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
Joyce Alice Fisher
Joyce, date, approximate 1978; Jerry Fisher, date, approximate 1978; Jerry Fisher, date, approximate 1987
Date Missing 04/16/1978
Missing From
Sister Lakes, Michigan
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Age 28 years old
Height and Weight 5'6, 125 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A blue nylon jacket, a blue plaid shirt and blue jeans.
Associated Vehicle(s) 1969 Buick (accounted for)
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, green eyes. Joyce's maiden name is Collins. Her nickname is Joy.
Details of Disappearance Joyce was last seen on April 16, 1978. She left her parents' summer cottage on Indian Lake shortly before 3:00 p.m., leaving her one-year-old daughter in her mother's care, and drove six miles to an antique store called Bell's Corner in Sister Lakes, Michigan to meet her estranged husband of two years, Jerry Wayne Fisher, who lived in Keeler Township, Michigan. She never came back and has never been heard from again.
Photographs of Jerry are posted with this summary. Joyce was going to sign a car title over to him so he could sell it, and they went to get the document notarized
Joyce told the owner of Bell's Corner that she would return in about half an hour. Jerry stated they had driven only a short distance when Joyce realized they had the wrong title. He said he dropped Joyce off Bell's Corner between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m., about forty-five minutes after they'd left.
Other witnesses, however, said Jerry was alone when he came back. Joyce has never been heard from again. The 1969 Buick she was driving was later found parked in front of the store. There was no sign of a struggle and no indication of her whereabouts.
Joyce left behind $600 in her bank account. She is described as a reliable and responsible woman and a dedicated mother who was close to her family.
She told family and friends she was afraid of Jerry and that he had beaten her several times, and she feared he would try to take their daughter from her. They had separated in December and were in the process of a divorce.
Joyce had worked as a special education teacher for the Dowagiac Union School District, but she resigned in January 1978 and moved in with her father and mother in the Chicago, Illinois metropolitan area. She took their daughter to Michigan every two weeks so Jerry could visit with her, and it was during one of these trips that she disappeared.
Although she was stressed over her pending divorce, her loved ones don't believe she would have left without warning or taken her own life.
Following Joyce's disappearance, Jerry refused to cooperate with the investigation and hired an attorney. He was later accused of beating his and Joyce's daughter, and in January 1979, he lost custody to Joyce's parents. He was ordered to have no contact with the child until he underwent a psychiatric evaluation.
He moved to Florida shortly after Joyce went missing, and remarried eight years later. He told his friends and his new wife that Joyce suffered from mental illness and had been "put away" as a long-term patient in a psychiatric hospital.
In 1987, he was charged with Joyce's murder. He was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in 1988 and sentenced to 7 1/2 to 15 years in prison, but four years later the was overturned on appeal and he was released.
Joyce's body has never been found, but foul play is suspected in her due to the circumstances involved.
Investigating Agency
Cass County Sheriff Department
269-445-1560
Other
The Doe Network
USA Today
No Body Murder s
The St. Petersburg Times
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel
The Benton Harbor News-Palladium
The Lansing State Journal
The Palm Beach Post
The Detroit Free Press
The Battle Creek Enquirer
The Camden Courier-Post
The Herald-Palladium
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
