American Beauty Part II

The Missing

The Convention on the Rights of the Child ratified in 1990 and was designed to enshrine the principles of protection from economic and sexual exploitation. On October 25th, 1980, the signing of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction was similarly created to promote international cooperation on child rights and abduction cases. Although the objectives are well defined, corruption and cross boarder bureaucracy has ensured that inconsistency, limited funding and deference to underworld imperatives continue to thwart lasting progress. The United States and Somalia are the only countries still to do so.

It may come as a surprise for most of us to learn that procedures and protocols for missing persons are either absent or woefully inadequate from the majority of local and state governments. The Doe Network, an American, internet-based resource was set up by an amateur group of concerned individuals in response to the serious lack of law enforcement record keeping. Unsolved homicides, runaways, abductions and death from natural causes are some of the primary reasons for disappearances of children and adults every day. The daily drum roll of missing persons is a silent crisis of global proportions with causes that are both multifaceted and highly complex.

 

Accurate statistics on the level of missing children are difficult to come by. This is partly due to the fact that investigations are given a low priority due to the sheer magnitude of the problem as well as trenchant bureaucracy and its slow updating of information systems. The net result is that studies become rather misleading and outdated, as is the case today.

The FBI’s National Crime Information Centre (NCIC) is the only mandatory reporting system in the United States. Although it is federal law that all children reported missing or abducted must be entered into NCIC at the time a police report is taken, there is more than enough evidence to suggest that this is not taking place, quite apart from the lack of reporting itself.  It is also apparent that child agencies, advocates and non-profit charities and organizations are not receiving this information in order to provide a partially accurate picture of the problem. In fact, missing person experts estimate that the bodies of 40,000 to 50,000 unidentified men, women and children have been found by police in the US during the past 50 years. 1 Once again, this could be a very conservative estimate judging from the scale of the problem and the accompanying lack of resources devoted to it.

According to a Scripps Howard News Service study of confidential FBI records, the vast majority of unidentified bodies go unreported to state or federal authorities due to a lack of requirement from local authorities to register cases to outside agencies. With weak powers afforded to state coroners and widespread under-funding this significantly increases the depth of the problem.  A random sample of global listings provides an overview:

Alan John Westerfield aged 5

Missing since September 12, 1964 from North Carolina.

Classification: Endangered Missing

Jie Zhao Li aged 12

Missing since February 11, 1988 from Honolulu, Hawaii.

Classification: Endangered Missing

David Michael Borer aged 8

Missing since April 26, 1989 from Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska.

Classification: Non Family Abduction

Christine Green aged 16

Missing since April 23, 1985 from Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. Classification: Endangered Missing

Tania Marie Murrell aged 6

Missing since January 20, 1983 from Edmonton, Alberta Canada

Classification: Non-Family Abduction

Tanja Afra Maria Groen aged 18

Missing since August 31, 1993 from Maastricht, Netherlands

Classification: Missing

Ana Maria Luviano Cabrera aged 17

Missing since August 16, 1996 from Izcalli Piramides, Tlalnepantla, Mexico

Classification: Missing

Beatriz A. Cervantes Barrera aged 7

Missing since February 23, 1992 from Mexico.

Classification: Endangered Missing

Jonathan Ivan Esquivel Negrete aged one month

Missing since July 4, 1995 from Colonia Loma Linda, Naucalpan, Estado de Mexico, Mexico Classification: Endangered Missing

Revelle Balmain  aged 24

Missing since November 5, 1994 from Kingsford, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.  Classification: Endangered Missing

Melissa Ann Schmidt aged 15

Missing since September 5, 1995 from Lincoln, Lancaster County, Nebraska

Classification: Endangered Miss

Missing since February 2, 1996 from Ko ing

Anna Grabarz aged 11lonia Kijany, Poland

Classification: Endangered Missing

Monika Malinauskaite aged 15

Missing since June 16, 1994 from Klaipeda, Republic of Lithuania

Classification: Endangered Missing

Camille Lafond aged 6

Missing since January 29, 1996 from France. Classification: Missing

Looking at the photos of these children - and adults alike - is a poignant experience. There seems to be an everyday underworld of the forgotten. Once beyond the media radar they are quite literally, out of sight and out of mind. As most of the reported missing are murders, one would think it behoves national, state and local governments to place such a crisis at the top of their budget proposals. This is not the case and the back-log of homicides continue to rise.

In conjunction with the rise in murders and rapes in the US it is a disturbing parallel to the ever present shadow of missing children. Although nationwide crime was said to be decreasing  (until 2006) rape is still on the increase with the frequency of related murders rising. Even though Europe is a more dangerous and violent place than a generation ago (between 1975 and 2000, crime rose 97 percent in France, 145 percent in England, 410 percent in Spain) while crime overall is falling.

