92 replies to this topic

[Denise Harrison]

http://www.columbiam...ather-missouri/


Relatives of missing people gather in Missouri

Saturday, June 19, 2010 | 2:47 p.m. CDT
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri residents with missing family members gathered in Jefferson City, remembering them with stories, talking about the pain caused by their disappearances and vowing to keep searching.

In 2008, Missouri became the first state to set aside a date for missing people — making June 17 Missouri Missing and Unidentified Persons Day. Since then, seven other states have adopted their own days to recognize missing people, and some hope to make the day a national day of remembrance.

Those who came to Jefferson City on Thursday included the father of eastern Missouri resident Shawn Hornbeck, who was kidnapped and held captive for more than four years before he was rescued from a suburban St. Louis apartment in 2007 along with another boy. Hornbeck was held by Michael Devlin, who was convicted of kidnapping and abusing the boys and was sentenced to multiple life sentences.

"The not knowing eats away at you physically and emotionally," Craig Akers told The Jefferson City News Tribune. "For the 1,558 days we were without Shawn, we prayed, we hoped for a miracle, and it happened."

Family members of other missing Missouri residents said the uncertainty was particularly painful.

Mary Ann Asher-Chapman's daughter, Angie Yarnell, was missing for more than five years before her husband Mike Yarnell confessed to killing his wife. Angie Yarnell's body has never been found, which her mother said makes it impossible to find relief.

"My life has not been the same since she disappeared and will never be the same again," Asher-Chapman said.

Others promised they would continue searching. Relatives of Jasmine Haslag, who has been missing for three years, walked several blocks from the state Capitol to the Cole County courthouse to raise awareness.

Haslag's mother and three children said it was important for people to know they're still looking.

"I want them to know we won't stop," daughter Cassandra Lock said.

[Jenn]

http://www.mercuryne...ews/ci_15394886

Santa Cruz, Mexico join to solve cold cases

The Associated Press
Posted: 06/28/2010 01:17:01 PM PDT Updated: 06/28/2010 01:17:01 PM PDT

SANTA CRUZ, Calif.—The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office is teaming up with Mexican authorities to try to solve outstanding murder and missing persons cases in the county.

Sgt. Dan Campos, an agency spokesman, says investigators will use DNA samples from Mexican citizens to help close some 40 unsolved cases. Authorities will compare the samples with unidentified human remains or that of missing persons.

Campos says he hopes the effort will help provide answers to family members of their missing loved ones. He says he can't speculate how many cases will be solved because of the new partnership.

[Denise Harrison]

http://www.wlky.com/...848/detail.html

Teen's Mother Questions Missing Son's Whereabouts

Jordan Humphery Was Missing For 5 Days

By Hailee Lampert/WLKY
POSTED: 10:29 pm EDT July 22, 2010
UPDATED: 11:13 pm EDT July 22, 2010

Editor's note: this points out the system failures when mentally challenged adults are missing.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. --
WLKY



The mother of a mentally challenged teenager spoke Thursday afternoon about where she said her son spent the five days he was missing.

Jordan Humphrey, 18, of Louisville, was found safe Monday night walking down Brownsboro Road near Jarvis Lane.

A golden alert was issued for the teen last week after he took off, following an argument with his mother. But there are still many questions surrounding Humphrey’s whereabouts during that time.

Humphrey's mother said she wants the man her son stayed with taken off the streets, but a police spokesperson said, at this point, they've done all they can do.

"Jordan's happy to be home," said Alicia Hickman, Humphrey's mother. "He's very, very happy to be home."

It was a happy ending to a five-day search for Jordan Humphrey. But the story doesn't end there.

After Humphrey was found safe, his mother began raising questions about where he was during that time.

"I was staying at a friend’s house," Humphrey said upon his return.

But Humphrey's mother used a different word to describe the man her son was staying with.

"(A) predator who preyed on his innocence, purity and weakness," Hickman said. "He kept asking to go home, and he kept being told, 'I'm going to take you home one day. I'm going to take you home one day.'"

