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
Dashad Laquinn Smith
Smith, date, approximate 2012
Date Missing 11/20/2012
Missing From
Charlottesville, Virginia
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Male
Race
Black
Date of Birth 12/13/1992 (29)
Age 19 years old
Height and Weight 5'8 - 5'11, 130 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A black jacket, dark gray sweatpants, a black scarf, gray and black rain boots with pink and purple lining, and possibly a bleached hooded sweatshirt.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics African-American male. Black hair, brown eyes. Smith was born male and previously identified as gay, but before her disappearance had just started identifying as a transgender woman, using the name Sage. She had long hair, usually worn in braids, and wore women's clothing and wigs. Media accounts may use Smith's name, Dashad, or her adopted name, Sage, and may refer to Smith by either male or female pronouns. Her ears and eyebrow are pierced.
Details of Disappearance Smith was last seen walking in the 500 Block of west Main Street in Charlottesville, Virginia at 6:30 p.m. on November 20, 2012. She had contacted Erik McFadden, whom she had met online, and they made plans to meet near the Amtrak station. The pair had been exchanging texts and calls for weeks and had met before, and Smith accepted money in exchange from the promise to keep herself a secret from McFadden's girlfriend.
Smith has never been heard from again. Her family reported her missing after she missed Thanksgiving dinner two days later. Since her disappearance, her cellular phone has been turned off, which is unusual for her. She always kept it charged and turned on.
McFadden left town shortly after Smith's disappearance and his girlfriend reported him missing on November 24. He called the police on November 27 and spoke to them on the phone, saying he was in New York. He said Smith never showed up for their planned meeting and he didn't know what happened to her. When the police told him he should return to Virginia, he hung up on them.
On November 29, McFadden's girlfriend told police he was taking a bus back to Charlottesville and expected the police to pick him up. The next day, however, McFadden's girlfriend said he had changed his mind. He emailed his girlfriend saying Smith had been blackmailing him, threatening to tell the girlfriend they had had sex. He said he did, in fact, meet with Smith on the day of her disappearance, but he did not know what happened to her and that Smith "had a lot of enemies."
Authorities still want to question McFadden in person; they consider him a person of interest in Smith's disappearance. The last sign of him was an email he sent to his girlfriend in May 2013, from an untraceable email address.
McFadden's mother and stepmother have not heard from him since 2012 and they believe he may be dead. In June 2019, his mother reported him missing to the Charlottesville Police Department.
Smith is a 2011 graduate of Charlottesville High School, and took cosmetology classes. She was raised by her grandmother for much of her childhood, then returned to her mother's care, then spent time in foster care after her mother was deemed unfit. She had recently moved in with roommates in an apartment on Harris Street.
Smith's disappearance is now being investigated as a homicide. McFadden isn't the only person of interest; one of Smith's roommates was caught using her food stamp card after her disappearance, and another friend was seen wearing a locket belonging to Smith, although the woman claimed her boyfriend gave it to her.
Smith's remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Charlottesville Police Department
434-970-3280
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Facebook Page for Dashad Smith
The Hook
WVIR-TV
News One
Virginia State Police
NBC 29
Splinter News
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