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
Gail Deann Skelton
Skelton, date, approximate 1980; Sketch of last person known to have seen Skelton
Date Missing 09/26/1980
Missing From
San Joaquin County, California
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 01/28/1954 (68)
Age 26 years old
Height and Weight 5'1, 115 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A blue plaid flannel shirt and blue jeans.
Associated Vehicle(s) Blue two-door 1978 Toyota
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Skelton may use the last name Brewer.
Details of Disappearance Skelton was last seen in San Joaquin County, California on September 26, 1980. She attended a party at Herman and Helen's Marina, a now-defunct bar on Empire Tract at the western end of Eight Mile Road, fourteen miles southwest of Lodi, and never returned home. She has never been heard from again and her car, a blue two-door 1978 Toyota, has never been found.
The last person known to have seen Skelton was another patron at the bar that night, described as a 25- to 30-year-old Caucasian man over six feet tall, with dark hair and a thin build.
This person was harassing Skelton at the bar and kept wanting to go places with her, and she refused. It isn't clear whether this individual was ever identified or if he is a suspect in her . A composite sketch of the person is posted with this summary.
Skelton's fiance, Pat Malone, disappeared on June 9, 1980, three and a half months before she did, from a boat on the Mokelumne River. Eight days later, his body was recovered in the water 200 yards away. Authorities believe his drowning death was an accident and the timing of his and Skelton's disappearances is coincidental.
The couple had lived together on a houseboat and planned to marry in March 1981. Skelton was still grieving over Malone's death at the time of her disappearance, but her family doesn't believe she left of her own accord. They stated whatever problems she had in her life were normal ones and she wasn't having financial difficulties.
The circumstances of Skelton's disappearance are unclear. Authorities believe she may have accidentally driven her car into the water on the night of her disappearance, but there is no evidence to support any theory.
Investigating Agency
San Joaquin Sheriff's Department
209-468-4412
Other
California Attorney General's Office
The Lodi News Sentinel
Stories of the Forgotten
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
