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
Gina Dawn Brooks
Gina, date, approximate 1989; Age-progression to age 45 (date, approximate 2020); Nathan "Danny" Williams
Date Missing 08/05/1989
Missing From
Fredericktown, Missouri
Missing Classification Non-Family Abduction
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 11/28/1975 (46)
Age 13 years old
Height and Weight 5'0, 108 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A blue striped top, white shorts and sneakers.
Associated Vehicle(s) Battered light gray, green or blue station wagon with Missouri license plates
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, green eyes. Gina has several white fleck-type scars on the shin of her left leg.
Details of Disappearance Gina was last seen in her hometown of Fredericktown, Missouri on August 5, 1989. She came home at 10:00 p.m. after seeing her brother's baseball game. A short time later, Gina said she was going for a ride on her ten-speed girls' bicycle. She never returned. Her disappearance was reported at 2:00 a.m.
Gina was seen standing near her church when a battered light gray, green or blue station wagon with Missouri license plates pulled up and the driver spoke to her. She got back on her bike and turned south on Mine La Motte. Later, some witnesses including Gina's boyfriend heard someone screaming for help.
A vehicle was seen turning left on Franklin and driving towards Highway 67. Gina's bicycle was found abandoned on a residential lawn on High Street, five blocks from her home, later in the evening. There was no sign of her and she has not been seen again.
Three men were implicated in Gina's disappearance in 1998. Nathan D. "Danny" Williams was charged with Gina's murder in 1999. Investigators stated that Williams was identified by a witness as the man who was seated in the back of the station wagon with Gina the night she was abducted. A photo of him is posted with this summary.
Witnesses also identified Bryant Squires as the driver of the station wagon; he has since died of cancer and AIDS-related complications. He allegedly made a deathbed statement to nurses implicating Williams and himself in Gina's abduction and murder and in other crimes.
Timothy R. Bellew, a friend of both Williams and Squires, was initially implicated in Gina's disappearance as well. Bellew admitted he lied to FBI agents about the location of Gina's remains. He claimed Gina was buried in an abandoned meat freezer on his father's 96-acre property, but extensive searches of the area through 2001 have not produced any evidence.
Williams pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder charge against him in 1999. Authorities believe that he was the person responsible for killing Gina in 1989 by slitting her throat, and Squires and Bellew helped him cover up the crime. Both Williams and Bellew have records of sex offenses and other crimes. Bellew was charged with second-degree murder in Gina's .
The murder charge against Bellew was dropped for lack of evidence in 1999, and he was charged instead with lying to investigators about where Gina's body was buried. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. In 2003, the murder charge against Williams was also dropped. He remains in prison, serving a life sentence for forcible rape and forcible sodomy.
Authorities still believe the men were involved in Gina's presumed murder, but stated there is not enough evidence to convict them at trial. Williams had also been charged in the 1975 murder of a young woman; that charge was also dropped for lack of evidence in 1998, ten days before the trial was set to begin. He's also a suspect in the 1979 disappearance of twelve-year-old Tammy Surdam.
Gina has never been located.
Investigating Agency
Madison County Sheriff's Office
573-783-2234
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Child Protection Education of America
CyberSleuths
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Operation Lookout
Unsolved in the News
KFVS 12
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
