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
Mara Nikki Vestal
Vestal, date, approximate 2019; Vestal's tattoo; Jay Hammersley
Date Missing 03/06/2019
Missing From
Katy, Texas
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 06/18/1989 (33)
Age 29 years old
Height and Weight 5'7, 140 pounds
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, gray eyes. Vestal's ears are pierced. She has a tattoo of a butterfly on her breast, a tattoo on her left ankle and a tattoo on her left shoulder. A photo of the butterfly tattoo is posted with this summary.
Details of Disappearance Vestal was last seen in Katy, Texas. Her husband, Jay Patrick Hammersley, reported her missing on March 19, 2019; he stated that on or around March 6, she had taken her belongings and left their residence in the 20200 block of Golden Mesa in the Sun Down Glen subdivision, and never returned.
A photo of Hammersley is posted with this summary. On April 3, he was charged with murder and tampering with a corpse in Vestal's . He confessed that he struck her with an object and strangled her to death on or around February 16, over two weeks prior to the date he initially claimed he last saw her.
Hammersley and Vestal had been married several years and had a two-year-old daughter together, who was with relatives out of state at the time of the killing. Hammersley also has an adult daughter and two other young children, and Vestal has one son.
On the night of Vestal's death, she and Hammersley went to a strip club. He stated they got into an argument there because Vestal thought he was interested in a woman there. After they got into their car to go home, Vestal "violently, erratically and continuously" beat him, and he ultimately killed her in self-defense. The next day he told a friend what happened and asked his friend to help him dispose of her body. The friend said no and advised Hammersley to go to the police.
Instead, Hammersley purchased 100 pounds of charcoal and cremated Vestal's body in their backyard shed. He put what was left in a trash bag and left it at the curb, and when the bag was not picked up by the garbage truck he put it in a dumpster near his workplace. Hammersley's adult daughter supported her father's story, stating the couple's relationship was toxic and Vestal was often violent towards her husband when she was drunk. However, the police stated there was no history of domestic violence in the home.
Hammersley is awaiting trial in Vestal's murder. Her body has never been found, but foul play is suspected in her due to the circumstances involved.
Investigating Agency
Harris County Sheriff's Office
713-755-6044
Other
Harris County Sheriff's Office
The Houston Chronicle
Mara Vestal's Facebook Page
Katy Magazine Online
ABC 7 Chicago
KHOU 11
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
