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
Josephine Yvette Cogburn
Josephine, date, approximate 1983; Age-progression to 44 (date, approximate 2011)
Date Missing 10/02/1983
Missing From
Norman, Oklahoma
Missing Classification Non-Family Abduction
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 04/10/1967 (55)
Age 16 years old
Height and Weight 5'1, 128 pounds
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Josephine goes by her middle name, Yvette. She has the nickname "VETTE" in script lettering, with a swirl underneath, tattooed on the inside of her foot near her toes. Her ears are pierced.
Details of Disappearance Josephine and her younger sister, Joyce, were staying at family friend's apartment in Norman, Oklahoma. The individual reported the sisters' disappearance on October 2, 1983. He claimed that he was out that day and Josephine and Joyce were supposed to go to the library, and when he came home they were gone. They have never been heard from again.
All their belongings were left behind. Investigators initially believed they'd run away from home, but as time passed without anyone seeing or hearing from the sisters, they began to suspect foul play.
Joyce and Josephine's father was killed in a car accident in 1968. Their mother was pregnant with Joyce at the time, and Josephine was an infant. She gave the two girls to their paternal grandparents; their older sister, Rosetta, went to her maternal grandmother.
The sisters were reunited in 1975, after their mother remarried. She made her second husband leave their home over allegations that he'd tried to molest Joyce and Josephine. In 1983, Joyce and Josephine were having disciplinary problems at home in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. They left and moved in with the family friend in Norman. He was granted temporary custody of them. Then they disappeared.
The sisters may have been involved with drugs at the time of their disappearances. There have been possible sightings of them since they vanished and investigators think they may still be alive, but none of the reports have been confirmed.
Their older sister believes the family friend murdered Joyce and Josephine. He has been interviewed several times by police and never ruled as a suspect in the Cogburns' s; he's considered a person of interest.
In mid-September 1983, Josephine told Rosetta that Joyce and the man had been dating, but Joyce now had a new boyfriend and didn't want anything to do with her guardian. Rosetta theorizes the man killed both teens in a jealous rage. She says he never returned the girls' belongings, like clothes and photo albums, to the Cogburn family, even though they asked him to.
Neither sister's names, birth certificates or Social Security numbers have been used since October 1983. Their disappearances remain unsolved and foul play is suspected.
Investigating Agency
Norman Police Department
405-366-5211
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The Oklahoman
NewsLibrary
The Doe Network
The Norman Transcript
NamUs
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
