Found: stories of formerly missing people. Mysterious stories about missing people

Not a single vending machine or payment terminal can function without a banknote acceptor, so coin acceptors must be kept in reserve.
When a friend or relative mysteriously disappears, we instinctively try not to think the worst and hope for the best. But sometimes life gives us neither one nor the other, choosing an ending that no one expected.

10. Creepy but elegant solution

“I'm going on a journey from which we never return,” wrote Dennis Rarick. It was 1976 when the highly educated mathematician and scientist succumbed to depression. In despair, he decided to say goodbye to his father with this sad message. Dennis drowned his car, wallet, personal documents, and, it would seem, his life itself.

Over the next 14 years, Denis's friends and relatives were convinced that he had died, and documents were filed in court to record this fact. In reality, Rarick pressed the “reset” button on his entire life. He took the name Leonard Cohn and subtracted seven years from his actual age.

Cohn, like his previous incarnation, was engaged in computer technology. He even received a master's degree and a doctorate in computer science, after which he started a family and started his own business.

Cohn's wife, Martha Weaver, knew him as a man without a family. She didn't question him about the missing documents because she believed he was working on a military project. Martha held this belief for 10 years.

Then, having gotten rid of the blues, Cohn decided to confess. It was Christmas and he was having dinner with his wife. Cohn told her that there were serious issues to discuss, namely that he had fabricated his entire biography.

For several weeks, Kon dedicated Marfa to the life of Denis Rarick. After discouraging his wife with the message that their marriage was built on lies, Cohn sent a letter to his father.

And after 14 years he returned. In fact, nothing special happened that could force Denis to come out of hiding. He just felt it was time to return home.

9. Man among the mushrooms

Carlos Sanchez Ortiz de Salazar boasted of having many impressive skills and achievements. He was a doctor, a psychology student and a true polyglot. Moreover, he was respected. Those who knew Carlos considered him kind and responsible. But at the end of 1996, something changed.

Many relatives believe that the modest doctor from Seville, Spain, became a victim of depression and decided to look for a way out of it in solitude. In any case, no one could find him. After 14 years without any news or letters, Carlos's family stopped believing that he was alive. Thus, he joined the list of missing people who were considered dead.

But in 2015, a couple of Italian mushroom pickers brought a ray of hope to the Salazar family. While picking mushrooms in Tuscany, a couple was confused when they came across a variety of plastic bottles and water cans. Like a trail of bread crumbs, the garbage led them to a hut in which there was a man with a dirty face and a long beard.

Afraid to make contact, the mushroom pickers left in panic. Then they came to the forester and took him to the place where the bearded man was found.

The man greeted his visitors friendly and explained that he was Dr. Carlos de Salazar. He also presented documents proving his identity. Being a complete introvert, the former Spanish doctor one day decided to completely break with society. He was afraid of contact with people and after he was discovered, he decided to change his location.

But before he disappeared into the wild forest again, the people who found him took photographs of his documents. Later they showed photographs and told Carlos' story to the Association for the Search of Missing Persons of Italy and Spain.

Carlos's parents couldn't believe that after 19 years someone had found their son alive, and they rushed to Italy. As his 65-year-old mother explained: “It would have been enough to see him just for half an hour. Then, if that is his wish, we would not try to see him again."

But, contrary to their wishes, the meeting did not take place. True to his word, Carlos left his refuge.

8. Unexpected shelter

In practice, it has become a rule that sometimes teenagers conflict with their parents. So the quarrel that occurred one day in 2005 between 14-year-old Xiao Yun and her mother seemed quite common.

In a fit of rage, Yun ran away. But instead of cooling down and then returning, she stayed away from home. As the days turned into weeks, months and years, the disconsolate parents began to come to the grim conclusion that their daughter was no longer alive. In a fit of despair, her parents deleted entries about her from the house register.

Everything changed in 2015. Police in the Chinese city of Hangzhou came across a woman with fake documents in an Internet cafe. The officers brought her to the station for questioning. She initially tried to mislead authorities by claiming that she grew up with her grandparents. But in the end, she cracked and revealed the truth and that her name was Xiao Yun.

According to Yoon, after leaving home, she lived in Internet cafes or bathhouses. To make money, she taught people how to succeed at the video game "CrossFire", kept logs at some of her regular haunts, and relied on generosity strangers. When she wasn't making money, she honed her lucrative skills at playing CrossFire.

Yun's parents couldn't wait to receive their daughter, but she was lukewarm about the idea. After some persuasion, she finally agreed to return home. Now that Yun is back, her parents have sworn that they will never quarrel with her again.

7. Extended my stay

For years, Staff Sergeant Ed Lukin of Queensland, Australia, wondered about the fate of American tourist Kenneth Rodman. Ex-wife Rodman and his daughter undoubtedly did the same. But the circumstances of his disappearance did not inspire hope for happy reunion families.

In 2010, Rodman traveled to Australia and allegedly met a gruesome end. While staying with a friend in Mowbray, he apparently went solo in a kayak to a nearby village. When he disappeared without a trace, the police opened a missing person case.

After a two-week search, all they found was Rodman's overturned kayak, floating in crocodile-infested waters. Then he was officially declared missing. Apparently, he became a victim of crocodiles.

Five years passed, and the investigator on the case, Ed Lukin, received a position in another city. He still hoped to return to the search for Rodman, but in his new place he had a bunch of other urgent matters.

Then, at his new duty station, Lukin encountered a series of break-ins, and this unexpectedly brought him back to the Rodman case. Members of his unit were chasing a pair of burglars when an unknown man on a bicycle rode past them in the dead of night. The police suspected that he had noticed the criminals and decided to question him. But the man sped off.

Mysterious man They tracked him down with the help of police dogs, and he quickly confessed. But not in hacking. In this regard, the man was absolutely pure. But he turned out to be Kenneth Rodman and was responsible for the fact that his tourist visa had long expired.

