how many missing people do you know of in real life?

[notnowmarmaduke]

Just wondered - we are always saying how common it is, but how many of us know many missing people? Of course you might be closely associated with a missing person and not know it, as people don't necessarily talk about it, or might just not know themselves.

I have only known two people reported as missing, long term. one friends father, who was the classic went out for a pint of milk and was never seen again. ( 30+ years now). One runaway teen never found (15+ years)

Apart from that I have known a few runaway teens who were found, and two people reported as missing who I know went into witness protection

Also, have you ever been reported missing?

There was a weird case as well where the father of someone in my school went missing for 4/5 years. It was very high profile with the police everywhere, big appeals every year on anniversaries. Then he came back, said it was complicated and that was it. It was never mentioned again.

It must have been so weird to try and just slot into him being around the house again.

A family friend's son went missing as a 7-year-old and never found. He left the poor mother of his missing son and started a new family abroad with someone else leaving her to it. He wasn't a very nice person.

I know 0 missing people.

And I have never been reported missing.

I don't know any but my mum knows of a teenage boy who went missing I think early 2000's just down the road from us. Nothing was ever found until recently there was a report that they'd charged a man and his mother for ??? Something, possibly murder, but nothing else has been posted about it since so must be under investigation

The brother of my friend was missing. He had a job that meant he was away from his flat and wasnt the best at communicating with his family. So they didn't realise.. He was found dead but nothing on him to identify who he was. My friend read an article in a newspaper about a body being found and got a 'hunch' and went to the police station to ask if it was brother. He's very much missed by us all. I don't think he realised he was amazing.

A colleague's dad disappeared. They didn't know if he left the country or was dead. Took about 15 yrs and alot of legal time and expense to release finances to my colleague's mother and sort out the house - they couldn't move, they felt they were stuck in hell.

1

Disappeared on a night out and no trace has ever been found and presumed murdered.

It’s been nearly 30 years.

I've never been reported missing.

A local man has gone missing for years, no one knows what's happened to him. I personally think he's just gone missing, he's thought to have gone to a certain part of the UK accessible by boat. But you never know what could've happened. In this case though, he did travel to a couple of places. The trail gas gone cold for a few years now.

Yes, friend if the family, went back packing with a female friend in India for their gap year. The female friend got food poisoning and stayed in the hostel while the lad we knew went out for the day. Never returned, never got any answers. It's been over 10 years.

The brother of a friend of mine. He was never reported missing officially as he led something of a nomadic lifestyle. A bit of a chancer with a few brushes with the law, which meant he sometimes had to quickly up sticks and move on.
Nobody heard anything from him for about 15 years, despite the family trying to locate him, I don't think he really wanted to be found. They eventually found out he had been living rough and in poor health, and was found deceased in a field eventually.
A very sad end to sad life x

One, my mum's friend's son, who went to "find himself" in India about 40 years ago and still hasn't come back.
As PPs have said, not a day goes by in my area without young kids being reported missing on social media. County Lines I assume.

1. My Dds were at the same playgroup as a little girl who went missing. She was never found and would be the same age as Dd1 now,almost 21.

Someone I love going missing is my worst nightmare. The not knowing must be horrendous and there is never any closure.

The mother of a child in my primary school. The police and family hunted for days. They eventually found her dead at the back of a cupboard in the home. Suicide. Haunting for them.

I know someone who "ran away" a few times as an adult (always returned on his own fortunately), it was frightening how little the police could and would do. It made me think how easy it would be for anyone over the age of 18 to disappear really, and it must be more common than we think.

Three.

One friend of a friend that has been missing for around 10 years now.

A friend who was told their dad had popped out for some milk and then never came home. Been gone with no contact for in excess of 40 years.

A gentleman I know who just left his house and then his body was discovered a week or two later at a local beauty spot.

A man I worked with in my teens disappeared presumed dead.

I didn't known him but I lived on the same street as a teen who went missing some years ago. He's never been found.

One ex work colleagues teen DD went missing, she had killed herself and was found at the base of a cliff a few weeks later.

Another ex work colleagues brother was missing for years, he was a drug addict. He turned up briefly after 15 years and disappeared again.

A friend of my cousin's went missing twice when she was a teenager. One time for a few months. She was classed as a perpetual runaway by the police but I don't think she ever took off again after that. I do wonder now if there was something more to it such as abuse etc but this was the late 80s/early 90s and things were quite different then. It just wasn't looked into.

Yes, two in my family. My grandfather walked out on my mum, then a toddler, and grandmother and was never seen again (although a detective tracked him down and he then wrote a couple of horrible letters saying he was never coming back); and my uncle, who went to Australia and disappeared. My grandmother (the other grandmother, not the same woman whose husband vanished) died never knowing what had happened to her son.

I always wonder why some missing person cases are so high profile and all over the media, whilst others not at all!

An ex colleague has been missing for over a week now. This is the second time she's gone missing, the first was for a very short time.

Oh and a work friend's dad was briefly missing and he was found quickly but had sadly committed suicide. He was reasonably high profile due to his job (involved in sports) and it was awful. Family adored him but he couldn't recover from depression.

a friend went missing whilst on holiday - unfortunately she was later found dead, no suspicious circumstances just very sad. At least it was probably sudden and she was doing something she enjoyed at the time. i still miss her though.

Claudia Lawrence?

A parents sibling, had addiction issues. Went off grid in the 80s, a few phone calls were made to parent when they were either high or drunk, hasn’t been heard of since the 90s.