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
Rosa Maria Valentin
Rosa, date, approximate 1986; Mayra Cruz; Carmen Lopez; Miguel Roman; Pedro Miranda in 1987; Miranda in 2008
Date Missing 07/26/1986
Missing From
Hartford, Connecticut
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
Hispanic
Age 16 years old
Height and Weight 5'2, 115 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A Battiston's Cleaners smock, a cotton shirt with numbers on it, blue jeans, white shoes and a silver chain necklace with a unicorn charm. Carrying a black pocketbook with long straps.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Hispanic female. Black hair, brown eyes. Rosa's nicknames are Rosita and Coco. She has a mole on her right cheek.
Details of Disappearance Rosa was last seen in Hartford, Connecticut on July 26, 1986. She was walking home from work when accepted a ride from a 29-year-old acquaintance, Pedro Miranda, in his white Ford Mustang Cobra. She has never been heard from again.
Miranda's criminal record dates back to 1977. He was convicted of kidnapping, raping and choking a woman in 1998. In December 2008, he was charged with Rosa's murder and with the murders of 13-year-old Mayra Cruz and 17-year-old Carmen Lopez, who was six months pregnant at the time of her death.Miranda knew all three girls.
Photographs of Mayra, Carmen and Miranda are posted with this summary. Mayra disappeared from Hartford in 1987 and Carmen in 1988; both were subsequently found strangled.
When questioned about Rosa's disappearance, Miranda claimed he wasn't with her on the day she went missing and had last seen her the day before; he said the eyewitnesses who identified him must have been mistaken.
Carmen's former boyfriend, Miguel Roman, was convicted of her murder and sentenced to 60 years in prison in spite of the fact that the DNA found at the crime scene wasn't his. A photo of him is posted with this summary. His conviction was overturned and he was released from custody in December 2008. He had served eighteen years in prison for a crime he didn't commit.
In 2011, Miranda was convicted of kidnapping and murdering Carmen Lopez and sentenced to life in prison without parole. The DNA at Carmen's crime scene turned out to be his. At sentencing, the prosecutor referred to Rosa and appealed to Miranda to tell them where her body was.
He was convicted of Mayra Cruz's murder in 2015 and sentenced to life in prison. In May 2015, shortly before his sentencing in Mayra's death, the prosecution dropped the charges against Miranda in Rosa's disappearance, citing problems with the evidence.
She has never been located. Foul play is suspected in her due to the circumstances involved.
Investigating Agency
Connecticut State Attorney's Office
Cold Unit
860-548-0606
866-623-8058
Other
WTIC News/Talk 1080
WTNH 8
The Hartford Courant
The Doe Network
The Innocence Project
NamUs
Windsor Locks-East Windsor Patch
Peter Henderson
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
