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
Michael Alan Tapley
Michael, date, approximate 2008; Michael's truck
Date Missing 02/15/2008
Missing From
Snowflake, Arizona
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Male
Race
White
Date of Birth 12/09/1956 (65)
Age 51 years old
Height and Weight 5'10, 180 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A black leather jacket, jeans, black leather boots, a black leather cap and a black fanny pack.
Associated Vehicle(s) 1998 Ford F-150 truck (accounted for)
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, blue eyes. Michael has a surgical scar on his left shoulder. He wears wire-framed eyeglasses.
Details of Disappearance Michael was reported missing on February 18, 2008 by a coworker with the Snowflake School District in Snowflake, Arizona. He was employed as a bus driver with the district. He didn't return to work on February 18 after the President's Day holiday weekend, didn't call his employer, and didn't answer the phone when his supervisors called him.
No one besides his wife, Gina Tapley, has seen or heard from Michael since February 15. Prior to leaving work on February 15, he told coworkers he planned to spend the weekend scouting areas for an upcoming elk hunting trip.
Gina initially couldn't be located after Michael's disappearance. She got in touch with his family on March 1, and met them in person on March 5. On March 10, she went to the police station to make a statement.
She claimed Michael impulsively left home on February 20, two days after his disappearance was reported. His family doubts this, however, as it's uncharacteristic of him to leave without warning or to be out of touch with his relatives.
Gina says she and Michael were visiting her relatives in Raymore, Missouri at the time of his disappearance. She says she dropped her husband off at a casino in Kansas City, Missouri, and when she went to pick him up, he was gone. She also said he gave her the keys to his 1998 Ford F-150 truck and let her drive it.
Authorities in Adrian, Missouri located and impounded Michael's truck after his disappearance. Gina had given it to someone there and said Michael had told her to get rid of it.
An auto repair shop in Wichita, Kansas had repaired the truck. The mechanic stated Gina drove to the shop alone, and that the truck's cab and bed were so full of items that there would have been only enough room for one person. A photograph of the truck is posted with this summary.
Michael's truck was his only means of transportation and he had never let Gina drive it before. She was in fact specifically listed on the vehicle's insurance policy as someone who wasn't supposed to drive it. The note signing over ownership of the truck was signed "Mike Tapley," and he always signed documents "Michael A. Tapley." Handwriting tests on the note were inconclusive.
Michael is not a gambler and surveillance cameras at the casino don't show his image. Gina's relatives in Raymore stated they had seen her that weekend, but they hadn't seen Michael.
The couple were having financial problems and their marriage was troubled. Michael got a restraining order against his wife in 2005, after he claimed she assaulted him and threatened to shoot him. They reconciled, however.
Authorities don't believe Gina is being truthful about the events leading up to Michael's disappearance, but there's no evidence to charge her or anyone else with a crime.
Michael's family believes foul play was involved in his disappearance; they think something happened to him before he was reported missing on February 18.
He has adult children by his first marriage, and had been married to Gina for approximately three years before he went missing. He and Gina owned a primitive cabin on a forty-acre property in Snowflake and lived back and forth between Mesa, Arizona and Snowflake.
Michael's remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Navajo County Sheriff's Office
928-536-7327
928-532-6060
Other
Search and Rescue Association
The White Mountain Independent
The Tri-County Times
The East Valley Tribune
NamUs
The Arizona Republic
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
