This is a list of people who disappeared mysteriously post-1990 and of people whose whereabouts are unknown or whose deaths are not substantiated, except for people who disappeared at sea.
Since the 1970s, many individuals around the world have disappeared, whose whereabouts and condition have remained unknown. Many who disappear are eventually declared dead in absentia, but the circumstances and dates of their deaths remain a mystery. Some of these people were possibly subjected to forced disappearance, but in some cases information on their subsequent fates is insufficient.
The global statistical data on missing persons throughout the world from the late 20th and early 21st centuries are unreliable due to a number of factors,[1] including international migration, travel capabilities,[2] and legal protection for individuals who may have chosen to disappear intentionally.[3] According to the International Commission on Missing Persons, "There are few comprehensive and reliable statistics regarding the number of persons who go missing throughout the world as a result of trafficking, drug-related violence, and migration. Even the numbers of persons missing as a result of armed conflict and human-rights abuses, which are more intensively monitored, are difficult to verify, given the reluctance of most states to deal honestly and effectively with this issue".[1]
By the mid-1990s in the United States of America, the number of missing persons cases had grown to nearly 1 million, though this number declined by nearly half as of 2021.[4] As of 2014, an estimated average of 90,000 people in the United States are missing at any given time, with about 60% being adults, and 40% being children;[5] in 2021, the total number of missing person cases was around 520,000.[4] Per a 2017 report, the U.S. states of Oregon, Arizona, and Alaska have the highest numbers of missing-person cases per 100,000 people.[6] In Canada—with a population a little more than one tenth that of the United States—the number of missing-person cases is smaller, but the rate per capita is higher, with an estimated 71,000 reported in 2015.[7] Of these missing Canadians, 88% are found within seven days, while roughly 500 individuals remain missing after a year.[8] In the United Kingdom, it was estimated in 2009 that around 275,000 Britons go missing every year.[9] In some countries, such as Japan, the prevalence of missing persons is not commensurate with the known data, as significant numbers of missing individuals go unreported to authorities.[10]
Glover, a 5-month-old boy, disappeared from the back seat of his father's car in London, England. He has not been found, and no charges have been brought.
Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook are fraternal twins who were last seen by a gas-station clerk at the Pump-N-Shop gas station on the corner of 12th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Augusta, Georgia, around 4:30 p.m. Their case was closed in 1991, and was later reopened in 2013.
Renkoski was last seen on the shoulder of Interstate 96 talking to two men standing next to a maroon-colored minivan. Hours later, the 1986 Oldsmobile she had been driving was found still idling, with her shoes and purse inside.
MacDiarmid was last seen late on the night of 11 July 1990, in the parking lot of Kananook railway station. Evidence found near her car suggested a struggle, and foul play is suspected. Police have interviewed two potential suspects, but she officially remains missing.
American-born Jesuitmissionary Hebert went missing on 15 August 1990, on his way to the eastern city of Batticaloa from a nearby town of Valaichchenai. His disappearance remains a mystery.
McKechnie, a musician and former member of the Scottish folk group The Incredible String Band, was last reported to be living in California. As of 1990, her last whereabouts have been unknown.
Gibson disappeared from his front yard in Azalea, Oregon after his father, Larry, a sheriff's deputy, left to go for a jog. Larry was charged with second-degree murder in Thomas' case, and was convicted of manslaughter in 1995, serving less than one year in prison. Thomas' remains and whereabouts are unknown.
Dunahee disappeared from a school playground. His parents were nearby, but no witnesses to his presumed abduction have been identified, and no subsequent confirmed sightings of him have been made.
Thai labor leader Tanong disappeared after his car was found abandoned in Bangkok's Rat Burana District, shortly after a military coup. Repeated inquiries from his family to the police and other government agencies received no reply, and his fate remains unknown.
Negrete disappeared from a Boy Scout expedition on 19 July 1991, after becoming lost from his group. A search party was immediately launched, and rescue teams following his footprints found candy wrappers and his disposable camera. Most pictures on the filmstrip depicted the surrounding landscape, with only the boy's eyes and nose visible in the last photo.
Needham, a 21-month-old boy, disappeared while his grandparents were renovating a farmhouse. Despite numerous sighting reports over the years, he has not been found. Family members have said they believe that the child was kidnapped with the intention of selling him for adoption, or to child traffickers. Others familiar with the case consider the theory of an accident more likely. In 2016, excavations conducted nearby led investigators to informally conclude that Ben died in an accident that day on a construction site. This theory has been substantiated by reports of blood being discovered on a toy car and sandal believed to have belonged to the toddler, which were discovered in 2017.
Wilson's car, with a flat tire, was left abandoned in the parking lot of the video store where she worked; bank surveillance footage appears to show Wilson dropping her paycheck in the bank's deposit box. Foul play is suspected, but no one has been charged, nor has Wilson been found.
Guerrero and Torres are two teenage girls who suddenly vanished under unclear circumstances, while hitchhiking from Reinosa to their hometown Aguilar de Campoo after partying in a nightclub.
Levitt, her daughter Streeter, and friend McCall, known collectively as the Springfield Three, disappeared from Levitt's home on 7 June 1992. Streeter and McCall had graduated from Kickapoo High School the day before, and had arrived at Levitt's home at around 2:00 a.m. after a graduation party. It is being investigated as an apparent triple disappearance.
Andersson vanished mysteriously after going to a friend's housewarming party in Töreboda. While her body has never been found, traces of blood and other items indicated that she was killed, and her case is still under investigation.
Thirteen-year-old Occhi disappeared from her home during Hurricane Andrew. Her mother returned to their residence to find blood in various locations of the house, but Occhi was nowhere to be seen. Her whereabouts are unknown.
