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
Timeka Donyale Pridgen
Timeka, date, approximate 2001; Age-progression to age 26 (date, approximate 2010); Eric Earl Mercer Moore
Date Missing 05/12/2001
Missing From
La Grange, North Carolina
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
Black
Date of Birth 09/08/1984 (38)
Age 16 years old
Height and Weight 5'7 - 5'10, 165 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A mint-green v-neck shirt, a knee-length mint-green skirt with a white flower print, a gold dolphin necklace and no shoes or socks.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics African-American female. Brown hair, brown eyes. When she was last seen, Timeka had blonde or light brown highlights in her hair and braces on her teeth. Her ears are double-pierced. Her nickname is Meka.
Details of Disappearance Timeka was last seen at 10:15 p.m. in the living room at her residence on South Street in La Grange, North Carolina on May 12, 2001. Her mother, Cosandra Best, was waiting for her boyfriend, Eric Earl Mercer Moore Sr., to come home.
Best spoke to Moore on the phone and he said he would be home in five minutes. She planned to break up with him that night. She fell asleep after their phone conversation and when she woke up at approximately midnight, and discovered her daughter was gone and Moore wasn't at the residence either.
Authorities initially classified Timeka as a runaway and believed she may have traveled to Goldsboro, North Carolina. However, they now think she may have been forced out of her home by someone after she let the person inside.
She was barefoot at the time of her disappearance and left all her belongings behind, including her purse, money and shoes.
Moore is considered a person of interest in Timeka's disappearance. He had prior convictions for kidnapping, assault, theft and a sex crime, something Best didn't discover until after Timeka vanished. In 2006, he was convicted again of sexually assaulting a minor and sent to prison for a twelve-year sentence.
A photo of Moore is posted with this summary. He has since been released and now lives in Greenville, North Carolina. He hasn't been charged in connection with Timeka's and stated he was never at the apartment the night she disappeared.
Timeka's mother stated her daughter was a typical teenager in 2001 and enjoyed drawing, and that she had no reason to run away from home. Her remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
La Grange Police Department
252-527-5117
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
America's Most Wanted
CUE Center for Missing Persons
NC Wanted
Unsolved in the News
WITN
NamUs
WRAL
CNN
Websleuths
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