When asked whether her son was able to leave, Hickman replied: "Yes, Jordan felt like he couldn't leave. Jordan was just hopeless. He didn't know."

According to his family, Humphrey is mentally challenged with the mind of a 10- or 12-year-old.

"Jordan may look like a grown man, but he is literally a child," said Hickman.

But not according to the law.

Since Humphrey has not been deemed mentally incompetent by a court of law, he's considered an 18-year-old adult like anyone else.

"If he's 18 years old, he's free to go where he wants to go because he is emancipated," said Bart Adams, a criminal attorney based in Louisville.

Adams spoke about the law in general with respect to young adults who are mentally challenged. He said the law does protect them if a family member petitions the court for legal guardianship.

"If you want to make sure you have control and the best interest of the child at heart, you need to take that legal step," said Adams.

"If I declare guardianship, it takes away natural rights that you and me take for granted," said Hickman.

In the meantime, Humphrey's mother wants to get out an important message to other parents.

"I don't want this to happen to anyone else," she said. "It's as simple as that. If we ignore this, then predators today will think if they prey on the mentally challenged, nothing will happen because of their age."

Metro Police would not comment on-camera. A spokesperson said a detective with the Crimes Against Children Unit interviewed Humphrey the night he was found. She said based on that interview, the detective did not find a need to file charges against the man Humphrey stayed with.

The spokesperson said if any crimes were committed, Humphrey needs to file an official complaint with police, since he is 18 years old.

Humphrey's mother said he is planning to do that, once she finds a victim's advocate to go with her son.

She said she also plans to try to gain power of attorney.

[Jenn]

http://www.wausaudai...estigation-site

Bones found in search for body of missing man

By Jeff Starck • Wausau Daily Herald • August 6, 2010

WILSON -- The family of a man missing for 14 years found bones Wednesday on a property near Tomahawk where he is rumored to be buried. The discovery came five days after Lincoln County investigators abandoned their search of the area.

A Madison-area anthropologist confirmed that the family of Ben Wilberding found bones, Lincoln County Sheriff Jeff Jaeger said Thursday. Jaeger described the bones as being "small pieces" and "fragments." Investigators who returned to the site Thursday found a few more bones, he said. View gallery

Several bone pieces have been taken to the Wisconsin State Crime Lab for analysis and investigators are awaiting the results of the testing, according to a Lincoln County Sheriff's Department news release.

Investigators began probing property at W7564 Highway CC in the town of Wilson last week after receiving a tip that the 21-year-old Wilberding was buried there. His parents, both dead for several years, owned the property when Wilberding last was seen alive in May 1996.

Jaeger hoped to know by today whether the bones are human or animal. The Sheriff's Department has investigated some leads over the years, but none has led to Wilberding. Wilberding's family has diligently searched since his disappearance and recently provided information to police that he was buried on the property.

"Even if the bones are (identified) as human, we still have the process of determining who they belonged to," Jaeger said.

Investigators searched the property last Friday after search dogs indicated July 29 that human remains possibly were buried there. Investigators abandoned the search without finding anything after several hours of digging.

Wilberding's surviving family members continued to search the site after Lincoln County stopped its search. Family members were digging on the property Wednesday when they found the bones and called the Sheriff's Department, Jaeger said.

Officials with the Sheriff's Department and the Wisconsin Crime Lab worked into the evening Thursday scooping dirt into a screen to sift for larger material. The State Division of Criminal Investigation also assisted in the investigation.

The bones were found about 6 inches from where investigators stopped digging last week, Jaeger said. Investigators searched an area well beyond where dogs initially indicated human remains might have been buried, he said.

"There are 40 acres of land; we thought we did a pretty diligent job," Jaeger said about last week's search.

Wilberding's sister, Candie Wetenkamp of Tomahawk, said she would not discuss the details of the bones that were found Wednesday. Wetenkamp said that she is willing to do whatever it takes to find her brother.