It turned out that Kenneth was hiding from his friends, relatives and Australian authorities. He pretended to be a victim of crocodiles in order to hide in Australia. Why exactly he was hiding remains unclear. It may have something to do with the nearly $50,000 in unpaid child support he owes.

6. Memory lapses

Winston Bright, a husband and father of three, disappeared one day in 1990. His distraught wife, with the help of the New York Police Department, made every effort to search, but her husband disappeared without a trace. A decade later, Winston's wife concluded that he had died. But she was deeply mistaken.

According to Winston, while his wife was scouring New York for his photo, he wandered aimlessly through the streets of San Diego, without identification and with no idea who he was.

Despite claiming amnesia, Bright changed his name to Kwame Sekou rather than attempt to establish his own identity. Under the name Sekou, he received a diploma in education and a teacher's certificate with the right to teach in public schools San Diego. He spent almost two decades working as an educator.

Bright's memory conveniently returned at the very moment when he finished teaching and wanted to get a pension. He claimed that the first fragmentary memories came to him in a dream. Then, with the help of the Internet, he reconstructed his life before he appeared as Kwame Sekou.

Winston wanted his old life back and his pension. By this time 20 years had passed. During 10 of them he was legally considered dead, and the money he hoped to receive had already been paid to his wife and children.

Eager to get the money, Bright returned to New York and sued over his pension benefits. To confirm his identity, he took a DNA test and told his unusual story about amnesia and partial return of memory in sleep.

Medical workers stated that the condition described by Bright is known as a form of amnesia and is quite possible, although incredibly rare. But Winston's family was more skeptical.

Bright's wife, Leslie, noted that he seemed more concerned about finances than about his long-awaited return. One of his sons openly refused to believe his father's fantastic story. Perhaps the only thing Winston really forgot about was conscience.

5. Suppressed passion

Police in two states tried and failed to find Eric Myers. In 1991, a well-to-do real estate agent from Arizona traveled to San Diego for a real estate seminar, but he never returned home. Five years of fruitless searching have weakened the resolve of Eric's wife and five children. They declared him legally dead and could only wonder what cruel fate had befallen him. Eleven years later they received their answer.

In 2007, Myers' friends and family began receiving disturbing letters, one of which directly asked if they wanted to know what happened to their long-lost Eric. Myers then reached out to his mother through a friend. Soon everyone around him learned the surprising reason for Myers' 16-year absence.

Eric has struggled with his sexual orientation. Having received a conservative upbringing, he became very religious and married early. He ignored constant family troubles and clung to the façade wonderful family leading a lavish lifestyle. But then Eric was robbed.

This happened during the same real estate conference that preceded his disappearance. The incident left him emotionally traumatized and made him think. And instead of returning home, he fled to Mexico.

There he fell in love with a man and wanted to give in to his long-suppressed homosexuality. Myers and his partner took on fake identities and began traveling carefree.

Meanwhile, his family in Arizona was trying to cope with many difficulties. Daughter Kirsten was dependent on medication for many years. Eric's wife, Anne, tried to provide her with care and concern, but she was deeply wounded by childhood illness.

Sixteen years later, Eric decided he wanted to see his family. In an interview with ABC News, he explained that he "never had any plan to come back, just as there was never any plan to leave."

Apparently, Eric never thought about how his behavior would affect others. Otherwise, he might have guessed that his grieving family, after he was declared dead, received $800,000 in death benefits and now, upon his return, the insurance company will sue to get the money back.

After returning, Eric again fell into a depressed state and, as a result of an emotional upheaval, again left his family. However, Myers justifies his actions, believing that suppressing his true self is a fool's errand.

4. Unlucky hitchhiker

In 2002, Brenda Heist from Lititz County, Pennsylvania, USA, simply could not breathe easy. An accountant at a car dealership was torn between three problems: divorce proceedings, housing difficulties and problems raising her 8-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son. And then one day, after sending her children to school, Brenda went to the park and, apparently, decided to end it all. She didn't come to school to pick up her children...

Those who knew Brenda concluded that something terrible had happened. She was not one of those who spontaneously went on adventures, and the prospect of her abandoning her family seemed unthinkable to everyone. Police immediately suspected her then-husband, Lee Heist, of murder because he was the only one who had a motive. However, the subsequent investigation failed to find evidence pointing to the husband's involvement in his wife's disappearance.

Accusations of femicide haunted Lee Heyst for many years. Even parents in his area forbade their children from playing with Heyst, fearing that they would come into contact with a possible killer. He also encountered financial problems, which were resolved only in 2010, when Brenda was officially declared dead and Lee received insurance on her death.

In 2013, Lee Heist and his daughter received news that Brenda had reappeared - in Florida. Eleven years ago, as dejected Brenda Heist sobbed in the park, three strangers approached her. In a spontaneous impulse, she agreed to leave the city with them and lead the life of a miserable vagabond. The quartet slept under bridges, searched for food in dumpsters and hitchhiked to Florida by begging.

In Florida, Brenda worked as a maid, cleaned boats, was a nanny and did any kind of work. She eventually moved in with one of her clients and stayed with him for seven years. She also distanced herself from her past, created a Facebook account under a fictitious pseudonym, and filled out a profile on a dating site. But her reincarnation came with serious problems.

Brenda was arrested several times for drug possession, using false identification, and stealing a client's driver's license. Eventually, she found herself back on the street. Tired of trying to find her way in life, she admitted to Florida authorities that she was Brenda Heist from Pennsylvania.

According to Brenda, she was very worried about the fact that she had harmed her husband and children. It's clear that after 11 years of emotional hell, her abandoned family wasn't ready to extend an olive branch to Brenda.

3. Postcards with recognition

Lydia Bacot McDonald never thought she would become an unemployed single mother. An insurance company statistician from Hartford, Connecticut, USA, fell in love with a man named David Bigelow McDonald during distance learning in college. In 1956 they got married.

