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
Jan Andre Cotta
Cotta, date, approximate 1973; Age-progression to age 67 (date, approximate 2021)
Date Missing 06/26/1973
Missing From
Wall Township, New Jersey
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 03/26/1954 (68)
Age 19 years old
Height and Weight 5'4, 125 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A white shirt with a blue design, blue Land Lubbers jeans, brown loafers, a plain gold ring with the initials "JAC" and a gold ring set with a blue topaz birthstone and two diamonds. Carrying a round tweed purse.
Medical Conditions Cotta was five to seven months pregnant at the time of her disappearance. She is asthmatic and may also have epilepsy.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Cotta may use the alias Jane Andrea Cotta. She suffered temporary hearing loss due to measles when she was a child and had to wear a hearing aid for three months, but she overcame her deafness. Cotta has previously fractured her left wrist and lower left arm. She has a mole on her lower right cheek. She is clubfooted on her left foot and the foot would turn inward when she was tired. She also has a lazy eye that would droop when she was tired or getting a cold. Cotta's teeth were in poor condition in 1973; she had had no dental work.
Details of Disappearance Cotta was last seen inside a barn tack house on her family's property in the Allenwood section of Wall Township, New Jersey on June 26, 1973. Her brother and a friend saw her sometime between 11:30 p.m. and midnight. A vehicle was heard driving away from the farm and afterwards, Cotta was discovered to be missing. She has never been heard from again. Cotta has seven siblings and is described as an avid equestrian who won awards in riding competitions. She was active in the 4-H Club and also attended riding classes at the Morven Park International Equestrian Institute in Leesburg, Virginia and the Princeton Riding Academy. She wasn't involved with drugs and didn't drink alcohol at the time of her disappearance The identity of her unborn baby's father is unknown. Cotta wrote a letter to God before she went missing and referred to the baby's father, but she didn't say what his name was. In the letter, she stated she was giving three of her favorite horses to a friend. Authorities believe she left of her own accord, at least initially. In August 1973, a newborn baby was found abandoned in a mailbox on a horse farm in Jefferson Township, New Jersey. The farm belonged to the friend Cotta gave her horses to, and the baby was born around the same time Cotta's baby was due. Due to these circumstances there was speculation that the child was hers, but DNA tests disproved this theory. Cotta's parents both died in the years following her disappearance, but her siblings are still searching for her. Her remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Wall Township Police Department
732-449-4500
Other
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
New Jersey State Police
The Asbury Park Press
America's Most Wanted
The Doe Network
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
