A missing person is a person who has disappeared for no known reason.

Missing persons' photographs may be posted on bulletin boards, postcards, and websites, along with a phone number to be contacted if a sighting has been made.

Richard Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan is currently classified as a missing person

People disappear for many reasons. Richard John Bingham 7th Earl of Lucan (born 18 December 1934 known as Lord Bingham from 1949 to 1964 and colloquially known as "Lucky" Lucan, was Some individuals choose to disappear alone; most of these soon return. About 10% of missing persons in the United States never return, however. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Reasons for this include:

• Leaving home to start again in a new place under a new name.
• Becoming the victim of kidnap. In Criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or Asportation of a person against the person's will usually to hold the person in False imprisonment
• Abduction (of a minor) by a non-custodial parent or other relative.
• Seizure by government officials without due process of law. Due process (more fully due process of law) is the principle that a person has a right to receive notice and be heard in an orderly proceeding in order to protect his or her
• Suicide in a remote location or under an assumed name (to spare their families the suicide at home, or to allow their deaths to be eventually declared in absentia). A pseudonym is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name (see Alias) In Law, death in absentia is the status of a person who has been declared legally dead.
• Victim of murder (body disguised, destroyed, or hidden). Murder is the unlawful killing of another human person with Malice aforethought, as defined in Common Law countries
• Mental or neurological illness can cause someone to become lost, or they may not know how to identify themselves.
• Death by natural causes or accident far from home without identification.
• Disappearance in order to take advantage of better employment or living conditions elsewhere.
• Sold into slavery, serfdom, sexual servitude, or other unfree labor. Unfree labour is a generic or collective term for those work relations especially in modern or early modern history in which people are employed against their will
• To avoid discovery of a crime or apprehension by law-enforcement authorities. (See also failure to appear). Failure to appear is the legal term for the failure of a Defendant or respondent to appear within the stated time before a Tribunal as directed in a Summons
• Joining a cult or other "religious" organization. This article does not discuss "cult" in the original sense of "veneration" or "religious practice" for that usage see Cult (religious practice
• To escape domestic abuse.
• To avoid war or persecution during a genocide. War is an international relations Dispute, characterized by organized Violence between National Military units Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction in whole or in part of an ethnic racial religious or national group
• To escape famine or natural disaster.

US Statistics

By the end of 2005, there were 109,531 active missing person records according to the US Department of Justice. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Children under the age of 18 account for 58,081 (53. 03%) of the records and 11,868 (10. 84%) were for young adults between the ages of 18 and 20. [1]

During 2005, 834,536 entries were made into the National Crime Information Center's missing person file, which was an increase of 0. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. 51% from the 830,325 entered in 2004. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Missing Person records that were cleared or canceled during the same period totaled 844,838. The reasons for these removals include: a law enforcement agency located the subject, the individual returned home, or the record had to be removed by the entering agency due to a determination that the record is invalid.

Legal Issues

A common misconception is that a person must be absent for 72 hours before being legally classed as missing, but this is rarely the case; in instances where there is evidence of violence or of an unusual absence, law enforcement agencies often stress the importance of beginning an investigation promptly.

In most common law jurisdictions a missing person can be declared dead in absentia (or "legally dead") after seven years. Common law refers to law and the corresponding legal system developed through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive In Law, death in absentia is the status of a person who has been declared legally dead. This time frame may be reduced in certain cases, such as deaths in major battles or mass disasters such as the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Monument

On May 26, 2002, a monument to missing persons was unveiled in County Kilkenny, Ireland by President Mary McAleese. Events 451 - The Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sassanid Empire takes place See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. It was the first monument of its kind in the world. [2]

References

See also

• AMBER Alert
• Code Adam
• Cold case
• Death in absentia
• Forced disappearance
• List of people who have disappeared
• Missing Kids Website
• Missing white woman syndrome
• NPIA
• Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
• Unexplained disappearances
• Unreported missing

External links

• Charley Project (profiles over 6,000 missing person "cold cases")
• Doe Network (missing persons in Australia, Canada, Europe, Mexico, USA)
• National Center for Missing Adults (USA)
• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (USA)
• North American Missing Person's Network
• European Federation for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children
• Missing People Charity (UK)
• NPIA Missing Persons Bureau (UK)
• UK Missing Kids Website - A police website