"I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty to get the job done," she said.

[Jenn]

http://www.cbsnews.c...2-10391695.html

Over 1,400 Missing Persons Cases Backlogged at FBI Crime Lab

August 9, 2010 12:38 PM Posted by Laura Strickler

DNA from missing persons cases can take on average 600 days to be tested at the nation's top crime lab according to a new report from the Inspector General at the Department of Justice.

Some missing persons cases have been waiting for testing at the FBI for nine years according to the report.

The report notes an example of a mother who was waiting to see if the bodies of two unidentified children were indeed her children. Because of the backlog there was a three-month delay. The report indicates the mother "called the [law enforcement agency] daily for notification on the progress of the testing."

The lab has an overall backlog of 3,211 cases - which would take two years to clear, even without the addition of new cases - but the authors note that because missing persons cases often lack the urgency of a trial date and a suspect, they are not prioritized.

Other backlogged cases included criminal cases from Indian Country, intelligence and improvised explosive device testing from war zones.

The report also notes that while the Washington, DC Police Department has depended on the FBI lab for forensic analysis, the police department has lost evidence in at least 160 cases.

A spokesperson for the police department had not yet seen the report and declined to comment.

The Inspector General also criticizes the FBI for the slow and costly implementation of a new data tracking system that so far has cost over $8.9 million and taken five years.

The FBI concurred with all of the Inspector General's recommendations for improvement including standardizing backlog definitions, updating the computer system and evaluating the outsourcing agreements the FBI has with private labs to reduce the backlog.

[Jenn]

http://www.thedenver...240/detail.html

CBI Launches Cold Case Website

Posted by Wayne Harrison, Web Editor

POSTED: 5:57 am MDT August 13, 2010 UPDATED: 4:52 pm MDT August 13, 2010

DENVER -- The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has launched its cold case database, listing "all Colorado cold cases available," according to a news release.

The database contains information about the 1,714 persons who have been verified by CBI as homicide victims or those who are missing or whose unidentified remains have been found in Colorado since 1970 to the present.

Perhaps Colorado's most notorious cold case has the first name of the victim misspelled, however.

The 1996 slaying of JonBenet Ramsey is listed under the name Jon Benet Ramsey in the database, with a notation that Boulder police have chosen to keep the case details "private."

The new website features a searchable database with interactive elements of type of case, county name, law enforcement agency name, victim name, physical description and year crime occurred. The website soon will provide a future opportunity for users to submit a lead or tip to local law enforcement agencies or to the CBI.

A generic graphic appears in place of an actual photo of the murder victims, with little information beyond a name, description and date of death.

“CBI would like everyone to view this website and consider any information they can provide to help solve a cold case and assist families and other co-victims see these cases progress towards resolution,” said CBI Director Ronald C. Sloan. “CBI hopes that by providing information about these cold cases to the public, citizens throughout the state will be able to assist local law enforcement and the CBI by offering new information that will lead to a resolution of these cases."

The information on the new website has been verified during the past three years. The database contents have been compared against one offered by the non-profit organization Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons, with official reports of law enforcement agencies.

The database can be accessed at www.colorado.gov.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.eagletrib...-missing-people

Rockingham sheriff adds tool to find missing people
By Jo-Anne MacKenzie
Sun Sep 19, 2010, 12:04 AM EDT

BRENTWOOD — The sheriff's department will add a new tool next month to help find a missing child or adult in Rockingham County.

Capt. Al Brackett, acting Rockingham County sheriff, has inked a deal with the A Child Is Missing Alert Program in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The arrangement means potentially thousands of text messages will go out to alert people when a child or adult is reported missing in the county.

The system could be used to help search for missing children, missing elderly individuals (often with Alzheimer's), college students, and missing individuals who may be mentally or physically challenged or disabled.

Starting Oct. 1, when the sheriff's office receives a report of a missing person, personnel there will call the national headquarters of the A Child Is Missing Alert Program. Those calls are answered around the clock, 365 days a year.

