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

Gayla Christine Schaper
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
Schaper, date, approximate 1979
Date Missing 06/29/1979
Missing From
Latah County, Idaho
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 05/01/1951 (71)
Age 28 years old
Height and Weight 5'8, 135 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A blue sweater over a gold v-neck shirt, blue Levi's jeans and sneakers.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes.
Details of Disappearance Schaper was last seen when her husband dropped her off at a pasture near the family's dairy farm on Lenville Road southeast of Moscow, Idaho at 7:00 p.m. on June 29, 1979. She was preparing to feed their her two horses. He husband was going into town to run some errands and would be back to pick her up.
When he returned 45 minutes later, Schaper wasn't there. Her husband initially assumed she'd gone to see her parents who lived nearby, but this turned out not to be the . After searching their farm for several hours, at midnight he reported her missing.
Some clothing was found in a nearby meadow, but Schaper herself has never been located. She wasn't carrying any identification at the time of her disappearance.
During the several months prior to Schaper's disappearance, she and her husband had gotten "strange" telephone calls, often in the middle of the night. On Good Friday of 1979, the couple got an anonymous note that said only, "You have sold out to Satan" written in cut-out letters from magazines and newspapers. The person(s) behind the letter and phone calls has never been identified and it's unclear if the communications were related to Schaper's later disappearance.
About two months after Schaper was last seen, her mother got two strange phone calls. In both of them, a female voice asked for help as soon as her mother picked up the phone, but then hung up without giving time for a response. Schaper's mother thought the calls could be from her daughter. The police put a recording device on her phone in the person called back, but they never did.
Schaper's husband was initially considered a suspect in her disappearance, but he passed a polygraph in 1993 and was cleared of involvement. He remarried after Schaper went missing and still lives in the local area.
Larry Hagedorn lived close to the pasture Schaper disappeared from. In February 1994, his son, William, was convicted in the shooting death of his live-in girlfriend. William is presently serving a life term in prison. There were some accounts that William killed his girlfriend because she found out he and Larry had killed Schaper. When the police asked William about this, he refused to confirm or deny it, saying, "I dont want to hurt my dad."
Larry was considered a person of interest in Schaper's ; he owned a backhoe and was excavating his property and burying trash at the time she disappeared. A search of the Hagedorn property turned up no evidence, however, and Larry passed a polygraph in connection with the disappearance. He died in 2005.
Schaper's remains unsolved. She was involved with her church and had a stable home life at the time of her disappearance, and isn't thought to have walked out of her life. Authorities believe she was taken against her will.
Investigating Agency
Latah County Sheriff's Office
208-882-2216
Other
Idaho Bureau of Criminal Investigation
The Argus Observer
The Olympian
NamUs
The Doe Network
The Lewiston Tribune
The Missoulian
The Magic Valley Times-News
Jenn Baxter

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