For those of us who have taken it upon our hearts to communicate and work with family members of missing persons, there are always certain cases that one draws close to.

Help Find The Missing has always been a great source for me, and among the case information on missing persons can be found a lot of caring members.  Low on drama and high on details and friendship has always been a requisite for me and they fit the bill!

One of the members there holds Samantha Smith, her case, and her family close to her heart.  Living near the area from where Samantha vanished, she is able to get a first hand look at the facts and also speak to those who who were close to Samantha.

Many times waking hours are spent going over the clues, re-enacting the “what ifs” in your head, digging for anything new that might shed light on what could have happened to that person that seemingly vanished into thin air.  It’s often a breath of fresh air to see that someone can make that missing person real to us, and regardless of media exposure (or lack thereof) and speculation, each missing person deserves to be more than a face on a poster.

She has made Samantha real to us just by the outpouring of her own feelings about her and her case.  This is the one she wants desperately to be solved.  Thanks for being the light in the darkness for Samantha!

Quoted :

Well, it’s here. November 5, 2009. Three years ago Samantha Renee Smith vanished! I can’t tell there is much difference in every day life… Few people in our area recognize her name. You never see her face on missing posters. The ones I put up are always gone within a day or two. You don’t hear Nancy Grace or any of the others for that matter, even mention her name. And believe me I have contacted many people in the media. Reminders of today and I hope, maybe one will run a story about her.

I wonder if the new police chief, or Safety Director, has ever heard her name mentioned.

You don’t see her face flashing on every other myspace you look at. Almost no one would recognize her face if it scrolled across the top of this site.

But, Someone knows. And one day we will all know.

God bless you Samantha.

Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing Since: November 5, 2006 from Clinton, South Carolina
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date of Birth: July 13, 1984
Age: 22 years old
Height and Weight: 5′3 – 5′4, 110 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Red hair, green eyes. Smith’s hair is naturally blonde, but it was dyed red at the time of her disappearance.
Medical Conditions: Smith has a history of depression and may be suicidal. She has attempted suicide multiple times in the past. In addition, Smith suffers from asthma. She was taking medication for both her conditions at the time of her disappearance and may be in need of medical attention.

Details of Disappearance Smith was last seen in Clinton, South Carolina on November 5, 2006. At the time, she was living with her boyfriend in a house in the 100 block of Leila Street. Her boyfriend stated they got into an argument about religion and Smith walked into a wooded area behind her home and never returned. Smith has never been heard from again. She left all her personal belongings behind, except her purse. There is no evidence of foul play in Smith’s case, and her boyfriend has been ruled out as a suspect in her disappearance, but it is unclear what happened to her. Smith is described as an intelligent young woman. She enjoyed photography, hiking and horseback riding at the time of her disappearance. She was a student at Piedmont Tech and made good grades; she wanted to transfer to Lander University and become an art teacher. She has dropped out of sight before, but never for this long, and her family believes she may have come to harm. Her case remains unsolved.

Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Clinton Department of Public Safety
864-833-7512

NATIONAL ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE FOR MISSING PERSONS - Coming March 2010

Who Should attended? Families of the missing, advocates, law officers, coroners, forensic specialist, search personnel (all types), non profit missing person organizations, government agencies, private investigations and more.

National Round Table Conference Goals:

• Sharing a trained and professional view for solving cold case and search there of; missing persons
• Understanding the resources available to be deployed when needed, what their capabilities are and how to obtain them.
• Exploring the relevant positive and negative experiences of people who have experienced a missing loved one.
• Creating new approaches to missing persons cases, and effectively deploying available resources; building communication and support
• Developing a high-level view of the modifications needed to our current resources and organizational community over the next five years.

Time: March 18, 2010 to March 21, 2010
Location: Holiday Inn Conference Center, Market Street
Street: Public welcome for all concerned or that has a missing loved one and or victim of crime
City/Town: Wilmington, NC
Website or Map: http://www.ncmissingpersons…
Phone: 910-343-1131 or 910-232-1687

Name: Gayle Moran

Alias: Clarkie
Date of Birth: 08/29/1939
Date Missing: 07/31/2009
Age at time of disappearance: 69
City Missing From: Lake Placid
State Missing From: Florida
Gender: Female
Race: White
Height: 5 ft 6 in
Weight: 225 lbs
Hair Color: Gray with brown undertones
Hair (other): Short/Straight
Eye Color: Hazel: Brown/Green
Complexion: Light

Identifying Characteristics: Glasses, scars from double knee replacements and right shoulder operation rotor cup. Birthmarks and numerous moles all over her body, both ears are pierced

Clothing: Dark lime green top and bottom, similar to a sweat suit or green t-shirt with elastic waist blue jeans. Brown or beige sandal type shoes, Purse, deep with strap. May have kept a red sweater in her vehicle.

