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

Mazie Mae Sigmon-Palmer
Sigmon-Palmer, date, approximate 1979; John "Jay" Farley
Date Missing 07/14/1979
Missing From
Charleston, West Virginia
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 11/24/1954 (67)
Age 24 years old
Height and Weight 5'6, 115 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A pink or orange blouse, blue Lee jeans, sandals, dangly earrings and possibly a gold ring set with a small diamond. Carrying a small blue purse with silver trim and a shoulder strap.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown/hazel eyes. Sigmon-Palmer's ears are double-pierced. She has scars on her wrist and chin, a surgical scar on her breast, and a scar on the bottom of her right foot from having stepped on a nail. She has Type O-positive blood. She wears a size 8 in pants, a dress size 10, a size 34D bra, and a shoe size 6 1/2 or 7. Sigmon-Palmer may use the alias date of birth June 3, 1960; that is her sister's date of birth, and she has her sister's birth certificate. She smokes menthol cigarettes. She may use the alias names Mae Boomer, Shirley Coffman, Lil Darko, Lilly Goldberg, Beverly Harpold, Mae Josephson, Lilly Kaniple, Roberta Mahoney and/or Cindy Shamblin.
Details of Disappearance Sigmon-Palmer was last seen in Charleston, West Virginia on July 14, 1979. She had divorced three months earlier, and lived with her parents in the 1600 block of Grapevine Road in Sissonville, West Virginia. That night she went out on a date with 18-year-old John Eric "Jay" Farley.
Farley and Sigmon-Palmer had been dating for the past few weeks, but his father stated the couple was not "going steady." A photo of Farley is posted with this summary.
Sigmon-Palmer and Farley met that night at the Roarin' 20s, a now-defunct nightclub in the 200 block of Hale Street in Charleston. Sometime after 11:00 p.m., they hitched a ride together to the King's Inn nightclub in the 1600 block of Second Avenue. Before getting out of the vehicle, Sigmon-Palmer said "Oh, he's in there." The person driving the car didn't know who she was referring to, and she didn't specify.
They went inside the King's Inn and took a table on the ground floor with a friend. Sigmon-Palmer then said she was going to the second floor to talk to someone. A few minutes later, Farley followed her. Neither of them was ever seen alive again.
When Sigmon-Palmer didn't return home the next day, her family wasn't initially concerned, because she often spent the night elsewhere. Farley didn't come home either, and his family was concerned, because it was uncharacteristic of him to stay out without telling anyone.
Both of their parents eventually reported them missing, but the police didn't realize there was any connection between the s until January 1980, six months after they went missing. The authorities initially thought the couple might have just run away together. However, they both left all their clothes, jewelry, money and belongings behind at home, neither owned a vehicle, and Farley wasn't even a licensed driver.
In May 1984, almost five years after the couple disappeared, Farley's badly weathered skeletal remains were found at the Fayette County Surface Mine, about twenty yards from Cannelton Hollow Road. This is about thirty miles from Charleston, and would take about forty-five-minutes to drive.
The clothes Farley was wearing on the night of his disappearance were also found with the remains, and investigators believe he was killed on or near the night he disappeared. His hands had been taped behind his back and he had been shot to death. A single bullet was found under the remains. There was no sign of Sigmon-Palmer at the scene.
Farley had graduated from high school in the spring of 1979. His loved ones described him as a normal teenager who had no particular problems in his life. He had applied for several local jobs after high school and talked about possibly joining the military.
Sigmon-Palmer's loved ones describe her as friendly and outgoing, and one of her friends stated she had a naive, trusting nature. She had work experience in nursing homes and a a secretary and file clerk, and she had previously lived in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Seaside Park, New Jersey, and several small cities in Pennsylvania.
She had no prior criminal record, and investigators don't believe she was responsible for Farley's murder. She did, however, associate with people who were in motorcycle gangs and involved with drugs.
Mark Legg is considered a person of interest in Farley's murder and Sigmon-Palmer's disappearance. He is a former West Virginia resident and has been a suspect and a person of interest in several unrelated crimes in West Virginia and North Carolina between 1983 and 2000, including sexual offenses against two teenage boys and the murder of two young men. But each time, he was either not charged or the charges were dropped. Authorities have not been able to tie him to Farley and Sigmon-Palmer's s, however.
Many members of the couple's families, including Farley's father and both of Sigmon-Palmer's parents, have died in the years since 1979. Foul play is suspected in her , which remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Kanawha County Sheriff's Office
304-357-0200
Other
Missing in West Virginia
The AWARE Foundation
UNSOLVED: The Murder of Jay Farley & Disappearance of Mazie Mae Sigmon-Palmer
The West Virginia Gazette-Mail
The Doe Network
WOWK 13