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
Laurel Leigh Silver-Valker
Silver-Valker, date, approximate 2015
Date Missing 12/29/2015
Missing From
Catalina Island, California
Missing Classification Lost/Injured Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 06/25/1970 (52)
Age 45 years old
Height and Weight 5'5, 160 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A black wetsuit and a white dive tank.
Medical Conditions Silver-Valker suffers from fibromyalgia, and also injured her back several years prior to her disappearance. She has chronic pain as a result.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, green eyes. Silver-Valker has a gap between her two front teeth. Her ears are pierced.
Details of Disappearance Silver-Valker was last seen on December 29, 2015. She went scuba-divingoff Ship Rock at Catalina Island in California to look for lobsters at 9:35 a.m. She went down without a diving partner or a buoyancy vest. The last time anyone saw her, she was fifteen to twenty feet below and gave a thumbs-up sign to the dive captain. She never resurfaced.
Silver-Valker is a very experienced diver who was close to making her 1,000th dive. She started diving about sixteen years prior to her disappearance, as a form of therapy to help with her chronic pain. She had gone diving in the Ship Rock area many times before and was very familiar with it.
She had taken the 43-foot commercial passenger vessel,Sundiver Express, to the dive site. It was captained by Kyaa Heller. Silver-Valker was a regular on the Sundiver Express and sometimes even volunteered as a crew member on the dive boat.
For some reason, that day Silver-Valker's name was not on the roster of passengers. This was part of the reason no one realized she was missing until after the Sundiver Express arrived at the next dive site, about twenty minutes away. Heller notified the Coast Guard of her disappearance at approximately 12:00 p.m., two and a half hours after she was last seen.
The Coast Guard investigated Silver-Valker's disappearance and filed a complaint against Heller for negligence. She could have defended herself in court before a federal administrative law judge, but opted to voluntarily surrender her credentials instead. She is no longer authorized to serve as the master of a commercial vessel.
This is not the first time a vessel owned by the Sundiver company left a diver behind. In 2010, a court awarded $1.68 million to Daniel Carlock, who was left behind while diving off a Sundiver boat and spent several hours floating off the coast of Newport Beach, California until he was found by some Boy Scouts and rescued.
Silver-Valker was born in Santa Monica, California and studied at Concordia University and California State University at Fullerton. She taught special education classes at several different schools before going on permanent disability because of her back problems and fibromyalgia. Her body has never been found. Tustin, California police are investigating.
Investigating Agency
Tustin Police Department
714-573-3200
Other
California Attorney General's Office
Laurel Silver-Valker's Twitter Account
Laurel's Memorial Fundraiser
The Orange County Register
NBC Los Angeles
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