IN next year Lydia gave birth to his daughter Anne. However, her husband was no longer around by that time. On April 10, 1957, a few days after a pregnant Lydia left her job, David allegedly went to Boston to look for a car, but he never returned.

The police were at a dead end. But three years later, through one of his friends, he sent his wife a bizarre gift - salmon packed in ice.

Apparently Lydia's husband was somewhere in Seattle, Washington, but he refused to reveal his exact location. He sent his distraught wife several money orders, but did nothing to heal her broken heart.

The scant news from David eventually stopped altogether. Even when David's father became deathly ill, David never showed up. His daughter, Anne, died of breast cancer at the age of 44, apparently never having met her father. Lydia also passed away without knowing what happened to her ex-husband.

Fifty years passed before any information emerged about what happened to David. In 2007, Seattle resident Heather Garrett made a stunning discovery. While going through the personal belongings of a recently deceased family friend, Erik Niels Sonnegaard, she found a number of postcards. Was carelessly written on them secret biography David MacDonald.

For an unknown reason, David decided to abandon his previous life and start over under the name Erik Sonnegaard. By posing as a man of meager means and little education, he endeared himself to Heather's grandmother, Gladys Vance. Coincidentally, Gladys was left by her husband at the same time that David left Lydia.

"Eric" filled the void in Vance's life, becoming her constant companion and caring for her granddaughter with fatherly love. To earn money, he swept sidewalks, worked in recycling, and performed tasks that did not require a card number. social insurance. By the time he died of cancer in 2007, he had amassed only a collection of broken televisions.

Military documents and fingerprint comparisons confirmed that Erik Sonnegaard was indeed David MacDonald. The discovery that her grandmother had been deceived left Heather dumbfounded and upset. She refused to communicate with MacDonald's surviving relatives. Some suspect that the war triggered David's PTSD, which was the reason for his departure, but no one will ever know for sure.

2. Murder Imperfect

To be fair, no one could accuse Kristina Davison's ex-husband Craig of being a saint. His list of misdemeanors includes a charge of aggravated assault with a firearm and several domestic incidents. But was Craig such a scoundrel as to kill his ex-wife? In 2014, this is exactly what it looked like.

In May of that year, about three months after Craig was accused of assaulting Christina, she disappeared. Apparently, her departure was not voluntary. There were knife cuts and traces of blood on her bed. Her wallet was found on a roadway in a completely different city.

Efforts to locate the 43-year-old Whataburger waitress were unsuccessful. Her friend Patti Rucker expressed the general opinion at the time: “I don’t think we’ll find her alive.” Luckily, Patty was wrong. Nine months after her disappearance, Kristina Davison turned up in Lexington, Kentucky. She got a job as a waitress at Red State BBQ and became popular in the area. Her colleagues had reason to believe that she had moved to Kentucky to escape abuse from her friend in Arkansas.

Christina's comfortable cover story fell apart when she was pulled over at a traffic stop one night in 2015. It turned out that she was wanted in Texas for drug possession and was listed as missing. She was detained, but questions still remained.

Christina was unable to explain her actions or why she was unable to contact friends or family during her nine-month absence. Authorities believe she was hoping to avoid prison or was hiding from her former common-law husband, Craig, by faking her own death.

1. Unusual resurrection

It's not every day that a murder victim opens his door to you. But in September 2015, police officers in Düsseldorf, Germany, encountered just such a case. When they arrived to investigate a report of a break-in at an apartment building, they were greeted by a woman who introduced herself as "Mrs. Schneider."

However, when asked to confirm her identity, she admitted that her name was Petra Patsitka. It was a stunning confession to say the least. It was believed that this woman was killed 26 years ago.

Petra's case began in July 1984. She then studied computer science in Braunschweig and recently completed her university thesis. On July 26, she said she planned to visit her parents and visit the dentist. But Patsitka did not arrive at the announced destination.

When she subsequently missed her brother's birthday party, her family notified police that Petra had disappeared. Law enforcement authorities suspected something was wrong and Petra’s photograph was shown in the German crime chronicle “Aktenzeichen XY”. The search brought no results and the case dragged on.

Fears that Patsitka had been murdered were confirmed in 1987 when a teenager, identified as Günter K., confessed to the murder of a student in Braunschweig. In 1989, the case was closed.

Theoretically, Gunther killed at least one other person - a young student - near the place where Petra disappeared. But, if there was a second victim on his conscience, it was not Patsitka.

According to the alleged murder victim, she simply wanted to break ties with her family and therefore went into hiding for 31 years. She rejected suggestions of abuse by her relatives, but refused to specify the specific reason. She moved from city to city and somehow found work and rented housing in places that didn't require identification, a Social Security card, or a bank account.

The police were confused by Petra's ability to drift through life like a phantom. Her family was even more shocked. After the shock passed, the relatives began to count on a reunion. However, Petra resolutely refused.

Maybe you'll find something here, but for now... strange deaths and subsequent shocking discoveries.

1. Croatian woman sat dead in front of her TV for 42 years

A woman's remains have been found sitting in front of the television 42 years after she was reported missing. Jedviga Golik, who was born in 1924, apparently made herself a cup of tea before sitting down in her favorite chair in front of the black and white television. Croatian police said neighbors last saw her in 1966, when she was 42 years old. All this time her neighbors naively thought that she had moved to Zagreb.

However, she was found by police and bailiffs when they broke into the apartment to help authorities identify who owned it. When the employees walked in, they said it felt like a place frozen in time. The cup she had drunk tea from was still on the table next to the chair where she had been sitting, and the house was full of things that had not been seen in a long time. Nothing had been disturbed for decades, although there were a lot of cobwebs there.

Despite numerous complaints from tenants who noticed that no one had entered or left the apartment since 1970 and requests to break into and inspect the apartment, no one responded to their requests for four decades.

