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

Dana Lynn Turner







Turner, date, approximate 2011; Gene "Bones" Morris
Date Missing 09/22/2011
Missing From
Chesapeake City, Virginia
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 12/16/1967 (54)
Age 43 years old
Height and Weight 5'9, 150 pounds
Medical Conditions Turner has high cholesterol. She was going through menopause at the time of her disappearance. She was taking prescription medication and may be in need of medical attention.
Associated Vehicle(s) Rented Honda Accord (accounted for)
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Turner may use the last names Canady and/or Turner-Canady. She has pierced ears.
Details of Disappearance Turner was last seen in Chesapeake City, Virginia. She has never been heard from again. At the time of her disappearance, she was stressed because of a divorce and financial problems; she'd lost her job at a home restoration company and her unemployment benefits had run out.
In a conversation with her mother, Patricia Merna, Turner said she was leaving the following night to go to North Carolina for a job cleaning model homes. She was supposed to be back within three days, on September 22, but she never returned.
A man came to the home Turner shared with her sister, looking for Turner. He said he could take her to the Honda Accord Turner rented. Someone other than her had returned it to the Avis rental agency on Battlefield Boulevard north and dropped the key in the after-hours box.
Turner was a regular customer at the rental agency. When the car was returned, it was dirty and the gas tank was nearly empty, which is uncharacteristic of her. On Friday, September 23, her mother and sister reported her missing.
After her disappearance, one of Turner's friends told Merna that Turner had been picking up marijuana from New York City and Atlanta, Georgia and transporting it to the Chesapeake City area. Turner is known to have smoked marijuana, but Merna wasn't aware she was involved in distributing the drug. Her involvement with drugs may have contributed to her disappearance.
Gene "Bones" Morris II was possibly connected to Turner's disappearance; he had served time for manslaughter in connection with a 1996 shooting. A photo of Morris is posted with this summary. Turner knew him because she'd helped repair his house, and he sometimes took his children to visit her.
Morris told Merna he dropped her off in Chesapeake City on September 22, the day she was supposed to come back home from her North Carolina job. He agreed to meet with her parents to discuss Turner's disappearance, but never arrived at the meeting.
In early 2012, Morris and another man, Dale L. Sparrow, were charged with burglarizing two apartments. Sparrow was found guilty and sentenced to 45 years in prison, but Morris committed suicide in his jail cell in February 2012. While he was in custody he had a phone conversation with his father saying he had information about a woman who disappeared from Chesapeake City.
Authorities searched his apartment and found an overnight bag with Turner's mail and prescription medication, trash bags containing her clothing and hairbrush and traces of blood matching Turner's DNA in the bathtub. After Morris's death, Sparrow claimed Morris had confessed to killing Turner. He supposedly shot her in the head, put her body in a restaurant dumpster and stole over 70 pounds of marijuana from her, which he tried to give to Sparrow.
Authorities have named Morris as a person of interest in Turner's disappearance, but he never faced charges in connection with it and neither has anyone else. In 2012, Merna had her declared ly dead so she could settle her daughter's affairs, such as sell her house.
A witness testified at the hearing, saying she'd seen Turner's body in the bedroom of Morris's apartment and helped him cover up her death. Among other things, she had put on a blonde wig so she would look like Turner and then returned her car to the Avis agency and wiped down its interior.
It's uncharacteristic of Turner to leave without warning or be out of touch with her family, and since she went missing she hasn't used her cellular phone or credit cards. Foul play is strongly suspected in her , but it remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Chesapeake City Police Department
757-312-0287
Other
Virginia State Police
The Virginian-Pilot
WVEC 13
Newsplex
NamUs

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