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
Sara Anne Wood
Sara, date, approximate 1993; Lewis Lent, date, approximate 1996
Date Missing 08/18/1993
Missing From
Litchfield, New York
Missing Classification Non-Family Abduction
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 03/04/1981 (41)
Age 12 years old
Height and Weight 5'0, 96 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A pink t-shirt with the phrase "Guess Who" embroidered on the front, turquoise shorts, a headband and brown sandals.
Associated Vehicle(s) Bicycle (accounted for)
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Sara has scars on both of her legs. One toe on each of her feet is disabled. Both of Sara's cheeks are dimpled. She has facial freckles. Sara wears prescription eyeglasses with tortoise shell frames. Her hair was shoulder-length at the time of her disappearance. Some agencies spell her middle name "Ann."
Details of Disappearance Sara was last seen riding her pink and white ten-speed mountain bicycle to her family's residence on Hacadam Road in Frankfort, New York on August 18, 1993. She was returning from Norwich Corners Church on Roberts Road and Graffenburg Road in Frankfort, where she attended summer Bible school. The church was less than a mile from her house.
Sara picked up some posterboard, a church song book, and some 8-by-10-inch plastic transparencies at the church before heading home. She apparently made it safely down Roberts Road and was last seen pedaling up a steep hill on Hacadam Road, four-tenths of a mile from her residence.
Sara's bicycle and the supplies she'd picked up were discovered in an area of brush several hundred feet off of Hacadam Road later in the evening. The bicycle was leaning against a tree and the supplies were scattered nearby. Sara has never been seen again.
Lewis S. Lent Jr., 45, was charged with Sara's abduction and murder in 1996, three years after she was last seen. A photo of Lent is posted with this summary. Lent pleaded guilty to the abduction and murder of another child, twelve-year-old James Bernardo, in Massachusetts in 1990.
Lent initially confessed to Sara's abduction and claimed he buried her body in a clearing near Raquette Lake in the Adirondack Mountains. He drew a map of the burial location for authorities. It was supposedly in or near the town of Inlet. Extensive searches there did not produce any evidence as to Sara's whereabouts and Lent admitted that she was not really there. He refused to divulge the whereabouts of her remains, saying he had another body buried nearby and did not want that one to be found.
Lent later recanted his statements, but was convicted of the crime nonetheless. Sara has never been located. In 2013, Lent also confessed to the 1992 murder of James "Jamie" Lusher, whose body has never been found. Lent has never been charged in connection with Lusher's , but witnesses placed him in the area of Lusher's disappearance.
Sara's family founded the Sara Anne Wood Rescue Center, later renamed the Mohawk Valley Branch of The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children. Foul play is strongly suspected in her due to the circumstances involved.
Investigating Agency
New York State Police
315-866-7111
Other
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
Child Protection Education of America
New York State Missing and Exploited Children Clearinghouse
The Standard-Times
The Rome Daily Sentinel
Texas Department Of Public Safety
The Union-News
NewsLibrary
Missing Children Center Inc.
NewspaperArchive
The New York Times
The Republican
WWLP 22
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