2. An undetected 38-year-old woman lay dead for three years.

On January 25, 2006, employees of a north London housing association decided to break into a room in Wood Green after three years due to rent arrears. And a grim discovery awaited them there. On the sofa lay the skeleton of a 38-year-old woman who had died almost three years earlier. In one corner of the room the TV was on, playing BBC1, and there was a small stack of unopened Christmas presents lying on the floor nearby. Dishes were stacked in the sink and there was a mountain of mail by the front door.

Death apparently came in late 2003, her remains lying undetected for three years despite the smell of decomposition emanating from her apartment.

Due to the extensive decomposition of the body, the only way to identify the body was to compare a photo of Joyce Vincent with a holiday photo where she appeared to be smiling. The cause of death has not been determined due to the condition of the remains, but police believe Vincent's death was natural.

This story formed the basis of the film Dreams of Life, in which the investigation revealed that the woman was an acquaintance of many influential members of the London pop scene of the 80s and 90s.

In May 2013, the mummified remains of a Chicana (Mexican-American feminist movement) author, activist, and teacher were found in her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Authorities and family members believe the body of Barbara Salinas-Norman, who was 70, may have been in the home. more than a year.

At one time, Salinas was a prominent children's author. She wrote and published stories through Pinata Publications, which she founded to help Mexican-American children.

However, in recent years, Salinas became a recluse and experienced financial difficulties.

Salinas' body was discovered by her brother-in-law, Luis Ponche, who visited the house determined to find her because it had been a long time, more than two years, since he had last heard from her.

When he entered the house, which was filled with a "horrible smell", Ponche found her mummified remains near a poster parodying Rosie the Riveter.

A preliminary autopsy indicated Salinas' death was likely due to natural causes.

4. A man lay dead in his apartment for two years until cleaners came to clean out his house.

A lonely man lay dead in his city center apartment for two years after his death, which no one knew about. Simon Allen's skeletal remains were only discovered when cleaners entered his home. In November 2012, his body, wearing only a pair of socks, was found lying behind a chair in the living room of his flat in Brighton, East Sussex.

Eleven days earlier, the landlord and bailiffs had entered the first floor of the house to investigate why rent had not been paid for months. Neighbors said they smelled a "musty smell" in the hallway outside the apartment before the body was found, but did not notice anything else unusual. Police believed Mr Allen died in December 2010, when he was approximately 50 years old.

They were unable to locate his family or friends, and only found a few personal items in the apartment Mr. Allen had rented since 1999.

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances identified in the death and the cause of death could not be confirmed.

5. A Lonely Florida Woman May Have Been Dead for Three Years Before She Was Found

In August 2013, the decomposed body of Geneva Chambers was discovered by a gardener at her Florida home.

Once police began investigating, they learned that Chambers preferred solitude when she was alive. She ordered neighbors to leave her private property, and even angrily chased away a woman who offered her cookies.

It is disgusting that Chambers may have been dead in her home for three years. According to court documents, foreclosure notices were issued in 2009 and all public utilities were turned off by June 2010.

Neighbors believed Chambers had left the house. However, they continued to mow Chambers' lawn in recent years, completely unaware that her body was inside.

More than a year's worth of mail addressed to a 68-year-old woman was found in her home. Chambers' last known contact with people was in April 2010 during a bail bond transaction.

One neighbor said: "The big question remains: why haven't any of her friends or family tried to contact her. A very sad situation. A very lonely person... What kind of life did she live?"

Local police ruled that there was no crime in her death.

6A Man Was Found Dead Four Years After His Suicide In A Home He'd Foreclosed On

Abandoned houses have become an increasingly common sight in the United States. However, what may be lurking behind closed doors could be much worse.

In 2012, a Milwaukee real estate agent walked into one of these homes after it was repossessed due to a tax foreclosure and saw something he was unlikely to forget. Investigators found the body of the owner, David Carter, "almost skeletal" on the stairs, which had lain there undetected for four years.

Carter, who was described by friends and acquaintances as "smart and generous" and even "funny," quit his job as a peace officer for the city of Milwaukee in 2007, telling co-workers that he planned to move to New Mexico. Instead, Carter apparently committed suicide. He was found with a bullet wound in his head and a gun on his chest on what would have been his 45th birthday.

7. Old man died at least 15 years ago and was found in his bed, still wearing his pajamas

A human skeleton completely clad in pajamas is believed to have lain undetected in an abandoned house for more than 15 years. It was discovered in the northern city of Lille, France. French police are trying to identify a body believed to be that of the house's elderly owner.

The man lived alone and, as it turned out, he had no relatives. Authorities found piles of unopened mail in a home dating back to 1996. He was of Spanish descent and was born in 1921, according to French reports.

8. In Germany, a man was found dead in bed seven years after his death.

In 2007, the body of a deceased German man was discovered in his bed, almost seven years after the man supposedly died. Police in the German city of Essen said the man was 59 years old when he died, and it was concluded that the man died around the turn of the century. The estimated date of death is November 30, 2000. The man was single and unemployed at the time of his death. Police believe the death was due to natural causes.

The man received a letter from the Welfare Office on the day of his death. Next to his body, the police found a pack of cigarettes, a television program and several Deutschmarks (which were no longer in circulation since Germany switched to the Euro).

The man's apartment was located in a building that also contained offices and other apartments. Although many of these apartments are now vacant, one would think that the smell of a corpse rotting for several years might have alerted one or two people over the years, but apparently not.

Of course, the most interesting part of this story is that no one noticed that their grandfather/friend/partner was missing.

"Nobody missed him. No missing person report was ever filed," local police said. Somewhere in western Germany someone should be kicking themselves for forgetting the existence of their loved one.

