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
Marcus Maxine Stalnaker
Stalnaker, date, approximate 1999; Mary Friend's car; Joseph Metz; David Hughes; Steve Freeman
Date Missing 12/01/1999
Missing From
Lewis County, West Virginia
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 10/09/1930 (91)
Age 69 years old
Height and Weight 5'0, 114 pounds
Associated Vehicle(s) Gray 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity (accounted for)
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Gray hair, blue eyes. Stalnaker wears eyeglasses. Her ears are pierced. She goes by her middle name, Maxine.
Details of Disappearance Maxine was last seen with her daughter, Mary Friend,their residence in Lewis County, West Virginia during the evening hours of December 1, 1999. They shared the home with Mary's husband Kevin, who was working in Maryland at the time.
That day the two women left home to go pick up Mary's sister, Pam Pugh, and get tires for their vehicle from Mary's adult son, Joseph Edward Metz. Mary and Pugh dropped Maxine off in Jane Lew, West Virginia, where her son picked her up and took her shopping.
The sisters went to Metz's home and he installed two used tires on Mary's car. They offered him a ride to work in Jane Lew, as he didn't have his own vehicle, but he declined. He didn't make it to work that evening, but did get a ride to Jane Lew later and hitchhiked back home.
Pugh and Mary left Metz's home at 6:00 p.m. Maxine's son dropped her off at her home at 5:00 p.m. Mary dropped Pugh off at Pugh's home between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m., then drove herself home.
This is the last time anyone saw either of the women. The next morning Mary was supposed to pick up Pugh, who would drive her to work and then use her car to go shopping with Metz. Mary never arrived at her sister's residence and never reported to her job at the local dry cleaner's.
Kevin tried to call his wife and mother-in-law several times over the next few days, and even called one of Mary's coworkers to try to get in touch with her. When he arrived home on December 3, he found his house uninhabited. There was no sign of violence or forced entry at their home, but there were also no indications that the women had left voluntarily, and all of their belongings were left behind.
Maxine's pet Doberman was found dead under the house. Police haven't disclosed the cause of the dog's death. The family's second dog, a border collie, wasn't at home, but was later found at Mary and Kevin's former residence at Glady Fork near Stonewall Jackson Lake, ten miles from the Friend/Stalnaker home.
Mary's gray 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity was discovered abandoned on December 6, five days after Mary and Maxine vanished. There was no sign of them at the scene. A photo of the car is posted with this summary. The vehicle was located in Clarksburg on Route 19 close to the former Harrison County Bureau of Emergency Services near Gore, West Virginia.
Investigators searched Stonewall Jackson Lake in 2002, after a fisherman found a purse belonging to one of the missing women. Identification for both Mary and Maxine was inside the purse. They searched the lake a second time in 2007, but found nothing of interest.
It should be noted that Metz lived near Stonewall Lake and the Friends' former home where the border collie was found, and the animal used to belong to him.
In September 2013, Metz and two other men, David Martin Hughes and Charles Steven "Steve" Freeman, were charged with robbery, kidnapping and first-degree murder in the two women's s. Photos of the suspects are posted with this summary.
The charges were dismissed in November for lack of evidence. However, in December 2013, Hughes was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery in Stalnaker and Friend's s, and later, Freeman and Metz were charged again with two counts of first-degree murder.
Hughes pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the prosecution, but his story repeatedly changed: he implicated only Metz, then said both Freeman and Metz were involved in the murders, then claimed he didn't know who was involved and had been coerced into making his previous statements.
In August 2015, the charges against Freeman and Metz were dropped again after the prosecutor admitted Hughes was not a credible witness. The was dismissed without prejudice, meaning the suspects could be charged with murder a third time if more evidence comes to light.
Mary and Maxine's bodies have never been found, but foul play is suspected in their s due to the circumstances involved.
Investigating Agency
Lewis County Sheriff's Office
304-269-8251
304-269-8245
West Virginia State Police
304-367-2747
Federal Bureau of Investigation
West Virginia Office
304-624-6200
412-471-2000
Other
NamUs
West Virginia State Police
West Virginia Crime Fighters
WDTV 5
The Charleston Daily Mail
WBOY 12
The Clarksburg Conservative Examiner
WTRF 7
The Inter Mountain
The Exponent Telegram
WAJR
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
