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
Amy B. Sher
Sher, date, approximate 2002
Date Missing 10/18/2002
Missing From
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 04/22/1964 (58)
Age 38 years old
Height and Weight 5'6, 110 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description Business attire.
Associated Vehicle(s) 1994 Pontiac
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, hazel eyes. Sher wears eyeglasses with large plastic frames. She may use her maiden name, Pomerantz.
Details of Disappearance Sher left her job in the finance department at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts early on October 14, 2002. She said she didn't feel well. For the next two days, she called in sick. At 10:00 a.m. on October 17, her husband, Robert Desmond, telephoned Sher's boss and said she would not be able to report to work again.
The day after that, Desmond contacted Sher's employer again, asking for her email address; he stated Sher wanted to send her boss an email but was "unable to do it herself." A few minutes later Sher's boss got an email from Desmond with an attached resignation letter from Sher. She never collected her last paychecks.
Sher's boss became concerned about the situation and contacted police, who spoke to Desmond. He said his wife had left him voluntarily and under "amicable" circumstances on October 18, four days after she was last seen at work. He said he dropped her off at the Alwife train station in Cambridge, Massachusetts at noon and never saw her again.
As there was no evidence that Desmond's story was untrue or that any harm had come to Sher, no further investigative action was taken at that time.
Sher was estranged from most of her family at the time of her disappearance. They stated she began to have differences with them when she began dating Desmond in the early 1990s. Desmond allegedly made threatening telephone calls to Sher's relatives, and they got a restraining order in 1994 which forbade him to contact them.
At the time of her disappearance, Sher was living with Desmond and their young son in Billerica, Massachusetts. Her family was unaware of her son's existence, as she had kept the child's birth a secret.
She was not reported missing for eighteen months; her estranged relatives told the police of her disappearance after they hired a private detective to find her and the detective discovered that Desmond and Sher's son were living together without her.
When investigators questioned Desmond again about his wife's disappearance, he repeated that she had left voluntarily and he assumed she was fine.
Authorities do not believe Sher disappeared of her own volition and are investigating her disappearance as a potential homicide.
Sher's family and co-workers stated that Desmond has a violent temper and severely abused her physically and emotionally, and she had to keep Desmond constantly informed of her whereabouts. She had been very close to her family before becoming involved with Desmond.
He has not been charged in connection with his wife's disappearance, however, and continues to maintain that she simply left him.
Sher's driver's license lapsed after her disappearance and has not been renewed. Her 1994 Pontiac has also not been re-registered. Sher is a graduate of Brookline High School and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor; she has a degree in engineering and hospital maintenance. Desmond is her second husband; she divorced the first in 1990 after a two-year marriage.
She was raised in a Jewish family, but Desmond is a Christian. Her loved ones do not believe she would have abandoned her son. Billerica police are investigating Sher's disappearance and foul play is suspected.
Investigating Agency
Billerica Police Department
978-671-0900
Other
NamUs
CBS 4
The Billerica Minuteman
The Brookline TAB
Amy Sher is Missing
America's Most Wanted
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