9The Elderly Australian Woman Was Dead For Eight Years Before Her Body Was Found

Apparently, when the elderly Australian woman went missing eight years ago, no one bothered to call the police. Neither relatives, nor neighbors, nor government officials, who continued to receive service fees from her Social Security benefits from a bank account that remained untouched, noticed her disappearance.

In 2011, New Wales federal police discovered skeletal remains on the floor of her Sydney home after her sister-in-law called police to say she had not heard from the woman, who was 87, since 2003.

Police were trying to determine exactly when the woman died but said they did not think the death was suspicious. The woman was a recluse with no relatives except her sister-in-law, Dzevlan said. The two had a fight in 2003 and never spoke again. Police have not said why the sister-in-law waited years to report the woman missing or what prompted her to call now.

As years passed, utility workers cut off the electricity and water to the woman's home. Centrolink, the state-owned welfare enterprise, continued to pay benefits into her bank account, which remained untouched. Her mail was forwarded to her sister-in-law's house until 2003, but eventually stopped arriving. Neighbors told police they hadn't seen her in years and assumed the house was vacant.

Police said the woman's home was locked and furnished, and it looked like no one had lived there in years.

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Is this what you were looking for? Perhaps this is something you couldn’t find for so long?

I think you all know that thousands of people around the world go missing every year, and no one knows where to look for them. Today I invite you to read the TOP 10 stories about people who literally “disappeared into thin air.” Read on.

On February 9, 2004, a 21-year-old student at the University of Massachusetts sent to email letters to her employer and several teachers in which she reported that she was forced to leave the city due to the death of one of her close relatives.
That same night, Maura had an accident, crashing her car into a tree near the town of Woodsville, in New Hampshire, USA. By a strange coincidence, two days before the Murray incident, another car accident occurred in the same place.
The driver of a passing bus suggested

Maura received help, but she refused. One way or another, having reached the phone, the bus driver called for help, but the police who arrived at the scene of the accident literally ten minutes later discovered that the girl had disappeared without a trace. There were no signs of a struggle at the scene, so the official version is that Maura left the scene voluntarily.
The next day, Maura's relatives in Oklahoma received a voicemail containing choked sobs. Although, according to eyewitnesses, Murray behaved quite strangely a few days before her mysterious disappearance, her family is sure that Maura could not have left the scene of the accident of her own free will without leaving any traces. For nine years now, no one has been able to find an adequate explanation for this incident.

Brian Shaffer

A 27-year-old Ohio State University medical student named Brian Shaffer went to have a few drinks at a bar called Ugly Tuna Saloona on the evening of April 1, 2006.
Between half past one and two o'clock in the morning, Brian inexplicably disappeared: according to eyewitnesses, the student was very drunk and talking on the phone with his girlfriend, and then he was noticed in the company of two other young women. After that, none of the bar visitors saw him.
The most curious thing is that many noticed how Shaffer entered the bar, but no one remembers how he left it - leaving young man Not even the CCTV cameras recorded it, although they clearly show the student entering the pub.
Although Brian had told his mother three weeks earlier that he was planning to go on holiday with his girlfriend, friends and family were convinced that he could not have taken the trip so suddenly. One version says that Shaffer could have been kidnapped, but how the attacker managed to get him out of the establishment, bypassing video cameras and numerous witnesses, is a question that baffles investigators.

Jason Yolkowski

In the early morning of June 13, 2001, 19-year-old Jason Yolkowski went to work in the small town of Omaha, Nebraska, USA. He agreed with his friend that he would pick him up at a nearby school, but Jason never showed up there, and the last time he was seen by a neighbor was half an hour before the appointed meeting time: Jason, according to a valuable witness, was carrying trash cans into his garage.
From the recordings taken by investigators from school security cameras, it was clear that Jason was not really there, while friends and family could not name any reason that could cause the young man to hide.
In 2003, the young man’s parents, Jim and Kelly Jolkowski, founded Project Jason in memory of their son. non-profit organization, which is searching for missing people, but the fate of Jason himself still remains a mystery.

Nicole Morin

Eight-year-old Nicole Morin disappeared on July 30, 1985 from a penthouse in Toronto, a city in the Canadian province of Ontario, where the girl lived with her mother.
That morning, Nicole and her friend were going to swim in the pool located in one of the parts of the huge building, and at half past ten the girl said goodbye to her mother and left the apartment, and 15 minutes later her friend knocked on the door to find out when Nicole would finally get ready.
After this incident, one of the largest police investigations in the history of Toronto was conducted, but no leads could be found that could lead to the girl's trail.
The version of abduction was considered the most likely, but investigators did not find any evidence of this in the entire 20-story building of the residential complex, so the mystery of Nicole Morin’s disappearance has haunted local residents for almost three decades.

Brandon Swenson

19-year-old Brandon Swenson was driving his own car on May 14, 2008, to his hometown of Marshall, Minnesota. It so happened that his car flew off a rural road and ended up in a ditch. The young man called his parents and asked to pick him up from the scene of the accident, but relatives who arrived at the scene could not find him. After answering his father's call, Brandon said he was heading towards the nearby town of Linda, then cursed and lost contact.
Several attempts to reach the young man yielded absolutely nothing. Police later found Swenson's wrecked car, but neither mobile phone, neither the guy himself could be found. According to one version, he could have drowned in a nearby river, but careful combing of the riverbed did not help - the young man disappeared without a trace.

Louis Le Prince

French inventor Louis Le Prince is considered by many to be the true creator of cinema - it was he who invented a movie camera with a single lens, capable of capturing moving objects on film.
However, he is known not only for his merits in creating cinema - humanity is still haunted by his strange disappearance.
On September 16, 1890, Le Prince was visiting his brother in French city Dijon and then went to railway to Paris, but when the train arrived in the capital, it turned out that Le Prince had inexplicably disappeared.
He was last seen boarding his carriage; the train made several stops along the way, but no one saw Louis get off. In addition, the inventor carried a lot of luggage with him, but numerous drawings and equipment also disappeared without a trace.

