These Cold Cases Are A Police Officer’s Nightmare
As much as we'd like to believe that our law enforcement has bulletproof tactics to find missing people, the reality is that they don't. There's only so much that the police can do.
Every investigator will tell you that it's crucial they start searching for the missing person within the first 48 hours. After that, the window closes and it's very difficult to find a missing person. The leads end up turning into dead ends and the truth seems farther and farther away. This article shows you all the missing people who are haunting the conscience of police officers across the country.
Morgan Nick
On June 9th, 1995, Morgan Nick and her mother went to a little league baseball game in their town of Alma, Arkansas. Morgan asked if she could catch lightning bugs with her friends around the diamond.
She was last seen around 10:45pm that same night emptying sand from her shoe near her mom's car in the diamond parking lot. Her friends did report seeing a creepy man talking to Morgan. She has not been seen of heard from since.
Angela Mae Meeker
Just two days after her 14th birthday, Angela Meeker went missing in Tacoma, Washington. She was walking to the mall and wanted to buy a birthday card for her friend. She was seen that evening at a party but Angela never returned home that night.
At first, police thought that she ran away. In fact, it wasn't until two years after she was last seen that she was officially reported as missing.
Arianna Fitts
Arianna Fitts and her mother Nicole Fitts were reported missing on April 5th, 2016. Nicole Fitts had been seen on April 1st, but Arianna hadn't been seen since mid-February.
Arianna Fitts is still missing, but her mother's body was found buried in a local park on April 8th of the same year. Best Buy has said that they'll give anyone $10,000 for any information that leads to Arianna. The Fitts family still think she is alive, and that someone just wanted her for their own.
Jabez Spann
Jabez Spann went missing in September 2017, in Sarasota, Florida. He was last seen at a Labor Day BBQ with his family and friend and hasn't been seen or heard from again. The 14-year-old was not someone known to have any specific enemies.
His friends and family think that he was killed because he wasn't someone who would've just ran away for no reason. Reward money still stands at $50,000 for information leading to furthering this case.
Ilene Beth Misheloff
Ilene Misheloff was last seen on January 30th, 1989 when she was walking home from school in Dublin, California. She is said to have disappeared at around 3 pm in the afternoon.
There has been no sign of her except for a key fob was later found near the entrance to a local park which was along the route she typically took home from school. She has not been seen or heard from since.
Sheri Lynn and Michael Johnson
Two young children and their mother, Freda Denham, disappeared in 1974, but they weren't reported missing until 1975. Freda's husband, Henry Lee Harrison also disappeared.
While Denman's clothes remained in their apartment, Harrison and the two children's clothes were gone. All the fingers are pointing to Henry murdering his family but there have been no bodies found. Local police closed the case, and it was just reopened again in 2004.
Michaela Joy Garecht
Michael Garecht was abducted at around 10 in the morning in November 1988. She and a friend had left home and rode their scooters to the market two blocks away. They went into the market and started their way home but had forgotten their scooters.
They turned back and saw that one of their scooters was moved close to a parked car. When she got closer to the car a man picked her up and threw her into the back seat. There have been many leads that had led to nowhere. The case is still undergoing.
Mark Himebaugh
On November 25th, 1991, 11-year-old Mark Himebaugh went to go see firefighters put out a small brush fire. His mother went out for errands that caused her to be delayed and get home 40 minutes later than she wanted.
By the time his mother reached where Mark should've been, he was gone. Authorities found his shoes and some footprints but that was it. The case has since run cold.
Ruochen Liao
A Chinese luxury car dealer has been missing since the summer of 2018 after he was kidnapped during a business meeting. The kidnappers demanded a $2 million ransom.
His name is Tony Liao Ruochen and he had just finished an evening meeting with a few business associates when a minivan and a Range Rover pulled up beside him and abducted him. The FBI still doesn't know why he was taken other than to get ransom money from his wealthy parents back in China.
Carla Vicentini
After she moved to the U.S from Brazil in a student exchange program, Vicentini became unhappy with her situation, living with several women in one small hotel room. She switched out her job and moved out of her hotel as soon as she could.
