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

Brittney Ann Beers






Brittney, date, approximate 1997; Age-progression at age 25 (date, approximate 2016); Composite sketch of person seen speaking to Brittney; Daniel Furlong in 2015
Date Missing 09/16/1997
Missing From
Sturgis, Michigan
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 08/01/1991 (31)
Age 6 years old
Height and Weight 4'0, 45 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A white tank top or t-shirt with a floral design, pink tie-dyed shorts and white sneakers with a pink design on the sides. Her shoelaces had a red stripe down the center.
Associated Vehicle(s) Mid-sized red car or a brown Renault
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Brittney was missing her four upper baby teeth at the time of her 1997 disappearance. She often wore her hair pulled back into a ponytail.
Details of Disappearance Brittney was playing outside of her family's residence at Village Manor Apartments during the evening hours of September 16, 1997. She went outside to ride her bicycle at approximately 7:30 p.m. Brittney's mother, Tina Stetler, left to run errands at approximately 8:30 p.m. and saw her daughter riding her bicycle around the neighborhood at that time.
Brittney's half-brother told authorities he saw his sister sitting on a bench about five minutes after their mother departed. A witness told investigators that he saw Brittney speaking to an unidentified male driving a red or brown mid-size vehicle shortly thereafter. Brittney walked over to the witness and told him that she "made a new friend." Brittney has never been seen again.
Stetler returned home at approximately 9:05 p.m. and asked Brittney's brother to find her. The authorities were summoned when the child could not be located near the apartment complex, which is located on U.S. 12, the major thoroughfare through Sturgis. Brittney's bicycle was discovered abandoned shortly after she was last seen.
Sketches of the unidentified man seen speaking to Brittney were distributed through the area in the days following her disappearance. One of the sketches is posted with this summary. It is not known if the man is connected to her . He was in his late twenties or early thirties with short dark hair and a thick mustache and was driving either a mid-sized red car or a brown Renault. Police are still looking for the man; he is not being called a suspect, but a witness whom they would like to question.
Michigan courts removed Brittney's older brother and younger sister from the family's home in 1998 after allegations of child physical and sexual abuse and neglect were issued. Brittney's father, Raymond Beers; his brother, James Beers; and Kevin Folsom, the father of one of her half-brothers, were allegedly involved in the abuse of the children. Folsom was imprisoned for molesting Brittney, but he was released in 2008.
Brittney's received more publicity in 2000 after the arrest of a St. Clair Shores, Michigan man who had images of child sexual abuse saved on his computer. One of the victims resembled Brittney, but was later determined not to be the missing girl.
In 2015, police named Daniel Furlong as a person of interest in Brittney's abduction. He abducted, sexually assaulted and strangled an eleven-year-old girl, Jodi Parrack, in 2007. The murder was not solved until 2015, after Furlong abducted a ten-year-old girl who subsequently escaped from him. After he became a suspect in the child's abduction, he provided a DNA sample which linked him to Jodi's murder. He subsequently confessed to the murder, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. He stated he'd picked Jodi at random and that he'd intended to kill the ten-year-old he kidnapped.
Furlong bears a striking resemblance to the sketch of the man seen with Brittney prior to her disappearance, his known crimes were similar to Brittney's disappearance, and Jodi closely resembled her. He has maintained his innocence in her , but remains one of the few persons of interest. A photo of Furlong is posted with this summary.
Brittney's remains open and unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Sturgis Police Department
269-651-3231
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Child Protection Education of America
The Detroit Free Press
The Holland Sentinel
America's Most Wanted
The South Bend Tribune
North American Missing Persons Network
Michigan Department of Corrections
WSBT
WWMT
The Sturgis Journal

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