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
Lucinda Lynn Schaefer
Lucinda, date, approximate 1979; Lawrence Bittaker; Roy Norris
Date Missing 06/24/1979
Missing From
Torrance, California
Missing Classification Non-Family Abduction
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 07/09/1962 (60)
Age 16 years old
Height and Weight 5'4, 115 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A size 7 or 8 white blouse with black Mexican-style embroidery, dark blue size 8 jeans, and beige size 6 sandals.
Associated Vehicle(s) Silver 1977 GMC cargo van
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Lucinda's nickname is Cindy. Her ears are double-pierced and she has a scar on her chin.
Details of Disappearance Lucinda was abducted from Torrance, California, on June 24, 1979. She was last seen walking back to her grandmother's house from a Christian youth meeting at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Torrance.
When she was missed and people searched for her, they only found one of her shoes alongside the road. She left $220 behind in her savings account and has never been heard from again.
Later in 1979, Lawrence Sigmund Bittaker and Roy Lewis Norris were arrested and eventually convicted of murdering Lucinda and several other young women, including Andrea Hall. Photographs of the two men are posted with this summary.
Norris and Bittaker had driven around California in their silver 1977 GMC cargo van, which they nicknamed "Murder Mac," and abducted, raped and killed a large number of women. They admitted to kidnapping and raping Lucinda and to dumping her body in a remote gorge, but each man blamed the other one for strangling her. She was their first known victim.
Norris testified against Bittaker in exchange for a life sentence; Bittaker was sentenced to death. He was never executed, however; in December 2019, after forty years on death row, he died in San Quentin State Prison at the age of 79. In February 2020, Norris died in prison at the age of 72.
Lucinda and Andrea's remains have never been found.
Investigating Agency
California Department of Justice
Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit
916-227-3290
Other
California Attorney General's Office
The Crime Library
NamUs
Find a Grave
The Santa Cruz Sentinel
The Associated Press
The San Francisco Chronicle
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
