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
Debora Sue Lowe
Debora, date, approximate 1972; Age-progression to age 58 (date, approximate 2016); Gerald Schaefer
Date Missing 02/29/1972
Missing From
Pompano Beach, Florida
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 09/19/1958 (64)
Age 13 years old
Height and Weight 5'5 - 5'6, 120 - 125 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A tan poncho, a yellow blouse, black slacks with vertical rose-colored stripes, and a ring with an aquamarine stone. The ring is shaped like a flower with eight off-white petals with gold wire around them, a blue dot in the center, and a gold band.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Debora's upper teeth are crowded and one of her front teeth has a small chip. She has a small scar on her left leg. Her nickname is Debbie and some agencies spell her name "Debra" or "Deborah."
Details of Disappearance Debora was last seen walking to Rickards Middle School in the vicinity of 8th Street and Sunrise Boulevard in Pompano Beach, Florida between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. on February 29, 1972. It was about a mile-long trip between her home and the school. She never arrived at school and has never been heard from again. After her disappearance, her schoolbooks were found in a trash bin a block from her home.
Authorities initially believed Debora had run away from home, possibly back to Palestine, West Virginia; her family had moved to Pompano Beach from Palestine shortly before her disappearance. Debora's family has never believed she left of her own accord, and she did not have a prior history of such behavior. None of her personal belongings were taken.
Debora's family believes she may have been a victim of the serial killer Gerard John Schaefer Jr. A photograph of Schaefer is posted with this summary. He worked with Debora's father and had visited her family's home.
He was convicted of only two murders in the 1970s but is believed to be responsible for the murders and disappearances of many other girls and young women in the 1960s and 1970s, including Wendy Stevenson, Peggy Rahn andCarmen Hallock in 1969, andPamela Nater andNancy Leichner in 1966. Schaefer was never charged in connection with any of the s, however. He was murdered in prison in 1995.
Debora's father died of a heart attack four years after her disappearance, and her mother died in 1995, but the rest of her family continues to search for her. Her remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Pompano Beach Police Department
954-786-4200
Broward County Sheriff's Office
954-765-4321
Other
Florida Department of Law Enforcement
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
NamUs
The Doe Network
Naples Daily News
The Miami Herald
Broward Sheriff's Office
NamUs
The Hur Herald
CBS Miami
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
