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
Terry Lynn Tersak
Terry, date, approximate 2011
Date Missing 06/01/2009
Missing From
Asheville, North Carolina
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 04/08/1976 (46)
Age 33 years old
Height and Weight 5'1, 100 pounds
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Terry's maiden name is Pendergraft. She has an extra fold around the inner circumference of her left eye, and an episiotomy/perineotomy scar on her abdomen with three dark freckles; together the scar and freckles resemble the constellation Orion. Her ears are double-pierced and her navel is pierced. Terry colors her hair with henna.
Details of Disappearance Terry was last seen in Asheville, North Carolina on June 1, 2009. She called her cousin in Garner, North Carolina that day and said she was driving over with her son to visit. Garner is 250 miles east of Asheville. Terry never arrived and her family hasn't heard from her since.
Terry's husband, Stefan T. Tersak, said Terry left with a woman named "Jen" the day after she spoke to her cousin. Stefan was supposed to pick her up on June 20, but the address she gave him turned out to be nonexistent.
When Stefan returned home from his attempt to pick up his wife, he said, he discovered someone had been through his storage unit and cleaned it out. He said he called the police about it, but they refused to take a report.
In October 2009, Stefan claims, Terry stopped by the apartment he'd moved into after her disappearance. They had a brief conversation and she told him she'd been staying in Boone, North Carolina. Then she left and he never saw her or had any contact with her again.
She was estranged from her family and her father and brother didn't file a police report of her disappearance until May 2011, nearly two years later.
Stefan described Terry as a drug addict who was planning to go into a rehabilitation program. She was on probation for a 2007 misdemeanor marijuana conviction and had previously worked as a stripper, but hadn't done so in over a year prior to her disappearance. He stated he believes she deliberately abandoned him and their son, who is autistic.
One of her friends said that while Terry did smoke marijuana, but she was not addicted to it and she did not drink much alcohol. She left behind the vehicle she'd just purchased, and Stefan traded it in after she vanished.
Since Terry's disappearance, there hasn't been any activity on her Social Security number, bank accounts, credit cards and driver's license. Her family believes Stefan may know more about her disappearance than he's disclosed, but he maintains his innocence and says she simply left him and is probably alive and in hiding. He has set up a website about Terry's . Her disappearance remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Asheville Police Department
828-259-5945
Other
NamUs
The North Carolina News and Observer
Missing: Terry Lynn Tersak
Facebook Page for Terry Tersak
Second Facebook Page for Terry Tersak
Victims News Online
Asheville Police Department
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
