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
LaShawnda Patrice Coates
LaShawnda, date, approximate 1991
Date Missing 08/01/1991
Missing From
River Rouge, Michigan
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
Black
Age 10 months old
Height and Weight 2'3, 20 pounds
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes.
Details of Disappearance LaShawnda came to the attention of the Michigan Department of Social Services (DSS) in December 1990, after she got a broken arm and bruises when her father, Byron Ogletree, tried to use her as a shield during a violent argument with her mother, Samora Coates.
The DSS decided neither of her parents were fit and at first placed her with Samora's grandmother, then in foster care. In June, LaShawnda was placed in the care of Ogletree's mother, Barbara Brown, in River Rouge, Michigan.
On August 1, 1991, while Brown was at work and her teenage daughter was babysitting, Ogletree took the baby from the house without permission. Later that day he called Samora and asked her to listen on the phone. She thought she heard him shaking and choking LaShawnda, and called the police, who began looking for Ogletree and the child.
Samora saw him three or four more times afterwards and each time he promised to take her to where LaShawnda was, then went back on his promise. He gave conflicting stories as to what happened and whether the baby was alive or dead.
On September 7, Ogletree was arrested in Detroit for parental kidnapping. LaShawnda wasn't with him and he refused to disclose her whereabouts. After his arrest, he told both Samora and Brown that he'd lost his temper and killed the baby.
The outcome of the parental kidnapping against Ogletree is unknown. LaShawnda has never been located.
Investigating Agency
River Rouge Police Deparment
313-842-0069
Other
NamUs
The Detroit Free Press
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