Missing persons are by far the most extensive in the US. The Interstate Association for Stolen Children (IASC) in Sacramento, California has one of the highest rates of missing children in America and believes that drugs, pornography, prostitution comprise the typical trio of pursuits of crime organizations. IASC Executive Director Greg Mengell described a case in which “three small drug cartels were competing for business in the same area. After one ring burned down the headquarters of another, a child was kidnapped in retaliation. In this case, one of the cartels also had connections to a pornography ring and a “Satanic cult.”  The sheer scale of complexity goes to the heart of our societies and may stem from more than just bureaucratic red tape.

Although over 2000 - 3,600 children go missing in the country everyday 2 (which includes an estimate of unreported cases) law enforcement officials say the sector of missing persons is hugely under-reported as a whole, where the actual number could be more than four to five times higher. As it stands, the statistics from 1997-1999 within the USA alone has estimated 797,500 children reported missing which equates to an average of 91 children disappearing every hour. With 58,200 children abducted by non-family, where children are taken by force or threat of bodily harm, the total works out to more than 159 per day at 6 children per hour.

In percentage terms, the study concluded that nearly 50 percent were assaulted by their abductor. When the child is told to leave home or leaves home without permission, otherwise called “runaway or thrown-away” children these cases totalled more than 682, 900 equating to 1870 per day. 115 children were the victims of the most serious, long-term non-family abductions called “stereotypical kidnappings,” and where court orders were violated resulting in the victims of family abductions, the number reached 203,900. 3

By the year 2000 the NCIC recorded a significant rise to 876,213, where 85 percent – 90 percent were listed as juveniles reported missing. 152,265 of the persons reported missing in 2000 was categorized as either endangered or involuntary. The number of missing persons reported to law enforcement has increased from 154, 341 in 1982 to 876,213 in 2000. That is an increase of 468 percent. 4 Not exactly the proudest moment for democracy, when children are literally dropping off the radar in droves. If we are to believe the FBI, 99 percent of the nearly 800,000 reports of missing persons each year are solved, leaving a manageable 8,000 – to 10,000. (Far be it for me to level scurrilous accusations of statistical bias here, but it seems to be a slightly excessive success rate).

The vast majority of abuse cases are perpetrated by people the victim know, or that could be seen as acquaintances. However, when we look at the ratio of children who are abducted and murdered then the story changes dramatically: 57 percent of these murders are committed by someone unknown to the victim, where family involvement drops to 9 percent. 5  Psychiatric disability, diminished mental capacity, a physical disability, a need for medication, issues with substance abuse, domestic violence, financial difficulties and many other factors can contribute to disappearances which are often much more complex than may first appear.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health an estimated 22.1 percent of Americans ages 18 and older - 1 in 5 adults – suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. This figure translates to 44.3 million people. 6

There is a high probability that depressive disorders are appearing earlier in life from people born in recent decades compared to the past. The figure of 20 percent attributed to children in the US estimated to have mental disorders with at least mild functional impairment, may be another major factor that places children in vulnerable situations attracting abductions and other criminal cross-overs. 7

 Though the suicide rate amongst children has declined since 1992 it remains the third leading cause of death among young people ages 15 to 24. In 2001, 3,971 suicides were reported in this group. 8

The average victim of abduction and murder is an 11-year-old girl with a stable family relationship. First contact with her abductor usually occurs within a quarter-mile of her own home. 9 Parental kidnapping can no longer be viewed as a domestic issue to be buried under the cultural carpet. Statistics show that there are many children taken from their spouse and once beyond national boarders are unlikely to be seen again. This is a common problem in the USA and Europe, and connected in particular, to the Middle East where interracial and or arranged marriages go sour. Children are on the run, in a cultural limbo and the roots that they may have had established in their formative years have been lost leading to a greater propensity for maladjustment and psychological damage in later life.

There is also a clear pattern between male and female victims. The murder by strangers of young/infant male victims from the 1-5 age groups, teenage males 13-15 years and 16-17 years are all roughly around 60 – 64 percent. 10 While the young/infant females are usually killed by friends and acquaintances while the older females in the 16-17 age bracket are murdered by strangers both at 64percent. 11 Yet after a decline in murder rates in 2004 by 5.7 percent, the first time in five years there had been a decrease in the nationwide murder rate, it however rose again in 2005 by 2.1 percent and has continued to climb. Murder by those unknown clearly comes out on top. So, who are these “unknowns”?

 “If it bleeds it leads” is one crude maxim from the media which most of us heard at one time or another. In the same vain, it could also be said that “if she’s white, blond and sexy then she’s on the front page.” Kym Pasqualini, President for The National Center for Missing Adults, based in Phoenix said the media tends to focus on “damsels in distress”—typically, affluent young white women and teenagers. “We’d like to see a little more diversity in reporting because we have cases that never make the front page of the local newspaper, let alone the national media,”… “All parents are going through the same thing, no matter how much attention their case gets.” 12 Hispanic, black and mixed race kids are way down on the list of media coverage.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children reported 1,159 African American children Missing in 2000 the highest figures ever recorded for the organization. Although figures dropped by 2002 this had little to do with an upturn in media awareness of black children. More recently, in June of 2005 a disturbing report surfaced of boys from Africa being murdered in England’s London Churches with cultural links to West Africa where “aggressive” forms of exorcism are practiced. Scotland Yard “traced only two of 300 black boys aged four to seven reported missing from London schools in a three month period. The true figure for missing boys and girls is feared to be several thousand a year.” The report revealed that:

