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.



Missing Person Photos

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

Pauline Rourke
Pauline, date, approximate 1976; Albert Cochran
Date Missing 12/15/1976
Missing From
Fairfield, Maine
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Age 32 years old
Height and Weight 4'11, 100 - 120 pounds
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes.
Details of Disappearance Pauline was last seen in Fairfield, Maine on December 15, 1976. She lived in a mobile home off Route 139 with a distant relative, Albert P. Cochran. Pauline's twelve-year-old daughter, Honey, who was the last person to see her, reported hearing her mother and Albert arguing the night before she disappeared. Honey said they often fought, because Albert wanted Pauline to be his girlfriend.
When Honey got up on the morning of her mother's disappearance, she saw her mother lying on her side in bed, not moving. Honey assumed she was asleep, kissed her on the head and left for school. When she returned home that afternoon, Pauline was gone. She has never been heard from again. A couple of days later, Honey's aunt came to pick her up and took her to live in Vermont.
Honey believes her mother was probably already dead when she saw her this morning. She asked Albert about it on multiple occasions over the years, and he told her several different stories about what had happened.
Pauline was scheduled to be questioned by the Maine State Police in connection with the murder of Janet Baxter, who had been killed in November. Albert did not know her, but but he seemed "obsessed" with her murder after it happened, even taking Pauline and Honey to see the crime scene. Pauline told a relative she was afraid Albert was involved in the murder. She disappeared before the interview.
When questioned after Pauline's disappearance, Albert never admitted to killing her, but said he knew her body was in a well. Police checked several different wells as per Albert's instructions, without result.
In 1964, twelve years before Pauline's disappearance, Albert's family was murdered in Joliet, Illinois. He was separated from his wife, Patricia Cochran, at the time, and she lived alone in an apartment with their three children, who ranged in age from ten months to three years old. Patricia was found strangled at her apartment. The children were all stabbed to death and their bodies were left in the bathtub.
Albert initially admitted to strangling his wife, but denied involvement in the deaths of the children. He said Patricia had killed them and he had killed her in a rage when he saw their bodies. Later he made a second confession where he said he'd killed all of them, but never signed that confession. He was charged in all four deaths, but in the middle of his trial he agreed to plead guilty only in Patricia's and the other charges were dropped.
He was sentenced to fifty to seventy-five years in prison for the killing, but served only eleven years before being paroled. It's unclear whether Pauline knew about his conviction when she agreed to be his roommate.
In 1999, Albert was convicted of Janet Baxter's murder and sentenced to life in prison. He died there in 2017, at the age of 79. A photo of him is posted with this summary. He was never charged in Pauline's disappearance and her body has never been found, but foul play is suspected in her due to the circumstances involved.
Investigating Agency
Maine State Police
207-624-7143
Other
The Bangor Daily News
The Doe Network
The Chicago Tribune
The Morning Sentinel

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.



Missing Person Photos

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