Jewelry: Two gold rings, 1 wedding, 1 engagement, several bracelets, and wore two or three on each wrist. 24″ long necklace with a baby Jesus charm, Seiko gold watch, half circle gold rope earrings.

Circumstances of Disappearance: Gayle was last seen at home in bed at approximately 2:30am by her daughter, who was checking on her. Gayle seemed disoriented and was asked by her daughter if she wanted medical attention. Gayle indicated she was ok. Her daughter checked on her again at 3:45am, and found that both Gayle and her vehicle were gone. It is assumed that she woke up, dressed, and left in her 2006 red Nissan Murano with FL tags TO7-2XC. She has not been seen or heard from since. At the time of Gayle’s disappearance, her husband was terminally ill and was receiving in-home care. He passed away on 8/12/2009. There is a yellow paint scratch on the passenger side of Gayle’s vehicle where the front and back doors meet.

Medical Conditions: Limited mobility due to two knee replacements, right shoulder rotor cup surgery. Gayle has high blood pressure and diabetes. She takes medication, but does not have it with her.

similar vehicle:

Investigative Agency: Highland County Sheriff’s Office
Agency Phone: (863) 402-7200
Investigative Case #: HCSO090FF005471
NCIC# M278269797

CUE Center for Missing Person
PO Box 12714
Wilmington, NC 28405
(910) 343-1131 or (910) 232-1687

Image by wallyg via Flickr

No more excuses, no more waiting, the time is NOW to take action to ensure that families with missing persons are taking this seriously. This is the help that so many have been waiting for. Don’t make them wait any longer! They deserve a voice and they deserve to have this bill passed into law.

You can read all of the details HERE then please copy and paste this letter and send to all of your elected officials! Then follow up with them by phone, fax or email until you get an answer! We NEED sponsorship and support NOW or this will die where it is. Please do your part~!

Thank you from all families with missing loved ones and those who care about them.

TO: Congressmen XXXX

FROM: Name – Address – City/St/zip

RE: H.R. 3695, The Help Find the Missing Act (Billy’s Law)

Dear Congressmen XXXXX:

Thank you, in advance for reviewing my letter and the information below. As a Representative of our district, I am hoping that you will support H.R. 3695. This is very important to me and as a member of our community I believe this is important to all, and hopefully to you as well.

It is no longer a rare occasion in which one may become a missing statistic, rather it happens more often than we would like. The growing number of citizens with Alzheimer’s and other cognitive disabilities also has shown a tremendous increase in missing loved ones, which also includes those with other cognitive disorders such as autism.

Your support, and those of your colleagues, are desperately needed. We feel if we do not gain support the bill will just die off. This bill is very necessary. We only want to have the gaps closed that will enable families of missing to have one source to be able to search for their loved ones.

Some recent published examples are:

* 200 unidentified bodies,in Florida, right now from 60’s and 70’s lying in wait in county morgues, unidentified. http://micurl.com/lyewu

* In Los Angeles, there are 4815 unclaimed. http://coroner.co.la.ca.us/htm/ucplist.cfm

Every year tens of thousands of Americans go missing, never to be seen by their loved ones again. Additionally, there are also an estimated 40,000 sets of unidentified human remains that are being held or disposed of across the country. Sadly, because of gaps in the nation’s missing persons systems, missing persons and unidentified remains are rarely matched. The Help Find the Missing Act (Billy’s Law) is an effort to fix these gaps. We want to help families to have the resources so that we can lessen the burden on the system as well as bringing loved ones home for a proper burial.

Please review the below and help by supporting H.R. 3695

Filling in the Gaps of the Nation’s Missing Persons Systems

Endorsed By: Connecticut Department of Public Safety, National Forensic Science Technology Center, National Center for Forensic Science, Doe Missing Persons Network, Center for Hope, Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons, Inc.