…there is a wide gulf between these [ethnic] communities and social services and protection agencies with many people in ethnic communities scared to speak out. The report concludes police face a ‘wall of silence’ when dealing with such cases. Experts differ on the merits of the Scotland Yard report. [...] ‘It is people in positions of power and money that are manipulating poor people.’ 13

No change there. Though there is clearly merit and truth in the report it will also provide more fuel for those who see this as an immigration problem. One wonders why thousands of ethnic children go missing and where “cultural links” have no connection whatsoever.

Even media advocacy that may take up the reins of an apathetic police force can have repercussions as Brian Maitland discovered, whose daughter Brianna disappeared in March 2004, near Montgomery, Vermont: ‘As the parents, we receive many tips that we forward to police,’ Maitland wrote. ‘Are they acted on? Who knows? Police tell you nothing about what they are doing with your case and tips, but we know the results. NOTHING.’

It seems the Maitlands, like so many others, have good reason to gripe about their treatment on top of already unbearable pain that is not allowed to turn to grieving.

The National Crime Information Center itself is under serious strain with 17 separate databases under its umbrella. Over 94, 000 law enforcement agencies have access with more than 39 million records. Critics call it a deeply flawed system where: ‘…a lack of knowledge, indifference or poor training, police officers in Washington state -  and around the nation - routinely fail to take even the most obvious steps, conduct routine follow-ups or comply with the law when handling missing-persons cases,…” 14

Moreover, it has been dawning on several child advocate agencies and families desperate for news of their missing loved ones, that it is not only bureaucracy and police apathy that is causing frustration - but the FBI itself. The bureau obsessively protects a wall of confidentiality over NCIC data, arguing that the database is the private property of local police departments. Then it is the police that steps up to increase the misery by preventing the public’s right to accountability regarding whether or not local police departments and medical examiners are doing their jobs. 

Seattle Police ignored a law that required them to follow up on reports, which in this case, resulted in the rape and murder of a 14 year-old girl. This routine procedure “would have identified her remains nearly 17 months sooner” and “I'm sure police would've caught him, or at least found some clues or evidence, if they would've linked this up sooner,” said Michelle's mother, Tish Curry. “They didn't really seem to care that much. My daughter was just another runaway to them.”

According to the same extensive report by the Seattle Post Intelligencer they found that police routinely mishandled and lost cases, ignored the law, failed to use tracking systems and closed cases with little or no investigation.

If sexual predators do indeed commit crimes against children 50-60 times more before they get caught, it is doubly frustrating for families of victims to learn how easily psychopaths use the system against itself. They naturally prey on those from dysfunctional families, with a prior record of running away or petty crime. Police are even less likely to follow up on such cases:

Criminologist Steven Egger calls the victims of serial killers ‘the less dead’ because they are usually people who have been marginalized -- prostitutes, drug users, homosexuals, farm workers, hospital patients and the elderly.

‘We don’t spend a lot of time dealing with missing people who aren’t particularly important; who don't have a lot of prestige,’ said Egger, a University of Houston-Clear Lake professor and former police officer. It's a public failing as well as a police failing, a common belief being that such people take big risks and get what they deserve. 15

With such a societal pathology it is no wonder we are failing children and adults worldwide. The defining characteristic that all these missing children and adults have in common is that they are largely forgotten by media and the world in general. While society becomes evermore devalued and artificial, the majority of “defective” goods that are children are literally thrown away, nothing more than the ubiquitous cycle of “used goods” that has come to characterise the unsustainable nature of our urban lives.

Notes

1  ‘Americas forgotten dead: Unidentified bodies go unreported’  by Thomas Hargrove - Scripps Howard News Service October 4, 2005. Alaska SitNews.

2  National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMC) www.ncmec.org
3  National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART-2) US Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Released 2002.

4  http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/ncic.htm
5 National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART-2) US Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Released 2002.
6  Source: National Institute of Mental Health NIH Publication No. 01-4584 Updated: January 1, 2001
7  National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) factsheets.
8  National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) factsheets (quoting from Anderson and Smith 2003).
9  ‘Missing Children Myths’ Connect For Kids by: Daniel D. Broughton Published: September 18, 2000.
10  Ibid

11  Ibid
12 Quoted in ‘America’s Missing’ 2005, The Crime Library, Typical Crimes and Methods http://www.crimelibrary.com/

13  ‘Child sacrifices in London’ By Richard Edwards Crime Reporter, Evening Standard 16 June 2005.
14  A Seattle Post-Intelligencer special report on how police here and around the nation fumble missing-person reports, originally published in 10 parts. Monday, February 17, 2003 Part 1: People go missing, killers go free 'I still worry. I guess I always will' By Lewis Kamb.

15  Ibid.