A technician at the Florida-based center will initiate the process of gathering information and sophisticated mapping systems. The center then launches potentially thousands of calls within minutes with an alert message detailing the missing person's description, last known whereabouts and other pertinent information.

The message also will include a phone number at the Rockingham County sheriff's office for anyone with information about the missing person to call.

A Child Is Missing, founded in 1997, was created because no community-based program existed for locating missing children. Funding comes from special events, sponsorship, private, corporate donations, state and federal funding.

The program is free for law enforcement agencies.

On Sept. 4, the Pepperell (Mass.) Police Department was searching for a missing 13-year-old girl, last seen carrying suitcases and possibly heading for Maine or Vermont with an 18-year-old man.

A Pepperell detective used the A Child Is Missing system and more than 1,000 alert calls went out in the area of the missing girl's home. Police received a call from a witness who said the girl was in Hudson, N.H. A second caller provided her whereabouts and she was safely recovered.

The phone numbers that are called by this program include listed numbers and mobile numbers available to A Child Is Missing Alert Program in the selected area. Mobile numbers, unlisted numbers, broadband/voice-over IP numbers and TDD/TTY devices can be included.

To enter your cell phone, unlisted land-line number, broadband/voice-over IP or TDD/TTY device number, visit achildismissing.org and click on "add your name" to enter your name, number and address. The information will only be used for emergency message alerts.

A Child Is Missing is a nationwide, nonprofit organization that helps police locate missing individuals. It has the capacity to place 1,000 alert phone calls in one minute. To date, the program has been credited with more than 750 safe assisted recoveries.

[Jenn]

http://www.bellingha...stery-boys.html

His identity still a mystery, boy's death haunts many people years later

POSTED: Friday, Oct. 08, 2010 By ANGIE LEVENTIS LOURGOS - Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO As Ted Bruder walks his dogs each day, he can't help but remember the little boy without a name.

Sometimes, it's the rustle of leaves underfoot, or one of the dogs finding and sniffing a bag left on the grounds of whatever forest preserve they are in that day.

Something will trigger memories of the overcast and chilly afternoon of Oct. 8, 2005, when Bruder and his white shepherd stumbled upon the body of a young child, stuffed in a blue canvas laundry bag and abandoned in a Naperville Township field.

"That's something I'll never forget," said Bruder, 64, of Bolingbrook, his voice tight and sad. "How could somebody do that to a little boy?"

Dozens of detectives, doctors and scientists - here and across the country - have chased clue after clue trying to identify the 3- or 4-year-old boy still known as "Johnny Doe" of DuPage County.

His badly decomposed body revealed few secrets. No one has claimed him.

Authorities say they are still investigating the case and taking tips. But five years later, the boy's cause of death remains a mystery, his abandonment incomprehensible to many - like Bruder - who cannot seem to forget the boy they never knew.

DuPage County Coroner Peter Siekmann still keeps forensic sketches of the unknown child, round-faced and grinning, next to his office desk.

He says the case moved him, in part, because the circumstances were so uncommon.

It's not that Johnny Doe is alone in anonymity. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that the bodies of about 12 to 15 children go unidentified each year across the country; however, most of those nameless youth are teenagers.

"His case is pretty rare, being that young," said Jerry Nance of the center, who worked closely with local authorities on the case.

Siekmann can remember only four times a body of any age remained unclaimed in DuPage County in the past 30 years or so.

"Young children die, but to have them remain unidentified forever is rare," Siekmann said. "There are so many question marks. You wonder over and over again, what did happen?"

The forensic artist fingered parts of the little boy's skull, entwining the bones and teeth like puzzle pieces to reconstruct his face.

She would work, cry a little, and then go back to work.

"As a mother, it is heart-wrenching," said Joy Mann, who worked at the DuPage County Sheriff's Department when Johnny Doe was found.

She spent that mid-October day in 2005 at the coroner's office trying to capture Johnny Doe's likeness on paper, with the aid of Houston Police Department forensic artist Lois Gibson.