She was last seen at a bar around two in the morning. Witnesses claim she left with a man. They think she returned home because all of her stuff was in her new room. A few days after she disappeared, her boss got a phone call of a mysterious person screaming for help. She has not been seen since.
Amber Elizabeth Cates
On April 11th, 2004, Amber Cates left her mother's home in Tennessee and was never seen again. She left with her friend James Gordon who was driving a gold Mazda at the time. Gordon claims that he dropped her off with another guy named Ronald Inzurriaga who was in prison by the time the police got the lead.
He claims that he dropped her off in front of a garage after she had purchased some hair dye. Her case was considered a runaway but her social security card and cell phone haven't been used since 2004.
Jennifer Lynn Marcum
25-year-old Jennifer Marcum was last seen in 2003 at the Denver International Airport. She didn't have a scheduled flight and her car was found in a remote part of the parking lot.
She was a stripper at the time, and started a friendship with a chronic criminal who was released early from prison after he became an FBI informant. The man, Scott Lee Kimball, later admitted to killing her but they could never locate the body.
Devonte Jordan Hart
A Washington couple and their five children were found dead after a fatal car accident on Highway 1 in California in early 2018. The car ended was thrown off the highway and landed on the surf line.
One of their children, Devonte Jordan Hart was missing from the scene. Hart has yet to be seen or heard from. It was discovered that Jordan's adoptive mother was intoxicated at the time of the crash and his siblings had been drugged too.
Russell John Mort
2-year-old Russell John Mort has been missing since May 5th, 1982 from Wheatfield, New York. He was last seen by his mother, who upon being told something was wrong with his toy guitar, took it inside to fix it while he sat by the backyard pool.
She came back out, he was gone. One theory was that he drowned and was disposed of by his embarrassed and terrified mom. There has been no evidence of this, though.
Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone, Jr.
Danielle and Richard disappeared in 2005 after they were up late at a local bar and got into Richard's pick up truck to head home. There is no sign of neither them nor the truck at this point and the motives as to where they are seem unclear.
The FBI is still offering $50,000 for information on their whereabouts or any information that potentially leads law enforcement to those responsible for their disappearance.
Kimberly Ann Langwell
Kimberly Langwell called her teenage daughter in 1999 to remind her about dinner plans. She said that she was going to be home after visiting a friend, but she never returned.
Langwell's car was found in a drug store parking lot a few hours after she was supposed to be home for dinner. Her purse and keys were missing but her cell phone was in the car. Her family believed she was taken by her ex-boyfriend. Langwell had previously told her sister to not believe it if she was found dead by "suicide."
Kristin Denise Smart
Kristin Denise Smart has been legally presumed dead since 2002, but her disappearance is still unsolved. Smart went missing while she was attending college in California. She was walked home by fellow students because she was very drunk while attending a party.
They got her to her dorm but didn't follow her inside the building. This was the last known sighting of her. She didn't have any credit cards or money on her when she went missing.
Tammy Lynn Leppert
She was a well-known, beautiful actress in the 1980s before she disappeared without a trace. She had a quick appearance in the movie Scarface and was going to be a rising star in the industry.
She left her mother's house in 1983, and police were led to Christopher Wilder. But he later died in a shoot-out with police before they were able to interrogate him about Leppert's disappearance. The case has since run cold.
Amanda Deguio
She went missing on August 27th, 2014, but Amanda Deguio hadn't even been seen by her parents for two months prior. She stormed out of her house and left her cell phone, credit cards, and additional clothing. Deguio also doesn't drive.
The motives of why she left in the first place are still unknown. Her family doesn't know how she got around, but authorities believe there to be some foul play involved.
Tara Calico
Tara Calico went for her daily bike ride in Belen, New Mexico on a brisk September day in 1988. She's usually accompanied by her mother but she went alone this time and was never seen again. Her mom always wanted Tara to carry mace with her, but Tara refused.
Pieces of her walkman and cassette tape were found on the trail she usually rides, but her bike was never found. In 1989, this picture of a young woman and young boy surfaced and while the boy remains unknown, Tara's mom is certain that's her. Nothing has come of this case since.
William Ebeneezer Jones, Jr.