Sponsored by Representatives Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Ted Poe (R-TX)

This legislation is named after Billy Smolinski of Waterbury, Connecticut who went missing on August 24, 2004 at the age of 31. Billy’s family knows all-too-well the systemic challenges in trying to find the missing. They quickly learned that while federal law mandates law enforcement report missing children, there are no such requirements for adults – or unidentified bodies. Compounding this problem is the fact that local law enforcement agencies, medical examiners, and coroners, often don’t have the resources or training to voluntarily report these cases. Finally, even when missing adults and remains are reported, the wide-range of unconnected federal, state, local, and non-profit databases to help match the missing with unidentified bodies, makes finding a match an often insurmountable challenge.

Billy’s Law builds upon recent efforts to address these issues by:

* Authorizing, and therefore helping to ensure funding for, the National Missing Persons and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), which was created in July 2007 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to provide a missing persons/unidentified database that the public could access and contribute;

* Connecting NamUs with the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) in order to create more comprehensive missing persons and unidentified remains databases and streamlining the reporting process for local law enforcement;

* Creating an incentive grants program to help states, local law enforcement and medical examiners/coroners report missing persons and unidentified remains to NCIC, NamUs, and the National DNA Index System (NDIS);

* Calling on the DOJ to issue guidelines and best practices on handling missing persons and unidentified remains cases in order to empower law enforcement, medical examiners and coroners to help find the missing.

In closing, I thank you again for your review and hopeful support. Should you have any questions or needs, I am sure that Representative Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Ted Poe (R-TX) would be honored to respond to your inquiries.

Respectfully,

XXName

XXAddress

XXCity/State/Zip

XXPhone Number

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According to the family Facebook Group, Kristen Greene has been FOUND

FOREST CITY — The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department is looking for a missing 16-year-old R-S Central High School student who left home Tuesday morning.

Kristen Faith Greene, a white female who is five-feet, six-inches tall, weighs 95 pounds and has straight, bleached blonde hair and blue eyes, is believed to be traveling with Christopher Carpenter, 16, a black male who is five feet, eight inches tall and weighs 165 pounds.

Greene and Carpenter may be driving a white 2002 Hyundai with tag number YXJ-4478. According to RCSD Detective Sgt. Leon Godlock, no direction of travel is known.

Carpenter is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 15 on a misdemeanor public disturbance charge. He was also arrested, and is scheduled to appear in court in January, on a misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

If you have information on Greene or Carpenter, please contact Godlock at 287-6395 or call Rutherford County Communications at 286-2911.

http://www.thedigitalcourier.com/pag…e=main_article

To keep up with the latest details concerning the search for Kristen Greene:

HELP FIND THE MISSING

FACEBOOK GROUP

LAPD, family both trying to find man missing 4 1/2 years

Robert Spellman has been missing since April 13, 2005.

A 27-year-old bachelor, Robert Anthony Spellman frequently worked out at a Sherman Oaks gym, then stopped at his mother’s house for dinner before heading to his own home in Woodland Hills.

He followed that routine until just after midnight on April 13, 2005, kissing his mom goodbye as he promised to return that night.

But the charismatic luxury-car salesman vanished the next day, and his family never saw him again.

It’s been 4 1/2 long and frustrating years for Spellman’s heartsick relatives, baffled about the disappearance of the 1995 Grant High graduate who brightened their lives with stories about girlfriends, his two dogs and his dreams of someday working for the California Highway Patrol.

And as they prepared to mark what would be his 32nd birthday today, his relatives talked about grappling with his fate – and theirs.

“When you have somebody who goes missing, it’s worse than if someone dies. At least then you know they’re dead,” said one of Spellman’s relatives, who asked not to be identified because of safety concerns. “But here, you’re looking all over the place to see if you can find the person.”

The uncertainty experienced by the Spellman family is like that facing relatives of the 3,000 adults who are reported missing each year to the Los Angeles Police Department.

About half of the cases involve senior citizens with Alzheimer’s or dementia who wander away from their caregivers, officials say. Those cases are usually resolved in a couple of days.

The rest involve mentally ill residents, suicides, adults who leave their families and those – like Spellman – that confound authorities.

