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
Robert Arthur Wiles
Wiles, date, approximate 2008; Stobert Holt in December 2009
Date Missing 04/01/2008
Missing From
Lakeland, Florida
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Male
Race
White
Date of Birth 09/23/1981 (41)
Age 26 years old
Height and Weight 5'9 - 5'10, 165 - 175 pounds
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, hazel eyes. Wiles's nickname is Rob. He has a hernia scar on his abdomen and acne scars below his ears, around his jawline and on both sides of his face.
Details of Disappearance Wiles was last seen at his place of work, the Lakeland-Linder Regional Airport in Lakeland, Florida, at 6:30 p.m. on April 1, 2008. He has never been heard from again.
His parents in Ohio received a ransom note for him two days after his disappearance, signed "Group X." It was emailed to them and demanded $750,000. Wiles's father had purchased kidnapping insurance for his company for exactly that amount back in 2006.
Wiles's parents followed the note's instructions and left the money in a box outside his office, but no one came to collect it. Wiles wasn't located and the alleged abductors didn't contact his parents again.
Wiles lived in an apartment on east Charles Street at the time of his disappearance. A neighbor stated Wiles normally kept the apartment neat and orderly, but when authorities searched it after his apparent abduction, it was in disarray, with papers strewn on the stairs and the cushions pulled off the couch.
Ransom kidnappings, particularly ones involving adult victims, are very rare in the United States. Police looked into the possibility that Wiles staged his own abduction, but there is no evidence to support this theory.
At the time of his disappearance, Wiles was employed as the business development manager and salesman for his family's business, National Flight Services, an aircraft service company based in Toledo, Ohio.
The business, which does maintenance and repair work for large aircraft, has over 100 employees and branches in San Antonio, Texas and in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as well as in Lakeland.
Wiles traveled frequently for his job; he's been to nine cities in Florida, three U.S. states, Canada, Central America, the Caribbean and Thailand. Authorities followed some international leads in his disappearance.
In December 2009, police announced they'd arrested Stobert Lindell "Toby" Holt Jr. for first-degree murder, kidnapping, extortion and and writing threats to kill or do bodily harm in Wiles's .
A photo of Holt is posted with this summary. He formerly worked as an operation manager for the Lakeland office of National Flight Services, and he was the last person to see Wiles before his disappearance.
Authorities later determined the alibi he gave was false and he also lied when he said he didn't have any guns in his car. The evening of Wiles's disappearance, according to credit card records, Holt purchased plastic sheeting and two rolls of duct tape. Those items could be used to conceal a body.
Holt was acquitted of kidnapping and first-degree murder in January 2012, but convicted of manslaughter, extortion and writing threats to kill or to do bodily harm. In March, he was sentenced to thirty years in prison. He maintains his innocence in Wiles's disappearance.
Wiles was born in Ohio, but moved to Florida as a toddler and grew up in the city of Melbourne. He returned to Ohio to attend Bowling Green State University (BGSU), but didn't graduate. He was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order while attending BGSU.
He is a licensed pilot with multi-engine instrument ratings; he obtained his license while attending high school at the Florida Air Academy, a private school that offers flight training to its students. His parents describe him as an athletic man who enjoys diving and fishing.
Foul play is suspected in his disappearance due to the circumstances involved.
Investigating Agency
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Tampa, Florida Office
866-838-1153
Other
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Toledo Blade
Tampa Bay Online
CNN
NBC 24
The Lakeland Ledger
Tampa Bay's 10
MyFox Tampa Bay
Central Florida News 13
Unsolved in the News
The Orlando Sentinel
Interpol
CF News 13
NamUs
True Crime Daily
CBS News
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