Resources for Missing Persons

According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day. Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends. Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.

Missing Person Photos

Coral Pearl Hall




Coral, date, approximate 1998; Age-progression to age 30 (date, approximate 2014); Lois Janish
Date Missing 09/22/1998
Missing From
Flint, Michigan
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 09/21/1984 (38)
Age 14 years old
Height and Weight 4'11, 85 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A gray and blue t-shirt, a green sweatshirt, blue jeans, white sneakers and possibly Pooh Bear earrings.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Coral has a round scar or mark on the base of her neck at the front. Her ears are pierced.
Details of Disappearance Coral was last seen in Flint, Michigan on September 22, 1998, the day after her fourteenth birthday.
She lived with her grandmother, Lois Arlene Janish, and Janish's boyfriend in an apartment on Ann Arbor Street. She left her grandmother's apartment to go to another apartment upstairs and return a book. She never returned, and was reported missing two days later.
Earlier on the same day Coral disappeared, an older friend, Melissa Pierce, took her to the state Department of Human Services (DHS) to report she was being abused. Late that night, Coral called Pierce from a pay phone at Ann Arbor and West Court streets near the White Horse Tavern.
Coral said she was having trouble at home and needed to leave Flint. She asked Pierce if she could go and live with her.
Pierce was in another part of the state at the time. She got a ride to Flint with her uncle, but by the time they arrived Coral had vanished. Pierce and her uncle drove around looking for her, but couldn't find her. She has never been heard from again.
Coral was raised by her grandmother, Lois Janish, as her mother was found to be an unfit parent. Her mother, who maintained sporadic contact with her, died of a drug overdose in 1996. Her father's identity is unknown.
Coral grew up in poverty; she and Janish changed residences frequently and often relied on public assistance, such as food stamps, to meet their needs. Her younger half-sister was raised separately from Coral and eventually placed in foster care. The two girls last saw each other at their mother's funeral.
Coral attended McKinley Middle School in 1998. Prior to her disappearance, she had been getting into trouble for being truant from school, rebelling against her grandmother's rules and associating with drug users.
The DHS had investigated Janish for abusing and/or medically neglecting Coral five times. A male acquaintance who was in his mid-twenties when Coral disappeared said he had regularly smoked crack cocaine with Coral, and that Janish had offered him "time alone" with Coral in exchange for drugs.
He said he noticed signs of physical abuse on Coral and the girl complained her grandmother had mistreated her.Coral's loved ones describe her as an intelligent but angry, withdrawn teenager. She had missed so much school that foster care placement was being considered.
For over a decade after Coral's disappearance, investigators said they believed she'd run away to escape the troubles in her life and possibly traveled to Los Angeles, California with an adult boyfriend.
However, in July 2013, Janish was charged with her granddaughter's murder. A photo of her is posted below this summary. Authorities stated she had always been a suspect in Coral's disappearance and had given inconsistent statements over the years.
They believe her boyfriend, Bruce Strait, was also involved in Coral's death, but he died of alcohol-related complications in 2000. He had been released from prison shortly before Coral vanished, and she had accused him of sexual abuse. Strait allegedly said he wasn't going to return to prison because of her allegations.
Investigators stated that during interrogations in 2011 and 2012, Janish admitted smoking crack cocaine and said her granddaughter was dead. She allegedly confessed to beating Coral to death with a hammer and said she and her boyfriend dismembered the body, but she altered and recanted her story more than once.
In September 2015, she reached a plea deal with the prosecution and pleaded no contest to second-degree murder. She was sentenced to nine years in prison. As Janish is already 75 years old, there's a distinct possibility she will not live long enough to be released.
Foul play is suspected in Coral's due to the circumstances involved. Her body has never been found.
Investigating Agency
Flint Police Department
810-766-7036
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The Flint Journal
NamUs
WNEM 5
The Daily Mail
FOX 10 TV

Missing Person Photos

A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe. By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends. A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.

Resources for Missing Persons

According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day. Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends. Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.

Missing Person Photos