she became frightened and fled the apartment, and when she returned later Moreno-Acevedo's body was gone and her roommate told her to help clean up the spilled blood and not to tell anyone about the crime. The roommate was the one who filed the missing person report for Moreno-Acevedo; police do not believe she was in fact involved in her presumed homicide.
It is believed that Moreno-Acevedo's presumed death may have something to do with Santeria, a religion practiced in the Caribbean which combines elements of Roman Catholicism and African religions. The religion involves animal sacrifices but forbids human sacrifice.
Martinez is a follower of Santeria and once paid $7,000 to remove a curse she believed had been cast on her. Investigators are unsure as to how she could afford this, along with $6,000 in plastic surgery, as she was only making $7 an hour at the time of her arrest. Police lack the evidence to charge Martinez with Moreno-Acevedo's murder; she remains in jail and could be deported when she gets out.
Moreno-Acevedo left Colombia three years before her disappearance and was employed as a cleaning woman. She is described as a responsible, well-organized person who called her mother in Colombia daily. Her remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Freehold Police Department
732-462-1234
Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office
800-533-7443
New Jersey State Police
800-709-7090
Other
New Jersey State Police
The News Transcript
The Asbury Park Press
. .

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