They studied photos of his body and sat eye-level with his skull, noting the contours of his round cheeks, the wideness of his smile, the thick and dark hair.

They were about three-quarters done when interrupted by a soft knock on the door. A tall, handsome sheriff's employee - likely a deputy or detective - walked in and looked at the sketch.

Gibson pointed out the strong white teeth, and how big his grin would have been. Johnny Doe would have smiled without even trying.

She remembers that the law enforcement officer grew quiet and somber as he studied her rendering of the boy's face. She tried not to stare, to give him some privacy.

"I made the scene," Gibson remembers him saying, indicating he helped recover the body.

"He seemed sad, and deeply moved," she said.

The DuPage County Sheriff's Department said the staff is still investigating but declined to comment further on the case, which spurred a whirlwind of leads and dead-ends for several years.

Authorities tracked the boy's Navy blue Faded Glory-brand shirt and pants, finding three Wal-Mart stores where those identical items were purchased together. Two of those purchases, in Mississippi and New Mexico, checked out: One family had donated the outfit to charity, the other had bought it for a child who did not fit the abandoned boy's description. The third purchase was made in Forest Park, Ill., but the buyer paid cash, leaving no trail.

Nance of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said his agency tried to match the body with reports of more than 100 missing boys under 8, to no avail. Roughly 50 tips came in from across the country, the most recent in August, but none closed the case.

In 2007, the sheriff's department Fed-exed the boy's lower jaw and one loose tooth to Canadian scientist Henry Schwarcz at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Schwarcz used isotope analysis - studying oxygen levels in the teeth and bones - to determine where the little boy lived, as well as where his mother lived while she was pregnant and his teeth formed in utero.

A sheriff's detective slipped inside the package his own son's tooth, supposedly property of the Tooth Fairy, so the enamel could be compared with a local sample.

Schwarcz determined Johnny Doe grew up in northern Illinois, and his mother, during pregnancy, was likely in Michigan's Upper Peninsula or a section of Canada from the Great Lakes to Manitoba. But the regions were too broad to prompt a break in the case.

"It was burned deeply in my mind," Schwarcz said. "We couldn't figure out where he was from."

There were different theories. Was Johnny kidnapped from out of town, murdered, and dumped near the Reagan Tollway by his killers passing through? Was he the son of illegal immigrants who died of natural causes and was left behind because his family feared deportation?

Authorities weren't going to stop searching but, after several years, decided it was time to give Johnny a final resting place.

Ron Yurcus' thoughts churned as he drove through the gates of Assumption Cemetery in Wheaton on the sunny afternoon of Oct. 15, 2007.

The Catholic deacon and hospital chaplain was usually quite comfortable giving eulogies, capturing the character and hopes and joys of the dead through the memories of their loved ones.

This burial was different. Yurcus struggled to find the words to describe a boy who was a stranger at his own funeral.

But as he saw the crowd swell to more than a hundred mourners - sheriff's employees who worked the case, relatives of missing children who had thought Johnny Doe was their loved one, mothers with no reason except to honor a kid who had no one else - he grew inspired.

The deacon spoke of the beauty in such a young child uniting so many people who never even knew him.

"Unfortunately, I see a lot of funerals where just a couple people are there," he said in a telephone interview. "But this child was loved by many. He was loved for his innocence."

The little casket was buried in grave 11 in the children's section, the donated headstone marked "Son. Unknown. But not forgotten."

Yurcus says he still visits a few times a year, saying prayers for Johnny Doe and the boy's parents, who could be innocent victims missing their son.

Strangers continue to care for Johnny Doe's grave. Four tiny toy cars and two American flags decorate the tombstone. Marie Rizzo, 85, of Glen Ellyn gave it a sprig of pink and white silk flowers around Memorial Day.

"It just touched my heart," she said. "Like it touched everyone."

DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett said the five-year-old case is troubling but not hopeless, because a lead could surface anytime.

