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
Mary Sue Kitts
Mary, date, approximate 1974; Clarence Allen in the 1970s; Allen, date, approximate 2006
Date Missing 07/01/1974
Missing From
Fresno, California
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 11/01/1956 (65)
Age 17 years old
Height and Weight 5'1, 100 pounds
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, gray/hazel eyes. Mary has a dime-sized birthmark in the middle of her back and a small scar on the left side of her chin.
Details of Disappearance Mary was last seen in Fresno, California sometime during July 1974. She has never been heard from again. Her parents did not report her missing until November of that year. Her disappearance was intially considered to be a runaway .
The month before Mary went missing, Clarence Ray Allen, Clarence's son Roger, and other accomplices burglarized Fran's Market in Fresno. The burglars stole $500 in cash and $10,000 in money orders. Mary was Roger's live-in girlfriend at the time. After the burglary, she told Bryon Schletewitz, whose parents were the owners of Fran's Market, that the Allens had burglarized the store and she had helped cash the money orders.
Schletewitz confronted Roger about this and he admitted he and his father had committed the crime. Clarence was furious when he found out what Mary had done and ordered her murder. An accomplice, Eugene Leland "Lee" Furrow, strangled her to death and her body was wrapped up, weighted with stones and dumped in the Friant-Kern Canal.
In 1977, Clarence was convicted of burglarizing Fran's Market and murdering Mary, and sentenced to life in prison. Furrow, who said Clarence threatened to kill him as well if he didn't murder Mary, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder.
After his conviction, Clarence ordered the murders of eight of the witnesses who had testified against him in the Mary trial, including Schletewitz and Schletewitz's father.
In 1980, two hired killers went to Fran's Market and murdered Schletewitz and two teenage store employees who happened to be present. A fourth victim at the store was also shot, but survived. The perpetrators were arrested before they could carry out additional murders.
Clarence was later convicted of three counts of murder and sentenced to death for his role in the crime. His son Kenneth, who supplied ammunition and transportation to the contract killers, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Clarence was executed by lethal injection in January 2006, although his attorneys tried to get his sentence commuted because he was 76 years old and in poor health. Photographs of Clarence are posted with this summary.
Foul play is suspected in Mary's due to the circumstances involved. Her remains have never been located.
Investigating Agency
Fresno Police Department
559-621-2455
Other
The San Francisco Chronicle
The Fresno Bee
The Doe Network
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
