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
Raylene Susan Helsley
Raylene, date, approximate 1983; Age-progression to age 37 (date, approximate 2007)
Date Missing 01/05/1983
Missing From
Ruston, Louisiana
Missing Classification Non-Family Abduction
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 10/19/1970 (51)
Age 12 years old
Height and Weight 4'11, 90 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A long-sleeved button-down shirt with purple flowers, Levi's jeans and boots.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Raylene has a blue-colored pencil mark scar from the base of her nose to her upper lip. She has a heart-shaped birthmark at the base of her skull on the back of her neck.
Details of Disappearance Raylene and her sister were living with their father in a trailer in Ruston, Louisiana in 1983. Raylene's eight-year-old sister, Candace, told authorities that their father, Raymond Helsley Jr., had severely abused Raylene during the morning hours of January 5, 1983.
Candace said she saw her father strike Raylene repeatedly with a piece of PVC pipe and a silver 14-inch pipe wrench. He beat Raylene so hard with the wrench that it broke, and Candace heard her sister screaming.
When Candace left for school, Raylene was laying immobile on the couch. Candace said when returned home in the afternoon, Raylene had disappeared.
Raymond maintains that he only left Raylene alone in their residence for approximately one hour during the day; when he came home, she had vanished. He stated he believed she had run away. Raylene has never been seen again.
Raymond was later charged with cruelty to a juvenile in connection with the beating Raylene received on the day of her disappearance. Authorities found a broken silver pipe wrench and a pillow in the house that had both traces of human blood, but the blood could not be positively identified as Raylene's.
Candace testified against her father at the trial. Raymond was convicted in August 1983 and sentenced to the maximum, ten years in prison. He was also convicted of an unrelated charge of unlawful transportation of explosives.
He had a prior record for traffic offenses, breaking and entering, assault and child abuse; the victim in the child abuse was also Raylene and she had been severely injured in that instance as well.
Raymond failed two polygraph tests about Raylene's disappearance; the results indicated he had killed her and disposed of her body within one and a half miles of of his home. There was never sufficient evidence to charge him in her disappearance, however.
Due to the conflicting reports from family members and the lack of evidence, Raylene's is still classified as a non-family abduction.
Investigating Agency
Union Parrish Sheriff's Department
318-368-3124
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Child Protection Education of America
Newspaper Archive
WebSleuths
Leagle
The Shreveport Times
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
