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
Kyeimah A. Spann
Kyeimah, date, approximate 2005; Samara Spann
Date Missing 01/01/2005
Missing From
Seattle, Washington
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
Black
Date of Birth 09/30/1998 (24)
Age 6 years old
Height and Weight 2'6, 45 pounds
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes.
Details of Disappearance Authorities believe Kyeimah's mother, Samara Laverne Spann, also known as Samara Bainhart and/or Terri Spann, murdered her at their home on December 31, 2004 or January 1, 2005. They lived in the 10400 block of 10th Avenue southwest in Seattle, Washington. A photo of Samara is posted with this summary.
Neighbors reported hearing Samara cursing and screaming outside her home for nearly an hour that night. They called the police after she fired a gunshot from her back porch at approximately 1:00 a.m. Authorities went to the residence and spoke to Samara, but left without making any arrests.
On January 11, 2005, Samara called the Washington Department of Social and Health Services (DSH) and asked for Kyeimah's name to be taken off her welfare grant, saying the child had gone to stay with her grandmother in Missouri. Samara, her infant son and her fourteen-year-old daughter moved to California in mid-February.
Shortly thereafter, the DSH received a tip that Samara had drowned Kyeimah. On February 22, DSH officials contacted the police in Washington and asked them to check on Kyeimah's welfare. Authorities in Washington couldn't locate the girl. In March, Samara's father reported Kyeimah missing, saying he'd received calls from different people saying Samara had drowned her.
Samara was arrested in Sacramento, California in March 2005 on an unrelated charge of abusing her older daughter. When confronted by police about Kyeimah, she said Kyeimah was with her biological father. Kyeimah's father, however, didn't have her and said he didn't know where she was.
Samara's children had been removed from her custody by child protection authorities three times on suspicion of neglect or abuse, and each time they were returned to her. Complaints had been made in three states about possible abuse in Samara's home, but the family moved frequently and social workers had a hard time keeping track of them.
Samara was charged with Kyeimah's murder in June 2005. According to court documents, she drowned the her daughter in the bathtub because she thought Kyeimah was a "demon child." Samara left the body in the house for two days, then decapitated it, wrapped it in a blanket and a heavy chain, put it in a laundry bin and threw it off a bridge into the Elochoman River.
In May 2007, she was pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in her daughter's death and sentenced to 23 years in prison. She apologized at sentencing and said that at the time, she'd been unaware of the wrongfulness of her actions.
In spite of searches by law enforcement, Kyeimah's body has never been found.
Investigating Agency
King County Sheriff's Office
206-205-7810
Other
NamUs
Washington State Missing Persons Information
Find A Grave
The Seattle Times
KIRO TV
The Augusta Chronicle
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