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
Michael Craig McGhee
Michael, date, approximate 1976; Patrick Kearney
Date Missing 06/11/1976
Missing From
Redondo Beach, California
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Male
Race
White
Date of Birth 12/05/1962 (59)
Age 13 years old
Height and Weight Unknown
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair.
Details of Disappearance Michael was last seen in Redondo Beach, California on June 11, 1976. He has never been heard from again.
He was a troubled child: habitually truant from school since age twelve, he was suspected in a number of local crimes including car theft, burglary and sexual offenses. When his sister reported his disappearance, the police initially assumed he'd simply run away from home, something he'd done before.
While hitchhiking a week before his disappearance, Michael met Patrick Wayne Kearney. Kearney invited him on a camping trip in the Lake Elsinore, California area, and Michael said he couldn't go right away but to ask him again in a week.
The following week, Kearney went to the McGhee residence to see about taking Michael camping. His older sister, who was in charge of her siblings while their mother was working, answered the door and told Kearney that Michael was grounded and couldn't go with him.
Michael sneaked out of the house when his sister wasn't looking, though, and caught up with Kearney just as he was leaving. They left together and Michael was never heard from again.
A photo of Kearney is posted with this summary. He was a prolific serial killer of young men during the 1960s and 1970s. His victims ranged from age five to twenty-eight, but most of them were in their teens or twenties. He pleaded guilty to 21 murders, but claims he actually killed 35 victims.
Kearney would usually dismember his victims, put them in trash bags and dump them along highways; he is sometimes called the Trash Bag Killer as a result. He was arrested in 1977 and later told police he had killed Michael. He said he took Michael to his house to pick up camping equipment, then shot him in the back of the head and sexually assaulted his corpse before dismembering it.
Michael's body has never been found. Kearney is presently serving life in prison for his crimes. Because the state of California did not permit life without parole sentences or consecutive life sentences at the time of his arrest, he gets a parole hearing every five years.
Investigating Agency
Redondo Beach Police Department
Other
The Trash Bag Murderer
The Daily Breeze
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