A cofounder of the military council of the Kataeb Party, Khawand was kidnapped by up to ten individuals close to his Horch Tabet home on 15 September 1992. His fate remains unknown.
Ajba, an Abkhaz poet, disappeared on 9 October 1992, and is believed to have been tortured and shot dead. The reports are unconfirmed, and the case remains unsolved.
Eggleston, a recent college graduate, disappeared in the afternoon from an administrative building in northeast Portland, while attending a business appointment for her job at a telecommunications company. Her car was discovered abandoned 9 miles (14 km) away, but she has not been seen since.
Wood disappeared on a road near her home while riding her bike alone. A janitor from Massachusetts confessed to kidnapping, sexually assaulting, and killing Sara, but later recanted. The case remains unsolved, and was reopened in 2005.
Tanja disappeared after leaving a Student Association party on her bicycle to her housesit in Gronsveld. There has been no trace of her, or her bike, since.
40-year-old Maarit Haantie disappeared in August 1993. She is suspected to have fallen victim to an unidentified serial killer; namely, the one responsible for the Hausjärvi Gravel Pit Murders. Authorities searched for Haantie's body, though it was never recovered.
Pierre Bianconi is a French professional footballer who mysteriously disappeared from his hometown of Bastia on 29 December 1993 and has not been seen since.
Björkegren disappeared from his residence in Viken, just hours before he was supposed to board a plane to Stockholm, where his lawyer Henning Sjöström and his daughter were waiting for him in a pre-booked room at the Grand Hôtel.
Bhatti, a criminal defense attorney in Sangrur district, was last seen on 10 June 1994 in the custody of Indian security forces. His case remains unsolved.
Balmain, an Australian model, dancer and escort, disappeared on 5 November 1994 from the Sydney suburb of Kingsford, and is believed to have been murdered.
Richey Edwards, the guitarist and primary lyricist for the Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers, disappeared shortly before he was to fly to the United States for a promotional tour. His car was found abandoned on that date at the Aust service area adjacent to the Severn Bridge, which is a location notorious for suicides. Edwards had a history of self injury, and had received treatment for alcoholism, anorexia nervosa, and depression in the years leading up to his disappearance. He was declared dead in November 2008.
Cuny, his team of two Russian Red Cross doctors, and an interpreter disappeared while seeking to negotiate a ceasefire in April 1995. A search to find him was conducted, and he was believed to have been murdered, yet nothing was found.
Chadrel Rinpoche, a Geluglama of Tibet, was abducted and placed under arbitrary house arrest by CCP officials. He reportedly died from a suspicious poisoning in 2011, but his remains have never been recovered, and reports from China allege his status is unknown.
Nyima, a Tibetan boy recognized by the 14th Dalai Lama as being the 11th Panchen Lama, a reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama, has not been seen since 17 May 1995. He is supposedly alive and well in China, but the Chinese government will not allow this to be confirmed in person. As a result, his whereabouts are considered unknown.
Gilbert disappeared from the Girdwood Forest Fair while accompanying a date; the man stated he walked over two hours searching for a friend's home after his car battery died, and that Gilbert was missing when he returned.
An Irish woman who disappeared at the age of 21 in November 1995. Dullard was last known to have phoned a friend at a phone box in Moone to request if she could stay the night at her home in Carlow, explaining she had missed the last bus to her home; she interrupted this call to explain she had "just got a lift" from an unknown individual. Dullard has never been seen or heard from again. Police strongly believe she was murdered.
Wilson, a British teenager, disappeared after taking a taxi to a popular local beauty spot at Box Hill, Surrey. Although various theories including suicide, abduction, and running away to start a new life have been floated; none of these theories have been proven, despite investigations.
Labazanov was a notorious crime boss of the Chechen mafia and head of a Chechen armed faction, held by some as an example of a modern abrek (bandit hero). On 1 June 1996, it was reported that Labazanov was killed together with a bodyguard at the village of Tolstoy-Yurt, 15 kilometres north of Grozny. His body was never found.
Human rights activist and feminist Kalpana Chakma was abducted from her native village by Bangladesh Army soldiers on 12 June 1996, along with her two brothers. She has never been located, and was presumably killed.
Yokoyama went missing from a pachinko parlor on 7 July 1996, in Ota, Gunma. It is believed she was kidnapped by a 30 to 50 year old man, and is also believed to have been one of the cases that make up the North Kanto Serial Young Girl Kidnapping and Murder Case.
Walsh left her apartment to use a payphone, and has not been seen since. Her disappearance was widely publicized, after several newspapers and media outlets published articles concluding that her disappearance was potentially linked to the Russian mafia, as well as New York City's underground vampire community, both subjects that Walsh had investigated while writing for The Village Voice.
Ethier mysteriously disappeared while walking home from a friend's house. Despite a decades-long investigation, her remains have never been found, and no suspect has ever been charged, although police suspect foul play.
Warren and Spencer are two English schoolboys who mysteriously disappeared on 27 December 1996. The case remains open, and is one of the more notorious cases of missing children in UK history.
North Carolina native Modafferi was living in San Francisco for the summer to attend classes at the University of California, Berkeley. On the afternoon of 23 June 1997, she left her job at a coffee shop in Crocker Galleria mall in the Financial District. She was seen by co-workers talking to a blond woman in the mall around 45 minutes later. She has not been seen since.
On the morning of 24 July 1997, the 24-year-old left her apartment to run errands. At 2:30 that afternoon, Bechtel was seen at a photo shop. This was the last confirmed sighting of her. It is believed she left the photo shop and drove into the Shoshone National Forest, to check the course of a 10k race her gym was planning. When her husband returned home at 4:30 p.m., she was not there. By nightfall, he alerted neighbors and the sheriff's department. Bechtel's white Toyota station wagon was found parked off a dirt road in the Shoshone Forest. No trace of Bechtel has been found.
