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.



Missing Person Photos

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

Jennifer Long
missing 2023 updates
missing 2023 updates
missing 2023 updates
missing 2023 updates
Long, date, approximate 1998; Wesley Ira Purkey
Date Missing 01/22/1998
Missing From
Kansas City, Missouri
Missing Classification Non-Family Abduction
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 12/22/1981 (40)
Age 16 years old
Height and Weight 5'9, 170 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A white t-shirt, a green and black jacket, jeans and sneakers.
Associated Vehicle(s) White 1989 Ford pickup truck
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Jennifer has a chicken pox scar on her right cheek. Her ears are pierced.
Details of Disappearance Jennifer was last seen at East High School in Kansas City, Missouri on January 22, 1998. She was a sophomore at the school at the time. She attended her first two morning classes, then got into a fight with some other students and left the campus at 9:30 a.m.
Jennifer apparently went to a nearby grocery store afterwards, where she met Wesley Ira Purkey, a local handyman who had interviewed for a plumbing job in the area that morning. She got into his white 1989 Ford pickup truck and has never been heard from again.
Initially, authorities believed Jennifer left of her own accord. She had an unstable home life, and she had recently transferred from Ruskin High School and felt unsafe in her new school. However, she was about to take her driver's license test, and her family maintained that she would never have run away from home. Eventually her disappearance was reclassified as an abduction.
Purkey confessed to Jennifer's murder in December 1998, while he was in jail awaiting trial for murdering an elderly woman in her home. He has a long criminal record and was addicted to alcohol and drugs in 1998. He stated he would assist in the investigation if he was transferred from a state prison to a federal prison. He was charged in Jennifer's death in October 2001.
Purkey stated he had forcibly abducted Jennifer, taken her to his home in Lansing, Kansas, raped her and stabbed her to death. He claimed he dismembered her body and burned it in a fireplace, then dumped what was left in a septic pond. He led investigators to the place where he said he discarded Jennifer's jawbone and her undergarments. Authorities searched several areas for her remains, but never found anything.
Purkey was convicted of Jennifer's murder in 2003. A photo of him is posted with this summary. During the penalty phase of his trial, he changed his story slightly: he still admitted to killing Jennifer, but said he had not abducted her and she had gone to his home willingly. He said he fabricated the kidnapping part of the story because he wanted Jennifer's murder to be considered a federal crime and prosecuted in federal court.
Purkey apologized to Jennifer's father before his sentence was handed down. He was sentenced to death for the crime, and executed by lethal injection in July 2020; his was the first federal execution since 2003.
There was a report that Jennifer's remains were found in January 2004, but the report was false and she is still missing. Foul play is suspected in her due to the circumstances involved.
Investigating Agency
Kansas City Police Department
816-234-5000
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
CNN
The Lawrence Journal-World
The Chanute Tribune
The Wichita Eagle
The Kansas City Star
U. S. Attorney Western District of Missouri
The Associated Press
Missouri Missing
KCTV 5

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.



Missing Person Photos

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