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 Photos
Nancy Debra Willis
Willis, date, approximate 1986
Date Missing 12/23/1986
Missing From
Bradley County, Tennessee
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 01/28/1961 (61)
Age 25 years old
Height and Weight 5'3, 125 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description Unknown, but she usually wears blue jeans, sneakers, socks, and flannel shirts in the wintertime. She doesn't wear much jewelry.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Light brown hair, brown eyes. Nancy goes by her middle name, Debra, or the nickname Debbie. Her maiden name is Winegar and her previous married name is Barr. She previously fractured her right leg in approximately eight places in a car accident.
Details of Disappearance Nancy visited her family in Gate City, Virginia for the Christmas holidays; they last saw her on December 23, 1986. She was supposed to return to her home in Ringgold, Georgia afterwards. She never contacted her family again, which is uncharacteristic of her behavior.
Her husband, Howard Hawk Willis, said the last time he saw her was when she told him she was leaving him and he took her to a bus station in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Willises were building a home in Bradley County, Tennessee, but Nancy disappeared before they could move there.
In October 2002, Howard was charged with the murders of 17-year-old Adam Ray Chrismer and 16-year-old Samantha Leming Chrismer, a newly married couple from Chickamauga, Georgia.
They had been living temporarily with Howard's mother on Brentwood Drive in Johnson City, Tennessee and they knew Howard; in fact, they married in a double ceremony alongside Howard's daughter and her husband. Samantha's body and parts of Adam's were found in a rented storage unit, and his head and hands were found in Boone Lake.
To complicate matters, Howard's stepfather, Sam Thomas, also disappeared in September 2002. His body, without its head and hands, was later found in Georgia. No one has been charged in his death, but authorities believe it may be connected to the Chrismers' homicides.
Howard didn't go to trial for the murders until 2010, eight years after he was charged. He was convicted and sentenced to death. He has never been charged in Nancy's disappearance, but he is considered a suspect in her .
Nancy has previously lived in Johnson City as well as Denver, Colorado and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Foul play is suspected in her , which remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Bradley County Sheriff's Department
615-476-0572
Other
The Doe Network
NewsChannel 9
The Kingsport Times News
The Johnson City Press
TriCities
The Chattanoogan
Official Cold Investigations
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 Photos
