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
Melissa Diane McGuinn
Melissa, date, approximate 1988; Age-progression to age 32 (date, approximate 2018); Wanda Reed, date, approximate 1988
Date Missing 03/06/1988
Missing From
Trenton, New Jersey
Missing Classification Non-Family Abduction
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 08/03/1987 (35)
Age 7 months old
Height and Weight 2'4, 16 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A dark pink hooded sweater, white flowered quilted overalls and pink socks.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Melissa has a pigmentation mark on her right tricep. Some agencies spell her last name "McQuinn."
Details of Disappearance Melissa's family lived with two roommates, Wanda Faye Reed and her common-law husband, in the 600 block of Lamberton Street in Trenton, New Jersey in 1988. Reed is mentally disabled and functions at the level of a four- to seven-year-old child. A photo of her is posted with this summary.
On March 6, 1988, Reed asked Melissa's mother, Rebecca McGuinn, for permission to take the baby for a walk. Rebecca consented and Reed left with the baby. When she returned, just eight minutes later, she had a neighbor with her and Melissa was gone. The child has never been seen again.
Reed told several conflicting stories to explain Melissa's disappearance. At first she claimed an unidentified African-American man jumped out of a car, knocked her down and took Melissa. She later said she had dropped or thrown the baby into the Delaware River. A third story implicated the neighbor woman who accompanied Reed home that day; Reed said she'd given the baby to the woman in exchange for drugs.
An extensive search of the river turned up no sign of Melissa, and it would have been difficult for Reed to have walked the distance there and back within the eight-minute time frame. The neighbor whom Reed claimed had bought Melissa denied having had anything to do with the baby's disappearance and she was cooperative with the investigation, as were Melissa's parents.
It's possible Reed harmed the baby because she was jealous. The night before Melissa's disappearance, there was a party at the house and the guests paid attention to Melissa while ignoring Reed's two-month-old son. Reed allegedly had two other children who had been placed for adoption sometime prior to 1988.
Two days after Melissa's disappearance, Reed was charged with kidnapping. She was found incompetent to stand trial and the charges were dropped in December 1989. Reed was then sent to live in a facility for mentally disabled individuals. She now lives with relatives.
Melissa's family moved to Arkansas after her disappearance. Her father died in 2008, but her mother and two brothers are still alive. Rebecca traveled to New Jersey in 2011, took a polygraph about her daughter's disappearance, and passed; she was ruled out as a suspect in the investigation.
Melissa's is classified as a non-family abduction due to the unclear circumstances involved in her disappearance. Her remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Trenton Police Department
609-989-4144
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Child Protection Education of America
APB News
The Trentonian
The Philadelphia Daily News
New Jersey State Police
The Mercer County Times
The Daily Mail
Facebook Page for Melissa McGuinn
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