Hever, an Israeli soldier, reported for guard duty at a bunker near his artillery base on the morning of 17 August 1997. He was absent when his relief arrived later in the day, and has not been seen since. Since he was on active duty when he disappeared, he is considered to be missing in action.
Lewis, a self-made millionaire and co-owner of Wildlife on Easy Street, disappeared after leaving his home in Tampa, Florida. His van was found forty miles away at a private airport with the keys on the floorboard. Investigators visited land that Lewis owned in Costa Rica, but could not find any evidence.
Amanda Dawn Gallion was an American teenage girl who disappeared from Gillette, Wyoming after leaving her house on 13 October 1997 in the morning time, while she was headed to school and has not been seen since.
Aisenberg, a four-month-old infant, vanished from her crib during the night of 23–24 November 1997. Her mother discovered that she was not in her crib the following morning, and their attached garage had been unlocked. No trace of the Aisenberg baby has ever been found. The parents won a large settlement for malicious prosecution.
Donner, an American anthropologist and writer, disappeared with four other women from Los Angeles, California in 1998. What became of Donner and three of the women who had also disappeared remains unknown.
Lyall was last seen getting off a bus on the campus of the State University of New York at Albany on the night of 2 March 1998, after returning from her job at a nearby shopping mall. Her ATM card was used the next afternoon to withdraw money at a convenience store elsewhere in the city; since then, no signs of her have been found, and foul play has been suspected. Her parents have successfully lobbied for changes in state and federal law regarding missing-person investigations on college campuses, and founded the Center for Hope to support families of the missing.
Mendonça went missing while riding his bicycle near his home on 4 March 1998, and his case remains unsolved. In September 1998, Mendonça was one of 16 children identified in materials confiscated from a raid on alleged members of an international child pornography ring called the Wonderland Club. However, his whereabouts remain unknown, and police suspect that he was murdered by his abductors after being abused on camera for other members of the paedophile ring.
Wynter, a jeweler and enforcer for the Adams crime family, disappeared in London on 9 March 1998. His disappearance is believed to be related to the murder of Saul Nahome in December that year: both men were involved in a drug deal where £800,000 went missing.
Abelar, a writer and anthropologist, disappeared with four other women while hitchhiking. One of the women's skeletons was found in 2006, but the other four, including Abelar, remain missing.
Jacob, a student teacher, was last seen on 28 July 1998 around 3 p.m. near her home in Newbridge, County Kildare. In August 2018, the Garda Síochána announced that her disappearance was being treated as a murder case.
Davani, an Iranian leftist activist and editor of an Iranian newspaper, disappeared on 28 August 1998 while leaving his residence. Some have suggested that Davani was murdered.
Last known to be living on the property of the Laan family touted as a retirement home, Lawrence was paying over $700 in rent for an uninsulated shack without running water, heat, or electricity. It is believed that Lawrence, a "cat lady," selected this accommodation to keep over 30 cats as pets. After being reported missing on 25 November 1998, the resulting Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) investigation did not locate Lawrence's body, but identified three other residents —John Semple (90), John Crofts (71) and Ralph Grant (70)— as missing. Their pension cheques, however, were still being cashed. No bodies have been recovered, and no one has faced charges in Lawrence's presumed homicide.
Engebretson disappeared while searching for a Christmas tree with his father and grandfather. A circular path of footprints in the snow was traced to a road, where bits of chopped wood and a snow angel were discovered; Engebretson had a small hatchet with him at the time he disappeared. A convicted child rapist is considered a suspect in his disappearance.
Nine-year-old Sarah Skiba accompanied her father, Paul, and Chivers, an employee at his moving company, on a furniture delivery job. This was the last time they were seen. A moving truck on the company lot was subsequently discovered with bullet holes in its door, blood smeared inside, and portions of a human scalp lying near the windshield. The whereabouts of all three remain unknown.
Palmer, a British timeshare salesman, traveled for unknown reasons from Spain to Curdridge in the UK in March 1999, where, following an argument in a taxi, he got out and was never seen again.
A Kosovo Albanian philosopher and activist, Hoti was the founder of UNIKOMB, a political party in Kosovo. He disappeared shortly before he was to be released from prison in May 1999. His whereabouts are unknown; many human rights activists consider him dead.
Hanchar, a Belarusian opposition leader, disappeared along with his friend, businessman Krasouski, from a streetside. Signs of a struggle were found where they were last seen; the two were widely believed to have been abducted and later murdered.
Teresa Ann Davidson-Murphy disappeared in Rainier, Oregon in between 7 and 10 October 1999 after leaving her house and has not been seen since. She is believed to be dead.
Räisänen, a 16-year-old basketball player disappeared in downtown Tampere on 16 October 1999. The last confirmed sighting of her was at 10:50 p.m. local time. Due to an EU summit being held in Tampere on the same day, security had been tightened, and there were policemen from all over the country. Räisänen was declared dead in absentia in 2007. The investigation was changed from manslaughter to murder in September 2019, because the statute limitations on manslaughter in Finland is 20 years.
Surprenant disappeared from Terrebonne, Quebec on 15 November 1999. A neighbour was quickly considered the prime suspect, but the authorities had insufficient evidence to charge him. In 2006, this same neighbour made a deathbed confession to her murder that was not revealed for several years.
Negrete, a music student at UCLA, disappeared from his student accommodation and was never seen again. Police have treated his disappearance as suspicious, and have classified the case as a homicide.