“Every case is different. There are always some twists and turns,” said Detective Carmine Sasso, who took over supervision of the LAPD’s eight-member Missing Persons Unit two years ago.

“My whole outlook is to be aggressive with investigations – get out in front of it.”

Sasso credits the department’s aggressive approach to its success rate – about 95 percent of missing persons cases are solved within a year.

About 1 percent, however, are turned over to LAPD’s elite Robbery-Homicide Division. In May 2007 — after no word from the young man or activity on his credit cards or bank accounts — Spellman’s case became one of those.

“It just didn’t meet the pattern of a missing person after two years,” homicide Detective Chuck Knolls said.

“He was a young man. He wasn’t a transient. He didn’t appear to have any kind of personal problems that he would run away from. And he was family oriented.”

Nationally, 95 percent of missing people are found within five days, but after that the chances decrease, said Thomas Lauth, an investigator with the National Center for Missing Adults.

“The chances of them being endangered increases as time goes on,” he said.

But amazing stories of missing people who are reunited years after their disappearances keep families hopeful, such as the high-profile story of Jaycee Dugard of South Lake Tahoe, who returned home after 18 years of captivity in a backyard.

Elizabeth Smart, who was abducted from her bedroom one night in 2002 in Salt Lake City, was found nine months later.

These stories spark renewed hope in families of long-term missing people, said Monica Caison, founder of Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons, based in North Carolina.

“Hope is hope, and without a body there is hope that that person is still out there,” Caison said. “So we do have to go by what we feel.”

These amazing tales of return also keep the Spellman family believing that they’ll see him someday walk through the front door and sit down at the dinner table.

“The easy thing to think of is that the person is dead,” Spellman’s relative said. “Until we find a body, there’s a smidgen of hope.”

Spellman’s family said they became concerned when he failed to show up as planned for dinner April 13, 2005. His mother went to his rented home in Woodland Hills, where she said she ran into one of her son’s co-workers, who said he might have taken an impromptu trip to Las Vegas.

Uneasy with the exchange, Spellman’s mother filed a missing person’s report.

But Spellman’s relatives said the original detective was indifferent to their concerns and didn’t even send officers to the home of the missing man until June 28 – more than two months after he had vanished.

The family later filed a complaint with the LAPD, claiming the detective assigned to the case lagged in launching an investigation into Spellman’s disappearance. They were eventually told that an internal investigation determined there had been no wrongdoing.

For their part, police said they closed the missing person’s case after Spellman’s landlord filed a notice of eviction against him. The landlord’s attorney told authorities that Spellman had gone to her office nearly two weeks after he was reported missing – a premise Spellman’s family disputes.

After hiring a private investigator, the family was stunned to learn that the case had been shelved. They quickly refiled it, and police launched an investigation.

After two years of dead ends, the case was reclassified as a suspected homicide.

“The circumstance of how his family found out that he was missing led us to believe that he wasn’t just a walkaway – that he had met some foul play,” Knolls said.

He said he believes Spellman, who worked for a luxury-car company in Downey, may have been killed in a business deal that soured.

He said that authorities have two suspects but lack sufficient evidence to pursue a prosecution. He speculated that a killer may have received help from one or more unwitting third parties.

“Those are the people we need to talk to,” Knolls said.

While the LAPD pursues its investigation, Spellman’s family is also at work. Relatives have posted a $50,000 reward, created a Web site, and posted images of Spellman on MySpace and YouTube.

And today his family will gather to mark his 32nd birthday.

“It’s a very somber day,” his relative said. “We always remember him every day. There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t.”

Search continues today at Port Crescent park
By Kate Hessling, Tribune Staff Writer
Published: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 2:19 PM EDT

HUME TOWNSHIP — A search is expected to resume today for a missing 48-year-old Detroit area woman believed to have last been at the Port Crescent State Park Day Use area.

“Something is very suspicious here,” said Huron County Sheriff Kelly J. Hanson, as search efforts were under way Monday for Catherine Nativite Hoskinson, of Madison Heights, in regards to the reason for her disappearance.

Police are looking for any information on who may have been at the day use area in Hume Township on Sunday afternoon or evening and can recall seeing a white female who is 5-feet, 7-inches tall and approximately 145 pounds with blonde hair and green eyes.