He cited a more than-20-year-old case, the 1981 murder of John Spoors of Addison, solved after a tip that came in just a few years ago.

"You never rule anything out," Birkett said.

As for Bruder, he believes he'll always think of Johnny Doe as he walks his dogs, regardless of how much time passes.

But he says he'd gain some sense of closure if the case was solved, if Johnny Doe were given back his name.

"All I know is, he wasn't a child who deserved what happened to him," Bruder said.

[Jenn]

http://readingeagle.....aspx?id=264717

Bill to locate missing, endangered persons passes

Originally Published: 11/16/2010

Legislation proposed by state Sen. Michael A. O'Pake to help locate missing endangered persons was passed by unanimous vote in the state House on Monday and will be sent to Gov. Ed Rendell for his signature.

"I'm very pleased that the House came back in so that we were able to get this done," the Reading Democrat said in a written statement. "Providing Missing Endangered Persons Advisories (MEPA) will be an important means to avoiding tragic results for missing Alzheimer's patients and other vulnerable persons.

"Unfortunately, especially around this time every year, we learn about tragedies that might have been avoided."

He pointed to recent cases in Pennsylvania in which an 82-year-old woman was found dead after wandering away from her nursing home and a 94-year-old man was found frozen in a field after leaving home.

O'Pake said the MEPA proposal came about because the success of the Amber Alert system for missing children created interest in having similar programs for other vulnerable groups.

O'Pake, who was instrumental in establishing Amber Alerts in Pennsylvania and authored the state Amber Alert law, said the new bill will make Amber Alert resources available to local police whenever someone with a physical or mental condition or disability is missing under unexplained, involuntary or suspicious circumstances.

[Lori Davis]

'Dead' woman charged in 5 kids case could make claim on will
Louann Bowers, charged in child welfare case, was named in her grandmother's will. With Bowers legally dead, land worth more than $800,000 was divided among four relatives.

By EMILY OPILO
Daily Record/Sunday News
Updated: 11/20/2010 09:57:58 PM EST
 
York, PA - Louann Bowers has been dead since June 1993 -- at least according to a court of law.

The 33-year-old York woman was declared legally dead by her family in 2004, more than a decade after her disappearance from her East Berlin home.

But Bowers isn't dead -- and in fact, the law states she might have a claim to inherited property that was distributed in 2008. This summer, she was arrested and later charged with five counts of child endangerment, accused of secretly raising five children in squalor for several years with no medical care or formal education.

She was living with a relative when police found her -- Sinhue Johnson, 45, her uncle by marriage, who also has been charged with child endangerment. But according to court documents, her immediate family didn't know where she was.

On March 3, 2004, an attorney for Dale and Anna Mae Bowers, Louann Bowers' parents, presented evidence at a hearing before a York County judge.

Court documents indicate the family had searched for the missing teen using four different missing children's networks, but to no avail. Letters from the military confirmed that Louann Bowers wasn't enlisted, and she had no known children or husband, a court petition stated.

Judge Gregory M. Snyder decreed a legal presumption of death beginning June 8, 1993, the day Bowers was last seen at her Bakers Watering Trough home wearing a blue Spring Grove School District windbreaker and white-cloth sneakers.

Robert Glessner, the York attorney who presented that evidence, said Saturday he is not representing Louann Bowers in any way.

Bowers' family members could not be reached for comment.

It's an unusual proceeding, said Bradley Jacobs, clerk of York County's Orphans' Court, where filings for such decrees are received and stored. He and his deputy both remember it.

"It's something that does stand out in your memory," he said. "I've been in this office since 2000, and I really don't know of any others."

But it's not unheard of, legal experts said.

Michael Hussey, an associate professor at Widener Law School with a concentration in wills and trusts, said typically, death decrees are issued when families are trying to administer an estate that names a missing person as an heir or collect some other kind of benefit, such as life insurance.

"You have this question hanging out there about what happened to this person," he said. "We need an answer before we can move forward, and having someone declared dead gives us that finality."