Thomas Edison

Investigators considered the suicide version untenable, since it was unlikely that Le Prince had any reason to take his own life: from Paris he intended to go to the United States, where he was supposed to obtain patents for his inventions. One of the popular versions says that Le Prince’s kidnapping was arranged by another famous inventor, Thomas Edison, in order to maintain his reputation as the “father of cinema,” but there is no convincing evidence of this.

Michael Negrete

On December 10, 1999, at four in the morning, 18-year-old UCLA freshman Michael Negrete turned off the computer on which he had been playing video games with friends all night long. At nine o'clock in the morning, his roommate noticed that Michael had left, leaving his keys and wallet - no one had ever seen him since.
The most interesting thing is that the student apparently left barefoot - his shoes were still in place. Police officers with dogs combed all the surrounding areas, but found no traces of the barefoot freshman. A survey of local residents showed that at 4:35 a.m. an unidentified passerby was seen near the scene of the incident, but whether it was Michael or a person somehow connected with his disappearance is still unknown.

Barbara Bolick

A 55-year-old resident of the town of Corvallis in Montana, USA, on July 18, 2007, went hiking in the rocky Bitterroot Range with her friend Jim Ramaker, who came to Barbara from California to stay and admire the local nature.
When the tourists were near Bear Creek, Jim stopped, looking at the wonderful scenic view. According to him, he lost sight of Barbara for no more than a minute, while she was approximately 6–9 m from the place from which he admired the landscape. When he looked back, he discovered that his elderly friend had disappeared into thin air. The large-scale search efforts that followed did not help find any traces of Barbara.
Of course, the first thing the police investigating the disappearance did was carefully check all of Jim Ramaker's testimony, suspecting that he might be involved in her disappearance, but not the slightest evidence of abduction or murder was found. Moreover, if Jim had been guilty of anything, he would have tried to come up with a more convincing version for the investigation than an inexplicable disappearance out of the blue.

Michael Hearon

On August 23, 2008, Michael Hearon went to his farm in Happy Valley, Tennessee to mow the lawn. That morning, acquaintances noticed Michael leaving the farm on his ATV - that’s when the 51-year-old pensioner was last seen.
The next day, neighbors discovered Michael's truck and trailer on his property, with a lawn mower on it, although the grass on the lawn was untouched. When a day later all of Michael’s equipment was found in the same place abandoned on the side of the road, friends sounded the alarm. Keys, a wallet and a mobile phone were found inside the truck, but there was no trace of the man himself.
Three days later, the police discovered an ATV one and a half kilometers from the farm, which, according to friends of the missing man, belonged to him, but this discovery could not shed light on the strange incident. The American had no secret ill-wishers who could have a hand in his disappearance, just as there was no reason to go on the run, so the disappearance of the farmer remains a mystery to this day.

April Fabb

One of the most mysterious disappearances in British history happened on April 8, 1969 in Norfolk. 13-year-old schoolgirl April Fabb from a small town called Matton went to visit her sister in the neighboring village of Roughton. The girl set off on a bicycle, and the last person to see her was a truck driver, who at 14:06 noticed a girl matching April's description on a country road.
Already at 14:12, her bicycle was found in the middle of a field several hundred meters from the place where the driver saw April, and no traces of the girl were found nearby.
The investigation considered kidnapping to be the main version, but it seemed incredible that an unknown criminal was able to quietly kidnap April in just six minutes, without leaving a single clue for the investigation.
The case of April Fabb's disappearance is reminiscent of the mysterious disappearance of a young girl named Genette Tate, which happened in 1978. At that time the main suspect was considered serial killer and rapist Robert Black, but there is no evidence that Black was involved in April's disappearance either, so this is anyone's guess.

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The disappearance of Lucy Johnson was strange from the very beginning. Last time Lucy was seen by neighbors in September 1961, but her husband did not report her missing until May 1965. It is completely unclear why the husband waited four years before going to the police and telling them that his wife had disappeared. If he is involved in the case, why go to the police, and if not, why wait four years? Of course, it was Lucy's husband who became the first suspect. Police searched the entire backyard of the Johnson home in an attempt to find the remains of the missing woman, but were unsuccessful.

Lucy's daughter Linda Evans, already an adult, really wanted to find her mother. Despite all reason, she believed that her mother was alive. After finding Lucy's old documents, Linda went on television to ask viewers to help locate her mother. Much to Linda's surprise, a woman named Rhonda responded to the ad and explained that she was also Lucy Johnson's daughter.

It turned out that Lucy had been living with another family all this time, fifty years. She had four more children with her new husband. She explained the reason for her escape by saying that her first husband was a domestic tyrant. He did not allow her to take the children with her, but Lucy could no longer stay with him.

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After 52 years, mother and daughter were reunited. For the first time in so many years, Linda saw her mother's face. “I don’t know how to describe it,” she says, “I saw my face in her face, my eyes in hers.” But a difficult question was still asked: why? “She said my father treated her very badly, he cheated on her all the time,” Evans said. “She said he told her to get out, she came back to pick us up, but her father forbade her to go near the children.” She left and never tried to contact us again."

Runaway lovers

Jacqueline Raines-Kruckman was 18 years old, but by this time she already had two children: two years old and six months old. She was on the verge of divorcing her husband and was already living with her parents again. In September 1965, Jacqueline said she was going to a friend's wedding, but never returned.

Melvin Uphoff worked for Jacqueline's husband. He disappeared from home a month after Jacqueline went missing. Melvin also had a family - a wife and children. Many people gossiped that Melvin and Jacqueline fled together, but the police still started searching.

In 2009, authorities were on the trail of the couple. It turned out that Melvin and Jacqueline actually lived together. They stated that they escaped on purpose and are now demanding respect for the right to immunity privacy. They do not want to let their own children and families know about themselves. Due to the lack of evidence of a crime, the cases of Melvin and Jacqueline were closed.