Degree was last seen in the early morning hours of 14 February 2000, while running into a woodlot off North Carolina Highway 18 on a rainy and very windy day. Some of her personal effects were found three days later in a nearby shed, and her backpack was found buried 20 miles (32 km) away in August 2001. No other signs of her have been found since then, and theories have ranged from running away to foul play.
Roberts, a native of Durham, North Carolina, embarked on a cross-country road trip to northern Washington in early March 2000. Her car was found wrecked and abandoned some days later off the Mount Baker Highway. She had last been seen in a restaurant at a local shopping mall on 13 March. One report that she was seen walking disoriented around a gas station in Everett shortly after her car was discovered, and she has not been seen or heard from since.
A Swiss traveler who lived with the Penan people of Borneo during the 1970s and '80s, Manser became an internationally prominent activist in the fight for the Penan's land rights, and opposition to logging and rain-forest destruction. He was in the country illegally, and was continually hunted by authorities, and escaped numerous times under gunfire. He eventually escaped the country in disguise, and went on a world tour to raise awareness about the Penan, including founding a nonprofit organization. In 2000, against all advice, he covertly re-entered Borneo. Manser was last seen in the jungle near Bukit Batu Lawi, a 2,000-m limestone pinnacle in Sarawak. Manser stated his intention to climb the pinnacle alone. The Penan mounted a search and rescue mission after he failed to return. He has not been seen since.
Louis Roy was a very rich Hells Angels member, Canadian gangster, and outlaw biker who disappeared on 23 June 2000 from Montreal, Quebec and has not been seen since. He is believed to have been murdered.
Al Maktoum, an Emirati member of the Dubai ruling family who fled to the UK to live a less restrictive life, was abducted on the streets of Cambridge by four men hired by her father, flown back to Dubai, and has not been seen since.
Trevor Deely was returning home from his work's Christmas party in Dublin. He was seen talking to an unknown man outside his office. At 4:14 a.m. CCTV footage shows Deely walking past what was then the AIB bank on the corner of Baggot Street Bridge and Haddington Road in the direction of his apartment. About 30 seconds later, the footage shows a man dressed in black passing by the bank. In December 2023 Gardaí Síochána have said that they have tracked down this man and believe he is not linked to the vanishing of Trevor and was not the same guy waiting outside the bank. Despite numerous appeals over many years since the disappearance Deely's whereabouts are still unknown.
Shahi, a Pakistani religious scholar and founder of the Messiah Foundation International, an organization dedicated to spreading religious studies, disappeared from public view around 2001 while residing in London. Various rumors surround the circumstances of his disappearance, including that he has passed away in 2001 or 2003.
Murdalov, a student, left his home on 2 January 2001, saying he would return, but never did. His parents tracked him down at the police station where an official promised that he would soon be released, but they have not seen their son since. According to witnesses, Murdalov was subsequently severely beaten while in police custody, and his fate remains unknown.
Wilson, a foster child of the Florida Department of Children and Families, disappeared on 18 January 2001 in Miami. She was not reported missing until 2002, when she became the focus of an investigation into neglect and mismanagement in the organization.
Kirkpatrick and Henson were sisters who disappeared with their mother, Kimyala Henson, on 4 April 2001. Henson's body was found partially buried near Pyramid Lake on 28 April, but the fate of Kirkpatrick and baby Henson remains unknown.
Perry disappeared outside his home. A female friend was helping him clean in preparation for his father's return from the hospital; she stated he told her he was taking a pair of jumper cables to an exterior shed. He never returned. In 2004, while investigating Jack Wayne Rogers on unrelated charges, a message-board post from his computer was discovered detailing a first-hand account of Perry's alleged rape, torture and murder. Rogers denies involvement in his disappearance, and Perry's whereabouts remain unknown.
Turney was last seen by her stepfather around midday on 17 May 2001 after supposedly arguing with him. While the circumstances surrounding her case remain unclear, Turney's stepfather was later charged with her supposed murder. However, as of December 2021, he has not been convicted, and Alissa's body has not been found.
Khazanov, a Russian–American mathematical child prodigy who was one of the youngest students to submit a perfect paper for the 1994 International Mathematical Olympiad, went missing after going out with his mountain bike, leaving behind a letter claiming that he was "going to the library". At the time of his disappearance, he was suffering from depression and drug addiction.
Jolkowski failed to show up at a local high school, where he had arranged to catch a ride to work with a friend. The last confirmed sighting of Jolkowski was by a neighbor, who reported seeing Jolkowski carrying trash cans into his garage about 30 minutes prior to when he was to meet at the high school.
57-year-old Tot Tran Harriman was last seen leaving her son's residence near League City, Texas in her 1995 Lincoln Continental on 12 July 2001. She had been visiting relatives in both League City and Corpus Christi. Neither Harriman nor her vehicle have been located.
Kerton, a British student nurse from Broadstairs, Kent, disappeared in Germany on 30 July 2001. She was last seen by the mother of her fiancée at Aachen Hauptbahnhof station, intending to travel to Ostend.
Philip, a physician, was last seen 10 September 2001 on surveillance-camera footage from a store near her Lower Manhattan apartment. Due to the proximity of the World Trade Center, and her medical training, her family believes she perished trying to help victims of the next day's terrorist attack. A court has agreed, and she is officially considered to have died that way. The ruling was not unanimous, and no proof of her death has ever been found.
Harris was last seen leaving her boyfriend's apartment late on the night of 11 September 2001. She had gone there after work, to return to her home in nearby Spencer, where she and her wealthy husband were nearing the end of a bitter divorce. The next morning, her abandoned car was found on the road near her driveway. State police, their manpower, and their resources were limited at first, since they had been diverted to New York City in the wake of the terror attacks. Her husband was tried, convicted, but later overturned in three trials. He had reportedly made threats and there was blood evidence in the garage, although they never found a body or weapon.
