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?

My second cousin, whom I did not know personally as she was ten years older, went missing while hitch hiking. She was found dead and her murderer, a mass murderer, went to gaol.

My school friend, as a young woman, went missing from her work with Fisheries and Wildlife when her boat over turned. She was found drowned a few days later.

So, two sad outcomes unfortunately.

Due to a job I had I knew quite a few people who were runaways, some of whom were missing from their families for years.

But I am not aware of anyone who has gone missing from my sphere of friends and family.

My friends husband disappeared. His car and belongings were found near a river so suicide by drowning was suspected. Yet his body was never found, despite the fact that there were two locks and dams nearby. A nonprofit specializing in water recovery also searched but nothing.

If I'm completely honest, I'm not sure he went in the water.

My father vanished decades ago. Once I was an adult, I searched for years, finding other previously unknown family members, my brother and I did dna testing in case he had a secret family. He'd be 89 if still alive.

I was 4 in 1980 when my family found skeletal remains in a tidal sandbank at Dungeness, Far North Queensland. No skull unfortunately but we gathered up what we could including the femurs, ribs, hip bones, some vertebrae and an intact boot and very damaged wallet. Maybe we should have left him in situ, but the tide was coming in and we weren’t sure we could find the spot again.

Mum took the remains to the local police, who couldn’t be less interested. After not seeing any report in the local paper or calls for missing people, mum went back to the police 6 weeks later who basically told her to go away- the remains had been sent to Brisbane forensics and she was told to stop being a nuisance. She went back a third time a year later and got the same story. As far as we are aware, no real investigation was carried out.

A policewomen rang my mum 5 years ago asking for the circumstances around finding the bones- 40 years after mum handed in the bones. The policewoman was working through old cold cases and had found the bones at the forensic centre, stuck in a filing cupboard with no information except they were handed in to Ingham police my mum in 1980. It seems as if it was as my mum suspected- no investigation or tests were ever carried out. I hope the police have at least done a DNA test now.

So sad- he would have been missed by someone and they will never know.

😱😱😱

@Orinocogrande Very sorry, it's a sad story. Hope you've found some resolution.

My GP went missing a few years ago and was reported in the news. His body was found in the back of beyond a couple of days after he was in the news but no cause of death given although police said his death wasn’t considered suspicious. His next door neighbour told me he had cancer so I suspect suicide.
A friend‘s father and brother moved to Canada and the brother disappeared off the face of the earth. Friend searched for years and had a few tenuous leads. About 4 years ago friend went to visit father in Canada after many years and hoped to track his brother down while he was there. He did a search on his brother’s name while he was there only to find his brother had died three weeks previously.

I had a very often lovely but also could be an incredibly intense friend from teenage times to adulthood. No longer in touch with her but she was severely traumatised by a boyfriend who completely disappeared one day. Not only from her life but from everyone he knew's life except maybe from his close family. So all of his old school and uni friends stopped hearing from him as well as my friend. It felt very cruel at the time and my friend was devastated by it but I think he wanted a completely fresh start and that was the only way he felt he could do it. Years later someone heard he was living with someone else and was okay. I think he knew my friend loved him so deeply she would have struggled to let him go but she very nearly took her life over it.

Some of these are just so sad, I can’t imagine such a deep pain of someone I love being missing. The not knowing and hopeless hope would make me mad.

I always think of those missing people who turn up years later, having been held captive in someone’s basement or shed etc.

I had a school friend who found out when her father died that he was 25years older than her mum believed and had a previous life and family they knew nothing about (the family had no idea where he had gone).

And was a support worker to someone who had been missing for 30+ years following their arrest for their brothers murder in an English speaking EU country (we verified this but it took years and an immense amount of work to find it out)

I think these scenarios may happen more frequenly than we realise.

I didn't know him, but a doctor from the hospital I worked in. Car found near the beach.

I am 66 years old. In all those years I have only ever known two people who went missing. One was found dead in a ditch, he was diabetic and seems to have had a hypo whilst out walking alone, the other was found dead in a cupboard having been kidnapped and murdered.

One. There could be foul play involved but due to the circumstances I suspect and hope she just decided to exit her old life and start again.

A guy who I was friends with - not very close but in the same social circle. Went missing and is presumed dead. His body has never been found and I would it imagine it never will be now, as so much time has passed and there is evidence he's likely to have entered the sea. His poor mum has been utterly haunted by the whole situation.

Sorry for all those with tragic stories.
Not in UK, but can't think of a single person, or even a friend of a friend of a friend. Or family going back generations . Seems so many on this thread.

Just two people, a classmate that disappeared (by force) from her college campus 45+ years ago. Never found.
The other, a relative I didn't really know, vanished from the earth (foul play) 45+ years ago. Rich and somewhat famous, so a lot of coverage via newspaper/shows, etc. Her body has never been found.

I always have hoped that it was quick and neither suffered a lot of pain.

I went missing. I hated my life (living in a shared house in my 30's with no future, career, family etc) and that day I just gave up and got on a plane instead of going into work.

People know where I am now but it's safe to say I've not been forgiven.

If I didn’t have children then I would disappear. I fantasise about just leaving everything behind - my phone, keys, clothes etc and going far away to live the rest of my life in peace. I would do it but my children need me.

I work in the social care sector so I report people missing regularly. Most turn up in 24-48 hours. Three weeks was the longest we had someone missing. In my own life I know the family of a young woman who has been missing 20 years. They believe she was murdered by her boyfriend at the time but have no proof.

As someone who has done this, I'll remind you you're you where ever you go

My bio father ran away as a teenager from home when my bio mother told him she was pregnant.
He followed her to London and supported her through the pregnancy.

I was later adopted.

He only let his family know where he was 2 years later. Relationship never recovered,

His parents never knew the reason why he ran away or about me.

Sad all round.

I used to live in the barracks they thought she might have been buried. Don’t live much further away now and the police had a few fields dug up a year or two ago in hopes of still finding her

None

Back in 2008 had a pointless rebound fling.The guy was from an eccentric family.His brothers girlfriend...from somewhere in the baltics.. went missing.Never heard of again.