"Too Young to Be a Mother"

Lula Gillespie-Miller was 28 years old when she gave birth to her third child. The woman believed that she was too young to be a mother, so she signed a waiver of the baby in favor of her parents. In 1974 she escaped. Lula sent only one letter to her family, after which she disappeared.

In 2014, The Doe Network, a volunteer organization dedicated to searching for missing people, contacted Indiana police Sergeant Scott Jarvis, who agreed to take on the 40-year-old case. He found references to a woman matching Gillespie-Miller's description in Texas around the 1980s. Scott suggested that she was still living there under a false name.

Lula was indeed found - after 42 years of silence. Her daughter Tammy was shocked by what she heard. “This is not going to be the subject of one of those reality TV sob stories,” Tammy warned. Although Tammy did try to contact her mother and called her on the phone, Gillespie-Miller said she would talk to her daughter when she was ready. Her daughter believes that day will never come.

The Invisible Woman

The disappearance of Petra Pashitka is considered one of the strangest cases in police chronicles. When Petra was 24 years old, in 1984, she disappeared without a trace from her university dormitory in Braunschweig, Germany. Any attempts by the police to follow Petra's trail were unsuccessful, and five years later the authorities were forced to declare Petra dead.

However, 31 years later, Petra was found alive and well. She lived in different parts of Germany under false names. Petra had almost no documents with her: no bank account, not even insurance.

The police managed to find her when they responded to a call for a robbery at the apartment of a woman who tried her best to hide her real name. In the end, Petra revealed who she was. The police were shocked, but Petra said that she was not going to contact her family and just wanted to be left alone.

Married two years after his own death

Richard Hoagland and Linda Eisler lived the life of simple burghers in the city of Indianapolis. Linda was Richard's second wife, the couple could afford a large house, several cars and exotic holidays wherever they wanted.

On the day of his disappearance, Richard complained to his wife that he was not feeling well and decided to immediately go to the hospital. This was the last time he made contact with Linda. Police found his car abandoned at the airport. But there was no record of Richard leaving the city. The following summer, Richard sent the children cards wishing them a happy birthday, each containing $50. He never contacted them again.

23 years later, Richard was discovered living under the name Terry Szymanski. Richard stole Mr. Szymanski's death certificate. He even married a woman named Mary, bought a house in Florida and raised a child with his new wife. The police found him thanks to the nephew of the real Mr. Szymanski, who suddenly discovered that his uncle got married... two years after own death.

Kidnapped or rescued?

Richard Wayne Landers Jr. grew up in a dysfunctional family. His parents fought constantly and, in the end, the boy ended up in a homeless shelter. Social services determined that the boy's mother suffered from mental retardation. The father filed for divorce and “disappeared from the horizon.” The boy was taken in by his grandparents - they received temporary custody of their grandson.

After some time, the court ruled that Richard Wayne should return to his mother (who was then living in the car), but his grandparents were strongly against this idea. In the end, they withdrew all the money from their account and fled. For 19 years, Richard's mother and the police tried to find him. They succeeded, but by that time he had already grown up and started a family. Wayne justifies his grandparents' actions, even though they were against the law.

We managed to talk about the current topic of missing people, the so-called “lost people” in professional jargon, with a private detective from one of the leading agencies in Russia, a former senior detective for the Department of Internal Affairs, who told us Interesting Facts and stories from my practice. Here's what we learned about the harsh realities of work modern representatives private investigation in the field of people search. In Russia, currently without war, with a population of 146 million people, almost 200 thousand people go missing every year, according to statistics on officially filed reports of disappearances. However, only every second person can be found. To find means to find, regardless of whether dead or alive, with confirmation (identification) from those who submitted the application (most often close relatives). At the same time it remains open question the fate of other missing people, the number of whom is equivalent to 100 thousand people. The private detective immediately made a reservation that the conversation would concern exclusively those persons who were among those against whom an application had been filed with the police or appeals to specialists of private search structures - detective agencies about the disappearance of acquaintances, colleagues, relatives, friends, etc. It is noteworthy that all other statistics given in the public domain on the Internet have different meanings. Our opponent noted: “All figures published in the media are false, not reflecting the real state of affairs, based on the instructions of the highest “ranks” in uniform.”

Circumstances of missing person

At the same time, based on the general reasons for what happened, the category of missing persons can be divided into those who disappeared under certain circumstances:

• They disappeared abruptly, without any explanation or reason;
• Lost as a result of a hike or a hunting or fishing trip to a place unknown to them;
• Left home as a result of a family quarrel, “slamming the door”;
• Disappeared under certain circumstances, which are associated with frequent alcohol abuse, illness nervous system. Often, if these are elderly people and they cannot be found, this category should be classified as corpses with an unknown identity;
• Escaped from an orphanage;
• Classified as missing, but had significant circumstances to “disappear,” including unfulfilled obligations in the form of debts or potentially negative consequences of actions, crimes, etc.;
• Disappeared due to force majeure in the form of natural disasters or, for example, lived in a combat zone, becoming a hostage of the situation, active or passive participants;
• Missing people specific place residence.

The man disappeared suddenly. The investigation found no traces

If we take into account the entire contingent of all missing people in Russia, then half are certainly among those who lead an immoral and antisocial lifestyle (alcohol, drugs, vagrancy, gambling, and others). But approximately 25% of the missing are people who disappeared for no apparent reason - suddenly (this is approximately 50 thousand people annually in Russia, and only a minority of them can be found, since in other situations, with the exception of the very first point of the reason for the disappearance are objectively understandable and intuitively one can assume in advance exactly how events developed, highlighting the motives. And in a number of life situations in which the disappearance of people is difficult to explain with sound logic and to find arguments in favor of an independent decision to leave. Leading in its activity search and tracing of people, private detective, former criminal investigation officer, claims that “the list of situations where a person disappeared suddenly (suddenly means that nothing foreshadowed this) can be continued indefinitely, amazed at the amazing circumstances that even with a high-quality investigation cannot be explained.” And yet where those people disappear of whom not a trace remains?

