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
Karen Rosalba Grajeda
Karen, date, approximate 1996; Age-progression to age 28 (date, approximate 2016); Sketch of possible abduction suspect
Date Missing 01/11/1996
Missing From
Tucson, Arizona
Missing Classification Non-Family Abduction
Sex Female
Race
Hispanic
Date of Birth 10/15/1988 (33)
Age 7 years old
Height and Weight 3'5, 50 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A faded purple or turquoise t-shirt with white lettering on the front, multicolored pastel floral-printed shorts, Guess? shoes, a gold chain with a pendant reading "Little Angel", a ring with a red stone and another ring engraved with the letter K.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Hispanic female. Black hair, brown eyes. Karen's upper right front tooth is larger than her other teeth, and she was missing several baby teeth at the time of her 1996 disappearance. Her ears are pierced and she has a pea-sized mole behind one ear. She is of Mexican descent and speaks both Spanish and English.
Details of Disappearance Karen was last seen playing outside of her family's residence at Saguaro Crest Apartments on in the 100 block of west Valencia Street in Tucson, Arizona on January 11, 1996. She was roller-skating with her younger sister and some friends that evening and was last seen when she returned to her apartment to drop off her skates before going outside again to play.
Her mother reported Karen as missing when she called her daughter inside for dinner at approximately 6:30 p.m. that evening and noticed Karen had disappeared. She was last seen walking out of the courtyard of the complex. Neither her sister nor any of their playmates had seen her vanish or heard a scream or a struggle. She has never been seen again.
It is possible that Karen was abducted by an unidentified male seen in the area around the same time she disappeared. A sketch of the suspect is posted with this summary. He is described as a Hispanic or Caucasian male with light brown hair and green or hazel eyes. He who was approximately 30 to 46 years old in 1996. He was 5'6 to 5'8 tall and weighed about 170 pounds, and may have had a mustache.
This unidentified man is believed to have also been responsible for the abduction, rape and beating death of another child, six-year-old Esther "Lizette" Galaz. Authorities stated the circumstances of Lizette's murder were very similar to Karen's disappearance: both girls were Hispanic, disappeared outside their apartment complexes on the south side of Tucson at around 6:30 p.m. during the holiday season, and were wearing t-shirts and floral-print shorts at the time.
Another possible suspect in Karen's is Rodolfo Sedeno Morales. Morales resided in Saguaro Crest Apartments in 1996 and is currently serving a prison term for the abductions and sexual assaults of five Hispanic girls from the Tucson area between 1993 and 1994. All his victims were between five and nine years old. He has not been charged in connection with Karen's disappearance, however, and Morales's wife gave him an alibi for the time of her abduction.
Karen's remains open and unsolved. Her family members were cleared of any suspicion in her disappearance shortly after the investigation began in 1996. Her father was in Mexico at the time of her disappearance; her mother is also a Mexican native.
Karen enjoyed playing Nintendo games, roller skating and riding her bicycle in 1996. She was a first-grade student Elvira Elementary School and was learning to read, write, and sing at the time of her disappearance. Her biological father lived in Mexico and isn't a suspect in her , and neither is anyone else in her family. She has never been located.
Investigating Agency
Tucson Police Department
520-791-4444
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
LostKids
The Associated Press
Childhood: a Cultural Study of Sexuality and Violence
CyberPages International Inc.
Child Quest International Inc.
Stolen: Karen Grajeda & Esther Lizette Galaz | DARK MATTERS #32
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