Louann Bowers' case was no exception. Her grandmother Sarah E. Berkheimer died in 2003, willing a more than $100,000 share of the family's $829,810 in property to her granddaughter.

The family had two choices in that scenario, Hussey said -- allow Louann Bowers' share to go unclaimed, opening it to the potential for a sheriff's sale, or declare her dead, causing her share to lapse.

Missing or hard-to-find heirs aren't that uncommon, but the facts in the Bowers case are, Hussey said. "You have a 16-year-old who went missing as opposed to some 60-year-old cousin who you just lost track of," he said.

According to court documents, Berkheimer's estate was settled in 2008. Louann Bowers' share was distributed among her family: $49,696.02 to her mother and $16,565.34 to each of her three siblings.

But it might not end there, said Bridget Whitley, vice-chair of the Pennsylvania State Bar Association's real property, probate and trust law section. Berkheimer's estate was informally settled -- meaning each heir signed a receipt and release agreeing to return any money that was erroneously distributed. That makes it easier to challenge, Whitley said.

"It sounds like the perfect law school exam question," she said. "I can argue both sides of the issue. They were without knowledge of her and entitled to rely on a duly-issued order of the court that says she was deceased."

Bowers could petition the court for her share, and court precedent is on her side, Whitley said. At very least, she would need to file a petition with the county Orphans' Court to overturn her death decree. There's no legal advantage to remaining dead, Whitley said. If anything, it could hurt her case.

"If the court would believe that her actions were induced, initially induced, designed to mislead people into believing she was dead, it may adjust the equities of the situation," Whitley said. "The judge may say, 'She's legally entitled to it, but I'm not going to order the funding.'"

Bowers' attorney, Ronald Gross, said he is representing her only on the criminal charges, and that Bowers has not brought up the issue of the will to him. Asked whether he would petition to overturn her death decree, he said he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

Declared dead
The decree of Louann Bowers' death included copies of her missing child reports from four different agencies and letters from four branches of the U.S. military declaring she was not a member.

According to state probate law, the court can direct a trustee to search for a missing person using an investigator or other agency, but anyone can testify concerning the death of a missing person, regardless of their interest in an estate. It's not an easy standard to meet, but the intention of the law is also not to be overly difficult, said Michael Hussey, an associate professor at Widener Law School.

"The proof may be hard to come by," he said. "The military is one example. People go out on a mission and don't return. At some point to move that forward, we declare them dead."

The longer it's been since a person's disappearance, the easier it is to decree death, said Bridget Whitley, vice-chair of the Pennsylvania State Bar Association's real property, probate and trust law section. The usual threshold is seven years, but there are exceptions if a person was exposed to a "specific peril," the statute states.

Sept. 11 is a common example, Hussey said. Many people's remains were never recovered, and the law wouldn't want a high bar in that situation.

"You would need to prove that a loved one went to work there every day, so they were probably there," he said. "Is it possible that that was the day they decide to run away, far away? That's possible but not likely."

Background
Louann Emma Bowers, 33, was last seen by her parents on the evening of June 7, 1993, according to a petition filed in 2004 to establish her death.

She disappeared in the early morning hours of June 8, 1993 while her family was delivering newspapers, the petition states. When they returned, she was not there and she did not report to school that day.

The petition states that Louann Bowers "told several friends that she was leaving home to elope with an unidentified boyfriend. She had no prior history of running away, nor was she known to have been dating anyone at the time of her disappearance."

She was last seen wearing a blue pullover windbreaker with the printing "Spring Grove School District," white sneakers and carrying a blue jeans purse, according to a missing person report from the Pennsylvania State Police. Bowers and Sinhue Amea Johnson, 45, are charged with five counts each of endangering the welfare of children.

They are accused of hiding their five children for years in a York home that had no electricity, heat, water, or a functioning toilet. The children were not in school or being homeschooled, police said, and they had received no medical or dental care.

