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.

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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

Herlinda Ann Soto
missing 2023 updates
Herlinda, date, approximate 1993
Date Missing 07/02/1993
Missing From
El Paso, Texas
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
Hispanic
Date of Birth 03/04/1950 (72)
Age 43 years old
Height and Weight 5'6, 150 pounds
Associated Vehicle(s) 1989 Mercury Tracer (accounted for)
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Hispanic female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Herlinda's nickname is Linda.
Details of Disappearance Herlinda's former husband, Ulises Soto, picked up their two young sons from her three-bedroom house in the 1500 block of Bill Ogden Drive in El Paso, Texas on July 2, 1993. A friend spoke to Herlinda on the phone at 11:00 p.m. that day, and this is the last time anyone had contact with her.
Ulises returned to the house on July 5 at 6:00 p.m. to drop the children off, and discovered both Herlinda and her 1989 Mercury Tracer had vanished. There was obvious evidence of a violent struggle inside the residence; police stated it was the bloodiest scene they'd seen in years.
Blood was smeared on the garage floor and on the floor and three to four feet up the walls inside the house near the front entrance; Herlinda normally slept on a cot near the front door. A trail of blood led through the garage out to the driveway where her car was normally parked.
There was enough blood to indicate Herlinda could not have survived her injuries. There was no sign of forced entry to the house, but one of the garage doors did not lock.
Herlinda's vehicle was discovered abandoned later that day in the 12400 block of Rojas Drive. This was an undeveloped industrial area at the edge of the desert, four miles from her home. Her blood was in the trunk of the car, and investigators believe her body may have been there, but there was no sign of her at the scene and she has never been seen again.
She was employed as a health inspector for the El Paso City-County Health and Environmental District at the time of her disappearance, and was also an Army reservist. She is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm and served eight months in Saudi Arabia as part of her military duty.
She and Ulises met in 1980 and married in 1983; Ulises filed for divorce while Herlinda was in Saudi Arabia. Their divorce was contentious; Ulises originally got full custody of their sons after alleging Herlinda abused them. Herlinda claimed this was a lie and that she suffered from battered wife syndrome.
She regained custody of the boys shortly before she vanished, and also received the family home as part of the divorce settlement. Ulises lived about five miles away and had visitation the children every other weekend.
He maintains his innocence in his ex-wife's disappearance and he could account for his whereabouts at the time Herlinda vanished. After she went missing, he and their sons moved to Puerto Rico, where he is originally from.
Herlinda's loved ones describe her as responsible and conscientious woman who would be unlikely to leave without telling anyone. Authorities believe that she was probably attacked inside her house and probably beaten to death at the scene. They believe more than one person was involved in the crime, but they don't think robbery was a motive, as Herlinda kept no valuables in her home.
Strangely, prior to her disappearance, Herlinda told others she had a premonition that someone would murder her and bury her body in the desert where it would never be found.
Authorities have two suspects in Herlinda's disappearance; neither of them have been publicly identified. Her remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
El Paso Police Department
915-564-7010
915-564-7018
Other
El Paso Police Department
The El Paso Times
KFOX-TV
NamUs