A young woman went missing in Simferopol

In the morning hours, a resident of Simferopol, a young woman, aged 32, who has two children, sent one of her children to kindergarten on the way and took a minibus. She never showed up at work, despite the fact that she was only a few meters away from the bus stop. It was not possible to find it either on the first or second day. At the same time, various versions were worked out: friends, relatives, even possible lovers, phone calls were checked. No traces. No missing items were found in the apartment either. Even passengers minibus were able to confirm the fact of her presence and exit at the designated stop. Then the trace of the person is simply lost.

Disappearance of a man

A typical man with a solid salary, living in a country house bought without credit loans, having a car, a family and a child has suddenly disappeared. It’s trivial that he took the elevator down to the underground garage, got into his personal Volkswagen and left for work, where he never showed up. A couple of days later the car was found parked on the way to work. Experts found no signs of violence, any struggle, or robbery inside the Volkswagen. At the same time, the car was started and the key fob was in the ignition, but by that time the gasoline had already run out. The smartphone and laptop remained intact inside the car, the car is in good condition, turns, stops are not turned on, there are no emergency signs. They searched everything in the surrounding area, but didn’t even find any traces. Despite his financial sufficiency, the man held the position of middle manager and had no relation to management. Most of the income came from apartments owned by the parents and wife's now deceased grandmother, which were inherited after their death and were rented out. The wife is a regular therapist in the hospital. According to the card accounts of the plastic movement cards you have with you financial assets was also not noticed.

Mom went missing

A girl who recently gave birth went to buy dairy products in one of the nearby stores. The child is not even one year old yet. Often, I went out for cottage cheese and milk at lunchtime, when the child fell asleep. My husband is always at home, his work is on the computer, there is always someone to look after. She left and never returned an hour, two, three, days later... The store is only a couple of stops on the trolleybus, responsibility: breastfeeding... And yet it’s been a year and there are no traces.

Tourist disappeared from hotel

Friends decided to go on vacation with two families in private cars from Belgorod to Crimea. We were on the road all day, after which we decided to stay at one of the roadside hotels on the outskirts of the city and rented two rooms. In the morning, after a sound sleep, they discovered that one of the men was missing. None of the family members: the wife, as well as the son and daughter, heard anything; the administrator who was on duty that night, a very young girl, completely dozed off in the utility room and could not see anything. The hotel's entrance doors are locked at night, and video surveillance operates only in the parking area. At the same time, the car is intact, all documents, mobile phone, money, personal belongings are in place. The man came out of the room lightly dressed and with shoes on, probably to smoke at night, since there were no cigarettes anywhere. Even after searching everything around for a radius of many kilometers, they could not find any clues to find the person.

The story of the disappearance of the office "clerk":

A promising young man got a job as a programmer in one of the city offices of Sevastopol, worked for several years, established himself well and even got a girlfriend with whom he lived in civil marriage. Together we bought a car on credit and lived in a rented apartment. One fine day, the young man left the office for lunch break and disappeared forever. He got home for lunch, the girl confirmed this by the presence of the left dirty dishes and food eaten. However, he never came to work again. It is noteworthy that no trace of him or his car could be found. At the same time, apart from the loan, for which funds were regularly paid, he had no problems or difficulties, and by character he was a non-conflict person, gentle, cheerful. His phone went off an hour after lunch, which became known from a call from his boss, who noticed his absence and called an hour after the break. The investigation yielded no results.

And here's another:

A police officer has disappeared. At the same time, he did not disappear after a shift or duty, or a heavy duty outfit, when there was a chance to assume that he himself was staying with friends to drink a glass of beer together. On the contrary, he disappeared in the morning, quietly boarding a train on the way to work, which, by the way, he never made it to. Colleagues worked through all possible versions and connections, but no one was able to provide additional information. They interviewed a colossal number of passengers that day, but all in vain... A positive person, repeatedly awarded, simply disappeared.

Versions for investigation and search

Here is a list of the main versions of events that are confirmed by real facts and were the causes of the disappearances:

• Murders. In this case, the corpse cannot be found due to the fact that it was dismembered, burned, buried or destroyed in any other way;
• Kidnapping a person and then selling him into slavery;
• Kidnapping of women for the purpose of exportation and forced prostitution;
• Kidnappings to obtain donor organs;
• Absurd accidents, including injuries with memory loss.

This information was presented by a person who has almost two decades of operational experience in the authorities and the field of private investigation. Having then joined the police in the dashing 90s, and now working on the search and search for people privately, he notes that the statistics and reasons have not undergone significant changes. The same crimes, their motives for 20 years. In some cases, you can think about mysticism or aliens, since unremarkable people go missing, who should never have been among the disappeared. And thus, almost 100,000 people per year disappear and are not found in Russia. Of course, against the backdrop of a natural decline in the form of mortality of 1 million per year, these are not such huge numbers. But still, these are people, people who had families, and all this time their relatives and friends experience anxiety and bitterness of loss, fear and uncertainty for the fate of a person close to them!

Actions taken by relatives to solve the disappearance

We wish every person never to encounter such difficulties, but once we find ourselves in stressful situation in case of disappearance, their fate may directly depend on the actions of loved ones. At the Client’s request, DASC private detectives organize an urgent search in the form of the arrival of specialists, detectives and experts, using all forces and means to find the person “on fresh tracks.” Most often, this is the most effective way to find the disappeared and provide them with assistance. Efficiency, professionalism and high quality Our agency's human search services have already been appreciated by hundreds of grateful Clients, for whom cooperation with DASC turned out to be fatal and allowed them to save their family, friends and relatives.