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
Katelin Michelle Akens
Akens, date, approximate 2015; Age-progression to age 24 (date, approximate 2020); Akens's tattoos
Date Missing 12/05/2015
Missing From
Springfield, Virginia
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 09/02/1996 (26)
Age 19 years old
Height and Weight 5'4, 122 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A dark gray fleece pullover sweatshirt with a Bass Pro Shop emblem, black pants and pink and black Vans shoes.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Akens has a tattoo of five butterflies on her left forearm and a tattoo of three red stars bursting on the top of her foot; photos of her tattoos are posted below this summary. She wears eyeglasses with dark frames. Her nose and navel are pierced and the right side of her lower lip is pierced. She also has gauge-type piercings in her ears.
Details of Disappearance Akens was last seen in Springfield, Virginia on December 5, 2015. She was supposed to fly out of Reagan National Airport that day, and got a ride with her former stepfather,James Branton. She had booked a flight to Arizona, where she lived with her fiancee.
The flight was at 5:00 p.m. According to Branton, Akens wanted to spend some time at the mall before going to the airport, so he dropped her off at the Springfield Town Center. From there she was going to walk to the Franconia-Springfield Metro station and take a train to the airport.
Branton texted Akens's mother at 1:52 p.m., saying he had dropped Akens off. Eight minutes later, her mother got a text from Akens's phone saying, "I'm at the airport. Battery dying so won't be able to text for a bit." Akens never boarded her flight, however. She never arrived in Arizona and has never been heard from again.
Five hours and fifteen minutes after Akens's mother got the text from her daughter's phone, she got a series of texts from that number that alarmed her. The texts stated Akens was "staying with a friend" and "needed some time alone." Those messages were not sent from the airport; Katelin's phone was near Interstate 95 in Stafford County, Virginia.
It's uncharacteristic of Akens to leave without warning. She was was about to begin cosmetology school in Arizona and was excited about it. Authorities do not believe she left of her own accord, and they were able to prove that Branton never dropped her off at the mall like he said he did.
A few days after her disappearance, her blue suit was found in a drainage ditch along River Road, near the Fall Hill Avenue intersection, outside Fredericksburg, Virginia. This was a few miles from Branton's home, and not anywhere near Reagan National airport.
When the suit was found, it was unzipped and mostly empty. Akens's phone charger, eyeglasses, wallet, cash, identification, credit and debit cards, and other belongings were still inside it, but her clothes and her high school diploma were missing. The suit was scuffed and one of its wheels was missing, an indication that it had fallen down into the ditch.
Akens has no history of mental illness and no history of dropping out of sight. The last confirmed sighting of her was at Branton's home. He refused to cooperate with the police in her , would not let them look at his phone and would not take a polygraph test.
Akens's remains unsolved; she's considered missing under suspicious circumstances.
Investigating Agency
Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office
540-582-7115
Other
Virginia State Police
USA Today
The Free Lance-Star
Kingstowne/Rose Hill Patch
Katelin Akens's Facebook Page
Facebook Page for Katelin Akens
WRIC 8
NBC 12
People Magazine
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
NamUs
Second Facebook Page for Katelin Akens
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Fox 5 DC
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