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
Donna Lee Fowler
Donna, date, approximate 1980
Date Missing 11/10/1980
Missing From
Weaverville, California
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 07/05/1973 (49)
Age 7 years old
Height and Weight 3'0, 43 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A brown multi-colored smock shirt, brown jeans and brown suede shoes.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Donna has a one-inch scar between the second and third toes on her right foot. She has a healed skull fracture that occured when she was two and a half months old in 1973. Donna's upper baby teeth were in place in 1980. Her permanent lower teeth had grown in by the time of her disappearance.
Details of Disappearance Donna was last seen in Weaverville, California on November 10, 1980. She had been kept home from school that day for unspecified reasons, and told her grandfather she was running away from home. He believed she was only pretending and helped her pack her bags.
Donna disappeared afterwards. She was last seen near the Joss House Historical Museum on Main Street downtown at 2:30 p.m. Her mother reported her disappearance to police at 11:30 p.m.
In October 2008, Wayne Harvey Smith confessed to Donna's murder. He lived near her home and had known her family for years. He was a suspect in her from the beginning, but he left the county a few days after her disappearance and investigators never had enough evidence to file charges.
Smith is presently serving a life sentence for another murder; he robbed and killed a young woman in Los Angeles, California in 1985. He agreed to discuss Donna's as part of a plea deal for an unrelated third homicide, the shooting death of a Los Angeles teen in 1983.
Smith said Donna went to visit his house and refused to leave, and he became angry and strangled her. He stated he disposed of her body in the local landfill. In exchange for his confession, Smith won't face the death penalty in the 1983 . Investigators think it's possible he was responsible for more deaths than he admits to.
Smith will not face charges in Donna's presumed death, as he is already in prison for life. Investigators stated they would not attempt to recover her body, because she's been missing so long it would be difficult or impossible to find her remains in the landfill.
In the aftermath of Smith's confession, Donna's family prepared to hold a memorial service for her. Her is now considered closed, but her remains have never been found.
Investigating Agency
Trinity County Sheriff's Department
530-623-2611
Other
California Attorney General's Office
The Redding Record Searchlight
The Doe Network
CBS 12 Action News
The Trinity Journal
Unsolved in the News
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
