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.



Missing Person Photos

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

Khristine Renee Smith
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
Khristine, date, approximate 1994; Russell Smith
Date Missing 09/28/1994
Missing From
Portage, Michigan
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 12/17/1956 (65)
Age 27 years old
Height and Weight 5'5, 120 pounds
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Khristine's nickname is Khris. Her maiden name is Klein and she may use the name Caress L. Xavier. Khristine wears contact lenses.
Details of Disappearance Khristine was last seen on September 28, 1994 in Portage, Michigan. Her husband, Russell Smith, told everyone she had left voluntarily with another man. A photograph of Russell is posted with this summary. He showed people a note of explanation which he claimed she had written. Khristine's loved ones did not believe him, however; they did not think she would have abandoned her seven-year-old daughter.
At first police thought Khristine had in fact left Russell, but they began to suspect foul play after Russell refused to let them search his home or speak to his daughter alone. In late 1994, authorities got a warrant to search the Smith residence. They discovered no physical evidence of murder, but they did find items that led them to charge Russell with embezzlement from his employer.
Russell and Khristine's daughter was removed from their home at this time when evidence surfaced that Russell may have been molesting her. He was never charged in connection with the alleged abuse, but his daughter was adopted by his parents and never lived with him again. The girl told police that her parents had argued on the day of Khristine's disappearance and she found blood in the upstairs bathroom, which Russell remodeled later that year.
Russell pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection to Khristine's in 1998. He confessed that after they put their child on the school bus, they began to argue and Khristine threatened to leave with their daughter.
Russell stated he shot Khristine to death, put her body in a storage barrel, and threw the barrel in Lake Erie, which is about nine miles from their residence. He maintained that he was driven to kill her by her selfishness, meanness, and frequent affairs with other men. (Investigators could find no evidence that Khristine had ever been unfaithful with anyone during her marriage.)
Russell agreed to help detectives find her body, but searches of the lake turned up nothing. He was sentenced to 35 to 70 years in prison for his wife's murder.
Khristine's remains have never been found.
Investigating Agency
Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Department
269-385-6173
Other
CBS News
The Doe Network
Murder So Cold: A Father's Deadly Rage, A Daughter's Tragic Legacy
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.



Missing Person Photos

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