Bowers told police the children's ages were 2, 6, 10, 12, and 13.

[Jenn]

http://blog.clevelan...e_featured.html

Missing persons to be featured on County Sheriff's Facebook page

Published: Thursday, February 03, 2011, 6:00 PM  Rachel Dissell, The Plain Dealer

The search for missing persons took a leap from the back of a milk carton to the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office's Facebook page Thursday.

Sheriff Bob Reid said his office had successfully used the social media site to help catch felons over the past year, getting more than 30,000 hits and many tips from the 3,770 people who "like" the page.

Using the platform to locate missing persons was a logical next, said County Executive Ed FitzGerald, who attended a press conference unveiling the new feature.

The idea came, in part, from suggestions by a Cleveland commission appointed last year after 11 women were found murdered in a home on Imperial Avenue.

Cleveland police said many of the families had not reported their loved ones missing. Some of the families said they felt police discouraged them from making reports because the women were adults and had mental health or substance abuse problems. They said they were left to search on their own for their mothers, daughters and sisters.

The commission, which was asked to look into how the city handled missing persons and sex crimes cases, suggested that the search for missing persons move to a countywide or regional platform.

"When individuals are missing," Reid said. "It's a concern for all of us."

Mary Bounds, a commission member and an assistant safety director for Cleveland called the site "wonderful."

Detectives from each of the 59 police departments in the county will be able to post profiles of up to 10 people reported missing in their communities. People with information on the cases are urged to contact detectives handling the cases.

Reid said he expects departments will post the most current and pressing cases.

Reid's office is waiting for an opinion from the county prosecutor's office about whether posting the pictures of juveniles is appropriate but thinks it will be allowed -- which is especially important since Facebook users are in line demographically with young folks who go missing.

When asked how Cleveland would choose which 10 profiles to feature, department spokesman Sammy Morris said since the city has so many missing persons reported -- about six each day -- they would like to link from the County's Facebook page the city's website to "allow access to all of the individuals reported missing in the City of Cleveland."

The city, he said, is working on getting pictures and profiles of the missing on its site.

The department started posting profiles Thursday. The first person posted was Lee Panter, a 26-year-old man missing from Euclid since August.

Also on the site are the familiar faces of Amanda Berry, who has been missing since 2003, and Georgina "Gina" DeJesus, who has been missing since 2004.

Reid said a plan is in the works to feature some cold cases, though the focus will be primarily on those recently reported missing.

FitzGerald said though the missing persons initiative was underway before he was elected, he supported it and said the county would continue to roll out collaborative law enforcement initiatives.

[Lori Davis]

'Find Our Missing' to Debut on TV One
WI WEB STAFF REPORT  
WEDNESDAY, 04 JANUARY 2012

TV One is debuting a new docu-drama series, "Find Our Missing," on Jan 18 that focuses on the cases of black Americans who've gone missing in recent years.

The series brings to the forefront the issue of how stories about missing black Americana do not get nearly the media attention they deserve.

"Nearly one-third of the missing in this country are Black Americans, while we make up only 12 percent of the population. Yet stories about missing people of color are rarely told in the national media," said TV One President and CEO Wonya Lucas.

Read more: http://washingtoninf...ment&Itemid=136

[Lori Davis]

http://www.ktts.com/.../149342715.html

Arkansas Officials Host Event For Cold Cases

By Greg Brock
CREATED 04/28/2012 at 2:05 AM

(AP) - Arkansas state agencies are combining forces to host the state's first missing persons day.

Arkansas has 106 unidentified persons and 165 missing persons in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

State officials hope to clear some of those cases this fall when Arkansas becomes the third state in the nation to host an annual missing persons day.

The state doesn't have DNA samples for more than 100 of the missing persons cases, many of whom went missing before the DNA profiling was practiced by law enforcement.

The state police, state attorney general's office and the state crime lab will host the event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. August 11 at the state police headquarters in Little Rock.

The DNA gathered will be cross-referenced in national databases.