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?

1. He’s been missing since 2016, he’s sadly definitely dead but his body has never been found. Went missing while hiking in North America.

Not a missing person but a similar story ish
About 20 years ago, a story in the local paper about several people seeing a child being bundled into the boot of a car. Reg plate given to police but they couldn't trace it, they were appealing for witnesses.
Nothing ever came of it and the child was never found. It's never left my head but googling now brings up nothing, despite it being in the local paper. (Had a paper version and it was in for several days)
Several colleagues remember seeing it too but now we can't find it

One, a sibling I am no contact with.
Ridiculously, I saw it on Facebook being shared by lots of locals. He was only gone a few days after he stole some money.
Drugs and stealing weren't out of the ordinary for him, just think he went on a bender and came back when the drugs and money ran out.
He lives with family so had to come back eventually.

Is this the guy with long hair? Bit hippyish ? Had one small child and wife was pregnant?
if so, I came across an update where his father (also long haired?) said his backpack had been located at a waters edge and they think he’d tried to cut a corner by swimming across a body of water and not made it

Dh worked for social security 40 years ago.
One day he was told to go to an address in the city very early in the morning.
A woman was there with 2 children.
The woman had a wound almost from ear to ear!
Her dh had been murdered in Glasgow.
The police had brought her down overnight to an empty house and dh had to sort her benefits out and furnish the home with the basics.
I'm sure there will be people in Glasgow still wondering where she and her dc disappeared to.
She went 'missing' to save her life.

No-one but I always wonder what happened to Claudia Lawrence, mainly because she was a young woman at the time like me.

In Soviet Russia, my grandfather's step-father was a very prominent university professor who was an outspoken critic of the Stalin regime. He was actually a high profile political activist from the "old guard" of Bolsheviks who was very passionate and idealistic about the original ideals of communism. He was invited to a meeting with party leaders to discuss his views. He was very excited about the meeting, prepared for it at length and put on his best suit that morning. He walked out of the house and has never been seen again (presumed executed).

I know of one but someone was jailed (since died) for her murder but a body has never been found. He always protested his innocence.

I've never gone missing.

My brother did when he was 15. Police weren't much interested....and that was in the 80s! In the end a friend of his was thoughtful enough to ring my parents to let them know he was OK and didn't want to be found. She promised to let them know if she heard anything that might be cause for concern. He turned up again after a month or so.

@stillmissed

im so sorry 😔

Omg that's horrific. I'm so sorry. How old was she?

I think we live in the same area. Very sad.

My parents friend went missing when I was a child, following a nasty divorce and losing any contact with his kids. He was later found dead. Really sad.

Suspect we are roughly in the same area. Finns case is really terribly sad - he must be on the hills somewhere

I also often think of the young man who disappeared from a rural party, who has never been found - it'll be 10 years this Halloween

Personally : three. Two turned up alive, one had committed suicide

Closely connected to: two. Both died, but only part remains found, a significant time later, inconclusive as to whether they were accident alor deliberate. The two were unconnected but very similar circumstances.

None
i know someone who made the local police Facebook page for going missing but he was found within 12 hours of it being posted.

Amazing. Well done, you changed a life - well, both their lives.

Only one and he was a nice guy, I liked him.

Close friend was married for 12 years with two kids and then suddenly announced she wanted a divorce but never really gave a reason. This came as a total shock to her husband, who did everything for her and the kids. She adamantly denied there was nobody else but I'm not sure he believed her.

He tried everything to save his marriage but the more he tried the more insistent she became. In the end he seemed to accept it and spent most of his time away on business until the day she came home from work and he'd gone, completely.

He took everything he had , including photo's , and left nothing behind, as if he had never lived there. And despite all her efforts to trace him, she never saw or heard from him again.

She was convinced he was dead but nobody really believed that. He was a cleaver and resourceful man with numerous contacts overseas.

I know 3 in total. 2 were found in the Thames eventually and one was found after 5 years. Mum had a friend who’s child was kidnapped for over 20 years then found begging on the streets later in a foreign country - believed to have been kidnapped by a gang then trafficked.

Yes. Two of whom had died by suicide, a teenager who was eventually found staying with an older boy, and a friend's FIL who had dementia, and was found a short time later.

I appear to know an inordinate amount. Three cases of a parent of someone I went to school with. All three were suicides. One didn't turn up for over a year then washed up on the coast of Wales.
Friends brother is currently missing a few years.
Work colleague and another work colleague's brother. Again both suicide.
Another person I went to school with. Their relative went missing, was murdered.
Then I knew not the missing person, but the person who murdered him. (Know some other murderers/murdered people too).
Few old people/people with mental health struggles who disappeared. All bar one found safely.

And that's all I can think off the top of my head.

Oh and me. I went missing for a few hours when I was about 3/4. Local who had MH issues had come into the garden (1980s) and walked off with me.

My friend’s son went missing for a few months when he was 19 or so. A desperately worrying time. He had basically taken himself off during a severe MH episode.

Friend went missing and she was found hanging in some woodland.

Friends of in-laws have a daughter who refuses to speak or be contacted by her parents. They don't know where she is in the world, and worry. Different to missing I know.

I know of 3- all officially listed as missing persons but think presumed dead:
•teen whose brother went to school with my brother- missing probably 20 years now likely went of a cliff but body never found.
•former work colleague who just disappeared one day- that was strange as nothing to suggest he was planning on committing suicide but also nothing to suggest he’d just moved on as he’d left his beloved dog behind and all his possessions. I think police potentially thought there was foul play here.
•friends FIL- likely fell in the harbour after pub one night but body never found.

DH found the body of a missing person a few years ago whilst sailing with a friend- he’d fallen in the harbour (they think).

I know one person who is officially missing.

He was caught on his way to the airport trying to do a runner with a load of drug money and was dead the same day. His body has never been found though so he’s still officially missing. I presume his family know what really happened.

One girl 20 odd years ago in our friendship group was missing for 5 weeks. She was found dead unfortunately. I won’t say anymore as it’s distressing.