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
Lauryn Dickens
Lauryn, date, approximate 2010; Shakara Dickens; Benjamin Norfleet
Date Missing 09/07/2010
Missing From
Memphis, Tennessee
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
Black
Date of Birth 11/24/2009 (12)
Age 9 months old
Height and Weight 1'9, 17 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A brown onesie with a pink flower and pink dots.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Lauryn has a skin rash on both forearms and the inside of both knees.
Details of Disappearance Lauryn lived with her three-year-old brother and their mother, Shakara Dickens, at the Raleigh Village Apartments in the 4900 block of Yale Road in Memphis, Tennessee at the time of her disappearance.
Shakara stated that at 11:00 a.m. on September 7, 2010, she gave Lauryn to a strange woman who claimed to be a friend of Lauryn's father, Benjamin Norfleet, who was in jail at the time. Photos of Lauryn's parents are posted with this summary.
Shakara aid the woman came to her because she'd told Norfleet she could no longer care for Lauryn. The woman said she would take care of Lauryn until Norfleet was released from jail. Shakara described the woman as Caucasian, with shoulder-length straight gray hair parted in the center. She was in her forties and had glasses. She wore a white button-down blouse, khaki capri pants and white closed-toe sandals.
Shakara admitted she gave Lauryn to the woman without asking for any contact information or even the woman's name. She said she never saw Lauryn or the woman again.
In the days following Lauryn's disappearance, Shakara went out to a nightclub with her friends, bought new clothes and altered an existing tattoo on her back. She didn't report Lauryn as a missing child until September 15, more than a week after her disappearance. Her mother, Tracey Dickens, insisted on it and brought her to the police station when they realized Lauryn was missing.
The police were immediately suspicious of her story and asked Norfleet for corroboration. Norfleet said he never sent anyone to pick up Lauryn and didn't even know any women matching the description Shakara gave.
He stated he hadn't spoken to Shakara since late August; beginning on September 1, she suddenly started blocking his calls without explanation. He tried to call her seven times in twelve days and each time his number was blocked.
No one besides Shakara reported having seen Lauryn after September 6. Shakara also gave inconsistent explanations for Lauryn's disappearance; at one point, she claimed the baby was with Norfleet's parents, and another time she said she had put her up for adoption.
Cadaver dogs indicated the presence of human remains in Lauryn and Shakara's apartment and in the car Shakara drove. A week after Shakara reported Lauryn's disappearance, she was charged with aggravated child neglect, child endangerment and false reporting.
Court documents stated the police believed Lauryn was deceased. In January 2011, Shakara was charged with first-degree murder. At her trial in March 2012, Tracey, Norfleet, and a former cellmate of Shakara's were some of the witnesses who testified against her.
The cellmate claimed Shakara broke down during a religious sermon in jail and said "God would not forgive me for what I've done" and that she had done "what I was in for." Authorities also found a poem she had written in her cell which they characterized as an admission of guilt.
Shakara's defense attorney argued that there was a total lack of physical evidence and insufficient proof that she had harmed or killed her baby. She was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, second-degree murder, child neglect and filing a false report. She had no prior convictions.
In June 2012, as part of an agreement with prosecutors, Shakara admitted her guilt in Lauryn's death. She stated she smothered the baby because she was frustrated by her crying, then put her body in a trash bin, which was emptied a few days later.
She said she was stressed at the time because her work hours had changed and she couldn't find a babysitter, and expressed remorse for her actions. Shakara was sentenced to nineteen years in prison. She could have faced up to fifty-four years.
Lauryn's body has never been located. Foul play is suspected in her due to the circumstances involved.
Investigating Agency
Memphis Police Department
901-545-2677
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
MyFox Memphis
The Examiner
WMCTV 5
The Commercial Appeal
WREG 3
Find a Grave
Speaking of JonBenet
The Times News
KLTV 7
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