The six members of the Gill family were last seen visiting a friend in the town of Viale. Despite reported sightings, none of the family members has ever been seen again. Following the 2016 death of their landlord, who was alleged to have been involved in their disappearance, the case is being considered for reinvestigation.
Tina Lim Xin Ying was last seen leaving her home to visit her grandfather at about 4.15pm on 22 June 2002. She was not seen or heard of until 1 November 2003, the last day of her grandfather's funeral, when her family received a series of mysterious phone calls which appear to have been made by Tina, and the family made a police report. Police investigated the source of the calls and concluded they were not made by Tina, but her family disagrees with this. Since then, there has been no news about her.
Young disappeared on Canada Day after partying with friends, last being seen in a maroon Jaguar. The driver was later questioned and released by investigators, who have made no progress in the case despite receiving hundreds of tips and having "hundreds of witnesses" on file. A neighbour of a relevant location reported seeing "a body in a hammock" and then "equipment moving a lot of soil around in the backyard". Eighteen years later the property was searched, although concerns have been raised as to RCMP efforts in the search, and of overall handling of the case.
Guimond disappeared after leaving a party in Collegeville, Minnesota. He was last seen on a bridge spanning Stumpf Lake. The Stearns County Sheriff's Office discovered his scent by the lake using a K9 unit, and theorized he had fallen or was pushed into the lake. Divers searched the lake multiple times and found no body. Investigators now theorize he was kidnapped or picked up via a car from the bridge.
Şyhmyradow and Berdiýew were ex-Foreign Ministers of Turkmenistan who announced their opposition to then PresidentSaparmurat Niyazov. They were detained and sentenced to life imprisonment, after they were convicted of alleged participation in a plot against Niyazov in 2002. Little is known about their life in prison after a closed trial, and it is unknown whether they are still alive. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
Zeinali, an Iranian student at Tehran University, was arrested on 10 July 1999, and was said to be held in jail at least until 2002. He disappeared after being released and has not been seen since.
Ahmadullah, an Afghan politician and the first interior minister of the Taliban, was supposedly killed by a drone strike in early 2002, but was later determined to be alive. His whereabouts remain unknown.
One day before her fifth birthday, Juarez told her mother she would accompany her grandmother's boyfriend to a local convenience store, but after being left behind, left the house anyway. Witnesses may have seen her after she left the house, but she never arrived at the store, and her whereabouts are unknown.
Salah Aboud Mahmoud, a former Iraqi Army general who was highly involved in the Persian Gulf War, mysteriously disappeared after the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, and has not been seen or heard from since.
Frédéric Nérac was a French journalist who mysteriously disappeared on 22 March 2003 while reporting in Iraq. Search attempts to locate Nérac have been unsuccessful.
Padilla, a licensed aircraft mechanic, flight engineer, and pilot of small airplanes, and Mutantu, a hired mechanic from the Republic of the Congo, were on board a Boeing 727-223 designation N844AA when it was stolen. They have not been heard from since.
Astamirov, a Chechen journalist, who was working for Agence France Presse in Ingushetia, Russia, was allegedly kidnapped at gunpoint by a group of three masked men in uniforms on 4 July 2003. His whereabouts are unknown.
Egyptian journalist Helal went missing on 11 August 2003 in downtown Cairo, and is believed to have been kidnapped, but little evidence supports this belief.
Santos was last seen being arrested for driving without a license after a traffic accident. Jail records show he was never booked, and Officer Steve Calkins claimed to have changed his mind and left Santos at a nearby Circle K convenience store. Three months later, another man, Terrance Williams, disappeared after being arrested by the same police officer.
Von Ackermann disappeared after calling an Iraqi employee of U.S. defense contractor Ultra Services, and telling him he needed help fixing a flat tire on his car. When the employee arrived at the location given, between Kirkuk and Tikrit, 45 minutes later, von Ackermann was gone. No signs of a struggle were noticed, and $40,000 in cash were found in the car, along with von Ackermann's laptop and satellite phone. The circumstances suggest he was not the victim of a robbery attempt, and neither his employer nor family were ever contacted with ransom demands. Nevertheless, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command later concluded he had been killed in a botched kidnapping, and they still consider the case open, though his body has not been found.
Holopainen was last sighted leaving a house party with her common-law spouse on foot in Timmins, Ontario, and has not been seen since. Although no physical leads have been found by investigators since her disappearance, she is believed to be the victim of foul play.
Mahmood was initially assigned a 10 November 2003 court date in Islamabad, and made court appearances over the following four weeks. However, despite the ongoing legal process, his whereabouts became unclear by early 2004. He has not been seen or heard from since.
Williams disappeared after being arrested by Collier County sheriff's deputy Steve Calkins on 12 January 2004. The circumstances of his disappearance were similar to that of Felipe Santos, who disappeared after being stopped and arrested by the same officer three months earlier.
Murray, a nursing student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was last seen on New Hampshire Route 112 at the scene of a minor one-vehicle accident, in which her car was disabled after crashing into a roadside snowbank. Earlier on the day of her disappearance, she had lied to professors about a death in her family, stating that she would be absent from class for a week. A school bus driver who happened upon Murray's crash site stopped to ask if she needed help, and Murray declined. Upon returning home a short time later, the bus driver called police anyway, but by the time first responders arrived, 10 minutes later, Murray had vanished. Her keys, bank card, and credit cards have never been located, despite extensive searches of her abandoned car and the neighboring wooded areas.
Maitland vanished after leaving her job as a dishwasher at the Black Lantern Inn. Her car was discovered the next day, parked at an odd angle with its rear bumper smashed into an abandoned barn, about 1 mile (1.6 km) away. Maitland's belongings were found inside the vehicle, including a recent paycheck and her wallet. Authorities believe foul play to be involved in Maitland's case, and one theory is that she may have been smuggled across the nearby Canada–U.S. border.