The three-year-old vanished without a trace from his New Jersey home. It was 1962 and he was barely over 35 lbs as he wore a light bluish gray snowsuit and reportedly had a dime in his pocket that his mother gave to him.
His family still believes that someone took him and raised him as their own. He would be 57-years-old if he's alive today. The FBI still hasn't given up information about his disappearance and continues to search for leads.
Lisa Maria Szasz
Lisa Maria Szasz disappeared without a trace in Andover, Ohio on March 23, 2000. Mysteriously, her Chevy Blazer was abandoned at a no parking zone at the Youngstown-Warren Airport in Ohio.
The car keys were still in the ignition and she wasn't at the scene. Three days before she disappeared, she said she felt she was being stalked. There have been no leads for nearly two decades on this case.
Jonathon Fraser
He was last seen on July 30th, 2016 in his apartment in Honolulu, Hawaii. His vehicle was later discovered parked in Hawaii Kai. His girlfriend didn't have answers as to why he would be in that part of the neighborhood as he didn't have any friends there.
Authorities aren't ruling out foul play and are offering a $20,000 reward for information on his disappearance. There has been nothing since that time.
Crystal Ann Tymich
Crystal Ann was just six-years-old when she vanished without a trace. She was outside picking some peaches with her brothers in 1994 and was never seen again. After her three brothers left her outside by herself, she was gone.
It wasn't until 2005 when police searched a crawl space in her neighbor's house and found some bones. The bones couldn't be traced to Crystal and her case has remained old ever since.
Johnny Gosch
Johnny Gosch was just 12-years-old when he disappeared while on his paper route. His dad, John, found his son's delivery wagon still full of newspapers on the sidewalk. His disapperance tore apart his Iowa communtiy and he was the first kid to ever be put on a milk carton around the country.
A former male prostitute confessed that he knows Johnny was sold into a sex trafficking ring. Johnny mom says that she was visited by Johnny and an unknown man in 1997 but has not seen him since.
Susan Powell
Susan Powell went missing on the morning of December 9th, 2009. For a while, Susan's husband, Joshua and her two kids were missing as well, but they returned home around dinner time. Susan's friends knew the marriage was in shambles, and Susan feared for her life.
Joshua said he took the kids camping for a day and said that he had no idea where Susan was. All of Susan's stuff was found in Joshua's possession but they had no evidence he did it. Three years later, Joshua lost custody of his two children and killed them both in a murder-suicide shortly after. Susan hasn't been found.
Maura Murray
Maura Murray disappeared on the evening of February 9th, 2004 after a car crash on Route 112 in New Hampshire. Her whereabouts still remain unknown seeing as she had emailed her professors at the University of Massachusetts that she was gone for a week due to a family emergency. Her family said that wasn't true.
She told witnesses that saw her on the side of the road that she didn't need any help. She didn't tell any of her friends or family that she was leaving. The investigation is still ongoing.
Heather Teague
In 1995, Heather Teague was sunbathing near the Ohio River in Henderson County, Kentucky. A witness was observing the area through a telescope when he saw a man wearing a wig and a mosquito net hat walking very close to Teague on the bank.
She was never seen again. Police found part of her red bathing suit not far from the abduction site but nothing pointing to her whereabouts. The police had a suspect that they were looking into who committed suicide as soon as they entered his property. She has not been heard from or seen since.
Elisa Lam
Although she's one of the only people on this list whose body was found, the story is still incredibly interesting. Elisa Lam was a Canadian student who was found dead in a water tank in the Cecil Hotel in LA.
Prior to her body being found, a video was released of her in the hotel elevator looking distressed. She looked like she was hiding from someone or something. She was bipolar, so there are speculations that her mental heath had something to do with her death. There have been no answers as to what happened.
Asha Jaquilla Degree
Asha Degree was nine-years-old when she went missing in 2000. She was ready to run away and had packed multiple sets of clothes before she disappeared. It was just before 4 am when Asha left her family home in North Carolina despite there being heavy rain and wind in the area.
A passing motorist saw her walking alongside the highway and turned around to see what she was doing. Asha ran into a nearby forest. She was never seen again, but her backpack was unearthed from a construction site near where she entered the woods.
