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
Tavish Sutton
Age-progressed image of Tavish at age 17 (date, approximate 2010) (Photographs of Tavish are unavailable); Sketches of women wanted for questioning in Tavish's abduction
Date Missing 03/09/1993
Missing From
Atlanta, Georgia
Missing Classification Non-Family Abduction
Sex Male
Race
Black
Date of Birth 02/10/1993 (29)
Age 1 month old
Height and Weight 2'0, 8 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A white flower-print t-shirt, a diaper and Grady Memorial Hospital tags around his wrist and ankle.
Medical Conditions Tavish was recuperating from minor surgery to treat an abcess at the time of his March 1993 abduction. He required continuing medical care to treat his condition.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics African-American male. Black hair, brown eyes. Tavish had a quarter-inch surgical incision in his left buttock at the time of his disappearance.
Details of Disappearance Tavish was admitted as a patient in the Hughes Spalding pediatric unit of Grady Memorial Hospital on Butler Street in Atlanta, Georgia on March 6, 1993. Hewas in the custody of the Department of Family and Children Services (DCS) at the time.
He underwent minor surgery over the weekend and was recuperating in a semi-private room in the ward during the early morning hours of March 9. His roommate was another infant, and that baby's mother and sister were spending the night in the room also. A nurse checked in on them at 6:45 a.m.; at the time, Tavish's roommate's mother and sister were asleep on a couch in the room. When the nurse checked the room again fifteen minutes later, Tavish was gone.
Tavish's roommate's family was thoroughly investigated by police; their home was searched and all the family members were interviewed. They were eventually cleared as suspects in his .Tavish's mother was being treated for schizophrenia in a mental institution at the time of his abduction; neither she nor other relatives were considered suspects in his disappearance. In fact, no one in his birth family was ever even aware that Tavish was in the hospital at the time of his abduction.
There were two persons of interest in Tavish's disappearance. One was an "agitated" man who tried to enter the hospital's pediatric wing after 8:30 p.m. the night before Tavish was last seen. Visitors to the children's wing after 8:30 p.m. are required to carry passes that identified them as authorized to be there; this man didn't have a pass and had no legitimate reason to be there. The man is described as tall and thin and was wearing a baseball cap. He disappeared before security could be called.
The second person of interest was a woman aged about 25 years old, described as 5'5 and 160 pounds, with a medium-brown complexion, strong cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes. She wore black pants, a long black coat and large earrings, and her hair was pulled back with a large bow. She was carrying an infant with curly hair. A man saw the woman just outside the hospital and noticed her because she was very attractive. Another witness saw the same woman inside the hospital.
Sketches of two women wanted for questioning in Tavish's disappearance are posted with this summary.
The DCS has terminated Tavish's mother's parental rights to his three siblings and was seeking to terminate her rights to Tavish as well when he disappeared; they had taken custody of the baby when he was a few weeks old and placed him with a foster family. His mother sued the hospital over her son's kidnapping in March 1995; the suit was settled out of court for $600,000.
Authorities stated that a woman who was pretending to be pregnant may have abducted Tavish in an attempt to raise a child. They speculated she lived between four and twenty-four miles from the hospital. No evidence supporting any theory has been recovered and Tavish's remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Atlanta Police Department
404-853-3400
Federal Bureau of Investigation
202-324-3000
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
11 Alive
NewsLibrary
The Doe Network
The Fall Line Podcast
Jenn Baxter
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