Perryman, a husband and father of two, vanished without a trace after leaving his car in the driveway of his family's suburban Los Angeles home and heading out on foot. Family and friends suspected that he may have gone hiking in one of the local rural areas, but despite many areas having been searched by police and local volunteers, no trace of him has been found.
Kieffer, a French Canadian journalist who had long covered West Africa, was kidnapped from a shopping mall's parking lot. Remains found eight years later possibly belonged to him, but have not been conclusively identified.
Sneddon's disappearance near Tiger Leaping Gorge was a complete mystery, and the Chinese Government concluded that he drowned in Jinsha River, though no body had been recovered. However, in 2016, the Abductee's Family Union claimed to have found Sneddon in North Korea, where he became the personal English tutor for Kim Jong-un. The North Korean Government denies involvement in Sneddon's disappearance, and the U.S. State Department says that it has no verifiable evidence of this claim. Both the House of Representatives and Senate have unanimously voted to direct the State Department to reopen Sneddon's disappearance.
Cipriano disappeared in 2004. An investigation by the Polícia Judiciária, Portugal's criminal police, concluded that she had been murdered by her mother, Leonor Cipriano, and her uncle, João Cipriano, after witnessing them engage in incestuous sex. Her body was never found. Both suspects were convicted of murder based on apparent confessions, but later retracted their confessions, claimed that they are innocent and alleged police misconduct. Similarities to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann a short distance away in 2007 have been noted.
Asher, a model who was allegedly suffering from bipolar disorder, disappeared in controversial circumstances at Piha, west of Auckland, on 11 October 2004.
Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone Jr. disappeared after leaving a bar on Philadelphia's South Street on 19 February 2005. Imbo and Petrone, as well as their vehicle have not been located, and their cell phones and personal finances have not been accessed since their disappearance. The FBI is investigating the case as a possible murder for hire, but have named no suspects.
Piper disappeared in Foley on 10 March 2005. Piper's mother had dropped her off a mile from their home, allowing her to walk back on her own, an activity recommended by Piper's therapist. However, Piper did not return home that evening and has not been heard from since.
Jiménez Mota, a journalist covering organized crime and the Mexican drug war, disappeared under mysterious circumstances in Hermosillo. In November 2005, a suspect, Raul Enrique Parra, was brutally murdered.
Gricar, an American district attorney, disappeared on 15 April 2005. He had called his girlfriend, in whose house he resided, from his car, giving his location east of Centre Hall. His car was found the next day, but he has not been seen or heard from since. His family had him declared legally dead in 2011. In September 2013, a reputed former Hells Angels member told authorities that Gricar was killed by the gang as retaliation. In April 2014, the Pennsylvania State police were reported to be assuming lead investigatory role in the case.
Rahul Raju, a young boy from Alappuzha, went missing while playing with friends in his neighborhood. The case, which dominated media headlines since he disappeared, still remains a mystery.
Holloway, an American student from Alabama, was last seen before leaving a nightclub with three men, including Joran van der Sloot. She was declared dead in 2012, and van der Sloot was convicted of murder in the death of another young woman in Peru in 2010. In October 2023, Joran van der Sloot admitted to murdering Holloway in 2005.
Seymour, a New Jersey resident, was working as a sex worker in New York City. She called her parents to let them know she was meeting a client at the Port Authority and was not heard from again. Seymour's age, occupation, and the location of her disappearance are similar to the victims of the Gilgo Beach serial killings and she is considered a potential victim who was never found.
Rahma el-Dennaoui, a Lebanese-Australian girl, went missing on 10 November 2005. Despite a police search, and appeals to the general public, no trace of the little girl has yet been found.
Kesse was last seen leaving her place of employment. Her last phone call was placed to her boyfriend at 10 p.m. that night. Evidence suggests that she left for work the next morning, but was abducted while walking to her vehicle, which was later found in another nearby apartment complex. Security cameras had filmed her car being parked, but the face of the person driving was obscured by a fence.
Shirley Rosette and Gerald Foisy, a Canadian couple, were last seen onboard BC Ferries' MV Queen of the North before it sank after running aground on Gil Island. The couple did not make it to the lifeboats and are presumed to have gone down with the ship; however, their bodies were not located when the wreck was searched by a remote-operated submersible four days later, nor on another remote dive in June of the same year. One passenger also reported having seen the couple amongst the survivors in Hartley Bay during the rescue efforts; however, a search of the small Aboriginal community of 200 people turned up nothing. Rosette and Foisy also did not contact relatives after the incident, and have not been seen or heard from since. The couple remain missing, presumed dead.
Shaffer, an Ohio State University medical student, was last seen on security-camera footage apparently re-entering an off-campus bar shortly before its closing time. No other way was open to the public by which he could have left the bar. Police reportedly believed as of 2008[update] that he was still alive, and they continued to investigate at the time.
Durbin, a greengrocer and musician, disappeared under mysterious circumstances after a night out with his friends, Alex and Zach. After losing contact with Zach, and having left his belongings at Alex's house where he planned to spend the night, Luke was last seen crossing Dogs Head Street at approximately 4:00 a.m. BST in attempts to make his way back. The CCTV footage is the last positive sighting, before a suspicious vehicle later deemed to have fake registration plates is spotted in the vicinity minutes later. Luke has not been seen since.
Cadapan and Empeño, a community organizer and graduate student, respectively, were abducted by army personnel in a remote area on 26 June 2006, and have not been seen since.
