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 Case Updates with Photos
Alice Mae Van Alstine
Van Alstine, date, approximate 1976; Lee Andre
Date Missing 03/26/1976
Missing From
Polk County, Iowa
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 07/23/1947 (75)
Age 28 years old
Height and Weight 5'7, 128 pounds
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Van Alstine's maiden name is Barnes. Some agencies spell her last name "VanAlstine."
Details of Disappearance Van Alstine was last seen in Polk County, Iowa on the evening of March 26, 1976, when she put her young children to bed in their home in the 4300 block of northeast 29th Street. When her children woke up, Van Alstine was gone. She has never been heard from again.
Although the nighttime temperatures were close to freezing, Van Alstine didn't take her coat or shoes with her. She also left behind her purse, her money and her car, with the door open and the keys in the ignition. Neighbors reported her missing on April 4.
There was a broken bottle on the floor of Van Alstine's apartment after her disappearance, as well as some bullet casings, but this may not have been significant. She was a very good sharpshooter who had been on on the rifle team at Iowa State University. She and her first husband, Lee Harlow Andre, would practice shooting indoors, using the walls, mattresses, and piles of magazines to absorb the bullets.
A photo of Andre is posted with this summary. He was violent towards her and beat her while she was pregnant; two of their four children were born handicapped as a result, and a third suffered from epilepsy. At the time of her disappearance, three of the children lived with her and another resided in a state institution.
Van Alstine married Andre in 1967. She divorced him on January 3, 1975 and married another man that same day, but got a divorce from him less than a year later. After her disappearance, the police issued a warrant out for her arrest for child desertion.
Andre wanted custody of their children and he admitted he'd stopped by her house the day she went missing to discuss the matter. He said he didn't believe foul play was involved in her .
Van Alstine had been a member of Minutemen, a right-wing paramilitary organization. The group believed Communists would take over America and they armed themselves and prepared for an anticipated counter-revolution. Andre had also been a member of the group.
Van Alstine left the Minutemen not long before her disappearance and gave the police information about their stockpiles of weapons, ammunition and explosives. Her family believes she was assassinated by its members or sympathizers as a result; Van Alstine had allegedly feared for her life.
There's no hard evidence to support this theory, however, and the Minutemen organization remains active in Iowa.
Van Alstine graduated from Albia High School in 1965 at the top of her class and enrolled in Iowa State University to study veterinary science, but had to drop out of college due to financial problems. She enjoyed art and poetry writing and hoped to illustrate a veterinary textbook someday.
Although there's no hard evidence of foul play in Van Alstine's , she was a devoted parent and close to her family and her disappearance is completely out of character.
Authorities believe she may have been taken against her will, but the has grown cold and many of the original records in the investigation were destroyed in a flood in 1993. Foul play is suspected in her disappearance, which remains unsolved.
Some agencies give the date of Van Alstine's disappearance as April 2, 1976.
Investigating Agency
Polk County Sheriff's Office
515-286-3333
Other
Iowa Missing Person Information Clearinghouse
The Des Moines Register
Iowa Cold s
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 Case Updates with Photos