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
Nelda Louise Hardwick
Hardwick, date, approximate 1993
Date Missing 10/14/1993
Missing From
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 01/03/1959 (63)
Age 34 years old
Height and Weight 5'3, 110 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description Blue jeans and sandals.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Dark brown hair, hazel eyes. Hardwick has a complete set of dentures. Her left leg is shorter than her right one and she limps badly as a result. Hardwick may use the alias last names Bailey or Fruge. She has numerous surgical scars on her head and body.
Details of Disappearance Hardwick was last seen in her home on 18th Street in Lake Charles, Louisiana on October 14, 1993. She apparently left the residence during the nighttime hours. She left a note for her live-in boyfriend stating that she was going to the store and would return in a short time. However, she never did. Her boyfriend reported her missing the next day.
Hardwick left her four children behind in her house when she vanished; her loved ones say she was a devoted mother and would not have abandoned them. Authorities suspect foul play was involved in her disappearance and have classified it as a homicide.
Investigators believe Hardwick may have been an unidentified woman who was killed on May 8, 1998, when she was accidentally struck by a vehicle on Interstate 10 in Hancock County, Mississippi. In 2013, Hardwick's relatives identified the Mississippi woman as her based on photographs taken of the body.
The coroner stated there was only a "one in a thousand" chance that she was not Hardwick, and speculated she had been abducted and held captive for years after her 1993 disappearance, then escaped, only to be killed on the highway. A judge ordered an exhumation of the Jane Doe's grave to collect DNA for comparison.
When the grave was opened, however, inside was a man and not a woman. Because the location of Jane Doe's actual grave could not determined, the investigation stopped. The Mississippi victim remains unidentified.
Investigating Agency
Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office
800-259-3737
Other
NamUs
Calcasieu Parish Cold s
KPLC TV
Missing Persons Throughout the World
The McComb Enterprise-Journal
The Clarion-Ledger
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