Manneh, a Gambian journalist, is believed by human rights organizations to have been arrested in July 2006, and secretly held in custody. In 2019, it was reported that he had died at some point in mid-2008.
Zizzo, a high-ranking American mobster and reputed member of the Chicago Outfit, was last seen after leaving his home in Melrose Park, and has not been seen since.
Al-Saffar, a member of the Dawa Party and the then-Deputy Health Minister of Iraq, was kidnapped by a group of armed men who wore police uniforms. In the following years, two politicians were arrested, but later cleared on charges relating to his kidnapping, and he has been declared legally dead by his wife, who now lives in Britain.
A former intelligence officer and radio broadcaster who worked for Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines, a state radio station which was notorious for supporting the Rwandan genocide, Nkurunziza's whereabouts have been unknown since 2007.
The Iranian actor, monarchist, and founder of the Kingdom Assembly of Iran, along with two compatriots, vanished on the Turkish–Iranian border while on a mission to "liberate" Iran from the government. It is believed the three were detained by Iranian security forces.
A computer scientist renowned for his contributions to database research, Gray disappeared during a short solo boating trip to the Farallons (near San Francisco) to scatter his mother's ashes. A massive search effort failed to find his body, or any remains of his 40-foot sailboat. He was declared legally dead in 2012.
Sri Lanka Tamil journalist who disappeared after he was arrested by the Sri Lanka Army. He was rumoured to be held at an army camp but his current whereabouts are never confirmed.[228]
Levinson, a retired U.S. DEA and FBI agent, was last seen on 9 March 2007 on Kish Island in the custody of individuals who seemed to be Iranian intelligence agents. He had gone there to set up a meeting with Dawud Salahuddin, an American-born convert to Islam, ostensibly about securing the Iranian government's help in controlling the distribution of pirated American cigarettes in Iran. He was later revealed to be working for the CIA at that time, as well. In 2010, a video of him, somewhat emaciated, was released, in which he begs for help from the U.S. government for his freedom. The U.S. government has regularly raised the issue of his release with Iran as part of talks between the countries, but Iran's statements as to whether he still is in their custody or even alive have been contradictory, and Levinson is thought to be no longer under their control. His family announced on 25 March 2020 that he is presumed dead.
Stebic was last seen by her husband at their home, while she was waiting for a ride to the local track where she worked out. The couple was going through a divorce at the time, and police believe foul play was involved, having called her husband a person of interest.
McCann disappeared after being left asleep in the ground-floor bedroom of her family's rented holiday apartment, while her parents dined with friends at a local restaurant. No sightings of her have been confirmed since then. In 2014, Scotland Yard was reportedly looking at 38 people of interest, and researching the backgrounds of 530 known sex offenders, including 59 regarded as of high interest. In June 2020, the police in the German city Braunschweig identified a new suspect in McCann's disappearance, and stated that they now believe that she is dead.
Summers was last seen leaving a pool party. No verified sightings of her have been confirmed since then. In December 2018, her uncle was charged with rape, but has not been named a suspect in her disappearance.
Spouse and personal assistant to Scientology leader David Miscavige. Disappeared from Gold Base in June 2006. Was seen one last time in public at her father's funeral in August 2007.
Calayca, a Toronto daycare worker, disappeared while on a camping trip in Northwestern Ontario, and has not been seen since. The 17-day search triggered on the day she went missing is one of the longest ever undertaken by the Ontario Provincial Police. Investigators believe she became lost on a hiking trail, though her family contends she may have been abducted.
Ghinescu, a Romanian lawyer, was last seen on 30 August 2007, and her disappearance was made official on 5 September the same year by Cristian Cioacă, her husband and a policeman in Brașov. Though her body was never found, a few personal belongings and a blood-stained police uniform were found 8 October 2007 in a ravine. She was officially declared missing in 2009, and Cioacă was sentenced to 22 years in jail in 2013, after being arrested in 2012. She was suggested to have been murdered due to jealousy after she had an affair with an SPP officer in Dubai in August 2007, a few days before her supposed disappearance, the murder taking place in the bathroom of her apartment, according to neighbors. She was also supposedly going to be targeted by authorities for tax evasion.
Gosden disappeared from King's Cross station. He left his home in Doncaster to go to school, but never caught the school bus, and instead returned home when the rest of the household had departed. He changed out of his school uniform and then went to Doncaster railway station, withdrawing £200 from his bank account on the way there. At the station, he purchased a one-way ticket to London, despite being told that for an extra £1, he could have a return ticket. He was last seen on CCTV leaving the main concourse at King's Cross.
Peterson left her home at 11 a.m. on 28 October 2007 to help a friend paint a house, and has not been seen since. Her husband Drew, who was later convicted of murdering his previous wife as a result of evidence gathered during the investigation into Stacy's disappearance, has been suspected of killing Peterson as well.
Vadivel Nimalarajah was a proof reader for Jaffna-based Tamil daily newspaper Uthayan, which has been attacked several times by pro-government paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) for independent reporting. Earlier, two employees, Suresh Kumar and Ranjith Kumar, were killed after a Uthayan published a cartoon mocking Douglas Devananda, the leader of EPDP, and have been several such attacks. Four of its employees had been killed and its premises had been attacked several times in the previous two years.
Fitzpatrick was last seen in Spain while on holiday from her native Ireland. She had been babysitting with a friend on 1 January 2008, and left about 10:10 p.m. that night. Fitzpatrick never arrived home, which was only a short distance away, and she has not been seen or heard from since. Her case is still under investigation, and some evidence suggests a possible kidnapping.
Bergeron left her parents' home around 11 a.m. on 17 February 2008, ostensibly to go for a walk, leaving all her identification at home besides a credit card. She attempted to withdraw money from a nearby ATM, where security camera footage released later showed her looking nervously over her shoulder. Five hours later, she used her credit card to buy a cup of coffee in Saint-Romuald, 20 kilometres (12 mi) from her parents' house, which was the last confirmed sighting of her.