Hanson said Huron County Central Dispatch received a call from Park Manager Betsy Kish at about 1 p.m. Monday, reporting some personal items had been found at the day use area beach, and she felt someone may be missing.

Hanson told the Tribune a local morning beach walker was walking the day use area at about 10 a.m. Monday when she came across some clothes, car keys, a Michigan’s driver’s license and cell phone on the beach near the eastern edge of the day use swimming area.

He said the car keys fit the locks of a 2008 Pontiac Grand Am, which was parked in the parking lot near the beach. Investigators learned Hoskinson’s identity from her driver’s license and matching car registration.

Hanson said park officials told police the last time park personnel attended to the parking lot near the swimming area Sunday was at about 8:30 p.m., at which time there still had been vehicles in that lot. However, park officials couldn’t say for sure if Hoskinson’s vehicle was one of the cars there Sunday evening.

However, police do believe the woman had been there overnight, because her belongings were soaked from Monday morning’s rain, and all footprints were washed away, Hanson said.

Also, the sheriff said, Hoskinson’s family told police she was missing, probably since Sunday, as they hadn’t heard from her since about 2:30 p.m. that day.

Other information gathered from Hoskinson’s family members indicate she has had some recent personal issues and has been depressed, Hanson said.

As a result, police believe she may have committed suicide, but the sheriff said that’s just one possibility, as Hoskinson could have innocently drowned, or even have had been abducted.

“It could have been an abduction, but information from the family shows and her personal belongings show it most likely was a suicide,” Hanson said. “Everything’s adding up to where it’s little more than a hunch now.

The U.S. Coast Guard assisted in Monday’s search using a helicopter and boat along with one of the Huron County Sheriff Office’s patrol boats that also was on scene. Port Crescent State Park personnel also assisted the Huron County Sheriff’s Office by searching the park on foot.
The search was suspended at dark and was scheduled to resume at daylight this morning, Hanson said.

He noted it’s been difficult locating Hoskinson because no one has actually reported seeing her in the water, therefore, searchers do not have a particular location they can focus their efforts on.

“We’re out there looking for a needle in a hay stack,” Hanson said.

He said if search efforts are not successful in locating Hoskinson, and her body really is located in the bay, nature may take its course over the next few days. That is because today and Wednesday are expected to be warmer days, which will cause Hoskinson’s body to decompose to a point where it will rise to the surface.

Anyone who may have seen Hoskinson is asked to call (989) 269-6421, Hanson said.

Kate Hessling • (989) 269-6461 • khessling@hearstnp.com

__________________

If you believe you have any information regarding this case that will be helpful in this investigation please contact:
Livingston County Sheriff’s Office at (517) 546-2440

Reward offered for missing 19-year-old

Megan Maxwell

NEWPORT – Authorities have offered a $10,000 reward for any tips in the case of a woman who disappeared last week.

Megan Maxwell, 19, was last seen April 26.

Gov. Phil Bredesen authorized the reward late last week from state funds for any information leading to the arrest or conviction of “any person responsible for (her) disappearance or death.”

Police say they have a “person of interest” in the case but have filed no charges.

Maxwell, described as 5 feet 6 inches tall and 115 pounds, had been driving a 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse that was found burning the morning of April 26 on U.S. Highway 25/70 by a passing off-duty Newport officer, according to Newport Police Chief Maurice Shults.

Further investigation showed that Maxwell was still alive at 4:27 a.m. that morning, when she called a friend to let her know that she was leaving her father’s home in Newport after checking in on him, Shults said.

“She’d gotten a call that there was something wrong with him,” he said. “She called her friend and said, ‘I’ll finish this cigarette, and I’ll be that way.’ “

Maxwell’s car was found only a few feet from a riverbank, and “some leads have indicated some activity at the river” before the car burned, Shults said.

Police say they’re pursuing several leads and thus far don’t believe her disappearance was related to “domestic violence or anything like that.”

She was last seen wearing a blue sweatshirt and blue jeans with holes in the fabric.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Newport Police Department at 423-623-5556, Ext. 105, or the district attorney general’s office at 423-623-1285.

Cops confirmed the car found on fire was Megan’s.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Newport Police Department at 423-623-5556, extension 105, or the DA’s office at 423-623-1285. Or CUE Center For Missing Persons 24 HOUR TIP LINE (910) 232-1687