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
Micki Jo West
West, date, approximate 1979; Marvin Irvin
Date Missing 09/11/1979
Missing From
St. Joseph, Missouri
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 09/25/1959 (63)
Age 19 years old
Height and Weight 5'6, 140 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A white hospital work uniform, a khaki coat and white shoes. Carrying a white purse.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. West wears eyeglasses, which have her name "Micki" printed down the side of the right lens. She may spell her name "Mikki."
Details of Disappearance West was last seen in St. Joseph, Missouri at 6:00 a.m. on September 11, 1979. She left her home in the 1400 block of Oliver Street en route to St. Joseph State Hospital, where she worked as a nurse's aide. She planned to catch a bus at 15th and Messanie Street, but she apparently never made it to the bus stop and has never been heard from again. She never picked up her last paycheck.
Marvin Lee Irvin allegedly threatened West prior to her disappearance, and she carried a hammer in her purse for protection as a result. A photo of Irvin is posted with this summary. His wife was West's best friend and sister-in-law.
In 1991, Irvin, a former police officer, confessed to West's murder. He had been investigated as a suspect shortly after West's disappearance and her family believed he was involved, but he passed a polygraph and there was little evidence to implicate him. Police later admitted they made mistakes in the investigation, such as by failing to search Irvin's vehicle.
Irvin stated he stabbed West four times in the chest as she sat in his car, shot her twice, then buried her body in a cornfield in Highland, Kansas. He also confessed to killing two other women, Patricia Diane Rose and Crystal Lynn Simmons, and burying them in the same field. A search turned up Simmons and Rose's bodies, but there was no sign of West.
Irvin pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the two s where his victims' bodies were found. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in West's , on the condition that the state would not seek the death penalty against him. He was sentenced to life in prison. West's body has never been located.
Investigating Agency
St. Joseph Police Department
816-271-4701
Other
The Doe Network
The Kansas City Star
The Wichita Eagle
The Salina Journal
NamUs
The St. Joseph News-Press
The Fort Scott Tribune
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
