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

Rachel Marie Mellon










Rachel, date, approximate 1996; Age-progression to age 38 (date, approximate 2020)
Date Missing 01/31/1996
Missing From
Bolingbrook, Illinois
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
Asian
Date of Birth 10/13/1982 (39)
Age 13 years old
Height and Weight 5'0, 62 - 80 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A pink sweater or sweatshirt, yellow sweatpants and red house slippers.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Asian female. Black hair, hazel eyes. Rachel has a mole on the upper left side of her lip, and her ears are pierced. She may use the last name Skemp, possibly in conjunction with the name Mellon, as in "Mellon-Skemp" or "Mellon Skemp," and some agencies refer to her as Rachel Mellon-Skemp. She may appear to be of Italian or Greek descent. Rachel's hair was cut short at the time of her disappearance, but she often wore it shoulder-length; both haircuts are seen in the photographs with this summary.
Details of Disappearance Rachel was a seventh-grader at Ward Middle School in 1996. On January 31 of that year, she stayed home from school due to a sore throat. She was last seen taking a nap in her bedroom at her family's residence in Bolingbrook, Illinois sometime during the afternoon. She was wrapped in a blue blanket at the time her stepfather, Vincent Mellon, last saw her.
Vincent stated he and Rachel played video games together, then he she fell asleep and he left the house to take the family's German Shepherd for a walk at 2:30 p.m. He left the door unlocked while he was gone. He saidthe dog slipped off its leash to chase a rabbit and as a a result, he was gone longer than he intended to be. He didn't return to the house until half an hour later.
Authorities maintain that Vincent never checked on Rachel when he returned home, but he stated that he did indeed notice his stepdaughter had disappeared after he finished the walk.Rachel was apparently reported missing to investigators at approximately 5:00 p.m. when her mother, Amy Mellon, and some other family members arrived home. She has never been heard from again.
Two pillows and the blue blanket she was wrapped in are also missing. Her winter clothes, shoes, and coat were not taken, even though the wind chill was twenty degrees below zero outside that day. Her purse and Walkman were also left behind at her residence. There were no indications of forced entry. An extensive search of the surrounding area turned up no signs of Rachel. Authorities stated she could not have survived long if she was outside and exposed to the elements.
Initially it was thought that some of Rachel's relatives had taken her out of the state, but that theory has since been discarded. Her bank account has not been touched since her disappearance, and there was no evidence that she'd purchased plane or bus tickets to go anywhere.
Vincent gave blood, semen, saliva and hair samples to authorities in 2000 when Rachel's was reopened and a grand jury was convened to investigate. Authorities obtained a warrant to get the samples.
Amy stated that she believed Rachel was alive and other persons knew her whereabouts. The Mellon family's attorneys said that the was being re-investigated due to interest from the television program America's Most Wanted, which wanted to run a segment regarding Rachel's disappearance.
Authorities have stated that they believe foul play was involved in Rachel's disappearance. Vincent has been considered a possible suspect in her for several years. He had scratches on his body after her disappearance; he said he was injured while repairing his car. He has a long record for domestic violence and he failed lie detector tests in connection with Rachel's disappearance. The grand jury investigation ended in 2000 without any indictments handed down.
Rachel ran away and stayed at a friend's home over a year before her 1996 disappearance. She voluntarily returned home shortly after her departure. Authorities do not believe that she ran away in 1996. She kept a diary which police read after her disappearance. In one entry, written months before she vanished, she wrote that Vincent had kissed her and touched her inappropriately.
Rachel's father, Jeff Skemp, was living in Dallas, Texas at the time of her disappearance. He had separated from Amy when Rachel was a toddler. Skemp stated that the day Rachel vanished, she telephoned his mother. He said this was out of the ordinary for Rachel, as she was not allowed to talk to her grandmother. Rachel was an honors student at the time of her disappearance and her favorite school subject was science. She was interested in recycling and nature.
Skemp keeps his phone number listed in Rachel tries to contact him, but he believes she met with foul play. He held a memorial service for her in 2006. Amy and Vincent moved away from the area sometime after 1996. Rachel's disappearance remains unsolved and no arrests have been made in connection with her , but her disappearance is being investigated as a homicide.
Investigating Agency
Bolingbrook Police Department
630-226-0600
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Child Protection Education of America
NBC-5 Chicago
The Polly Klaas Foundation
Bolingbrook Police Department
The Daily Herald
Texas Department Of Public Safety
Remembering Rachel Mellon
The Child Seek Network
ABC7 Chicago
The Pioneer Press
The Chicago Tribune
MySpace Page for Rachel Mellon
CyberPages International Inc.
Romeoville Patch
NamUs
Facebook Page for Rachel Mellon

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