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
Patrick Wayne Mello
Patrick, date, approximate 1995; Age-progression to age 31 (date, approximate 2012)
Date Missing 07/28/1995
Missing From
Needles, California
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Male
Race
White
Date of Birth 08/05/1981 (41)
Age 13 years old
Height and Weight 4'6, 100 pounds
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, brown eyes. Patrick has a scar under his chin. He has facial dimples and a small indentation below the outer edge of his right eye.
Details of Disappearance Patrick was last seen at his Needles, California residence on July 28, 1995.Authorities stated he had been sighted in Laughlin, Nevada after his disappearance. They initially believed he had run away with other juvenile males.
Several days after his disappearance, the police found a duffel bag behind a casino in Mohave Valley, Arizona. They initially thought it was Patrick's, but the bag turned out to belong to Patrick's younger brother; he had left it there before Patrick disappeared.
Patrick was living with Jimmy Joe Cox at the time of his disappearance. In 2012, Cox was convicted of the 1982 murder of a young woman and sentenced to fifteen years to life in prison. His victim, Carole Spearman, had lived with him in Needles at the time of her disappearance. Her severed head and one hand were found in the Colorado River several weeks after she was last seen.
It isn't clear whether Cox is a suspect in Patrick's disappearance, but police now consider Patrick to be missing under suspicious circumstances. His remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
San Bernadino County Sheriff's Office
760-326-9200
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
California Attorney General's Office
NamUs
The Daily Press
The Tucson Citizen
The Kingman Daily Miner
The Los Angeles Times
The Mohave Daily 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 Photos