Fraley told a friend over the phone at 1:30 a.m. on 8 April 2008 that a male friend, whom she did not identify, was taking her to the hospital for the third time in 24 hours, to seek treatment for a stomach bug. She never arrived to the hospital and has not been seen since. Two days later, her discarded cell phone was found at a nearby intersection, but it did not yield any useful evidence. Two months later, her fiancé's father, who lived nearby and had given her one of her rides to the hospital that day, was revealed to have been a person of interest in her disappearance. This followed his death from heatstroke after he locked himself in the trunk of an ex-girlfriend's car, in what police believe was an attempt to ambush her. In 2015, a prison inmate serving time for murder wrote a letter to a local newspaper confessing to her murder; authorities do not believe it is truthful.
After attending a late-night party, Swanson drove his car into a ditch on a side road amid cornfields near his home. He called his parents for a ride; they searched for him near Lynd, 6 miles (9.7 km) southwest of Marshall, where he believed himself to be. While on the phone with his father, he suddenly said, "Oh, shit!" and the connection was lost, never to be regained. His whereabouts are unknown, though he has been suggested to have drowned in the Yellow Medicine River, or died of hypothermia.
Ablesh, a Uyghur political dissident, was detained in 2008 for criticizing the Chinese government's response to various disasters and treatment of Uyghurs. Although due to be released in 2011, Ablesh has not been seen since her imprisonment.
Ratcliffe was last seen near a hostel in Northern Quarter, after he was dropped off by his aunt to visit a homeless shelter in Longsight. Despite several searches over the years, no trace of him has ever been found.
Batista was a Cuban-American former army major who specialized in anti-kidnapping operations, helping negotiate nearly a hundred cases, predominantly in Mexico. While eating in a restaurant in Saltillo, he was kidnapped by unknown assailants, and has not been seen since.
Lawrence was last seen walking to her job as a chef. While some evidence suggested that she had fled to Cyprus, police have a growing suspicion that she is dead.
Arnold, an American poet, disappeared after a hike on the Japanese island Kuchinoerabu-jima. He is presumed to have died in a fall from a high cliff, but his body has not been found.
Stephan Sunthararaj was a child rights activist in Sri Lanka and provided information to the U.S. embassy in Colombo that: "Children are sold into slavery, usually boys to work camps and girls to prostitution rings, through Eelam People's Democratic Party's networks in India and Malaysia. Sunthararaj maintained that children are often smuggled out of the country with the help of a corrupt Customs and Immigration official at Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo. Sunthararaj was kidnapped just hours after he had been released from police custody while he was travelling in his lawyer's car on 7 May 2009 after he was exonerated by the court. He has been missing since.
Father Francis along with hundreds of Sri Lankan Tamils surrendered to the Sri Lankan army on 18 May 2009.They crossed the Vattuvagal bridge from rebel LTTE held areas and crossed into Sri Lankan government held area and they boarded army buses but were never to be seen again.
Sharpless was last seen by a friend she asked to get out of her car, after the two had been asked to leave a party due to Sharpless's increasingly belligerent behavior. A license plate reader in Camden, New Jersey, recorded a hit on her car's plates two weeks later, and the anonymous writer of a 2012 letter to a private investigator claimed they had taken the car to a chop shop after Sharpless was killed during a confrontation with a Camden police officer; the letter included the last five digits of the car's VIN and Sharpless's Social Security number, both of which were correct. Neither Sharpless nor her car has been found.
A human rights activist and employee of the Danish Refugee Council. Gaisanova was kidnapped in Grozny by armed men during a special operation headed by the president of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov. She is believed to have been murdered.
On the morning of 6 December, Powell and her two sons attended church services, and a neighbor later visited the family around 5 p.m. Powell was never seen again outside her immediate family, although her husband Joshua claimed he'd left her sleeping at home shortly after midnight on 7 December, while he took the children on a camping trip. Joshua Powell was a suspect in her disappearance, but despite circumstantial evidence, he was never charged, and on 5 February 2012, he took his sons' life and his own. Authorities also believed that Joshua's father Steven knew what had happened to Susan, but he died of natural causes in 2018. Susan's ultimate fate remains unknown, although before their deaths, Joshua and Steven both claimed that Susan's disappearance was connected to that of Steven Koecher in a nearby area a week later.
Koecher was last seen on surveillance footage walking away from his car, which he had just parked in a cul-de-sac in a retirement community in the large Anthem section of southern Henderson. Pings from his cellphone, gradually moving north, were picked up as late as two days later. Koecher had driven to the Las Vegas area from St. George, Utah, that morning for unknown reasons; his family believes that given his difficult financial circumstances, he was looking for a better-paying job, and intended to return later that day. Debit card records show that he had driven extensively around Utah and Nevada in the days before his disappearance for reasons that, despite a visit to a former girlfriend's family on one, are still not clear. Theories abound, from a voluntary disappearance to foul play, despite a lack of evidence suggesting any one; Susan Powell's husband and in-laws believed that her own disappearance a week earlier was connected.
Eknaligoda, a Sri Lankan political analyst and journalist, disappeared before the presidential polls took place in the country. At the time, he had been investigating the use of chemical weapons by the Sri Lankan army used against LTTE rebels in the Sri Lankan Civil War.
Bohling disappeared after his car was found in the car park for Bempton CliffsRSPB site. Police have assumed his case is a suicide or accident, though no body has been found. His family maintain that a third party was involved, as he did not have enough fuel to drive to Bempton from his family home in West Ella. A USB stick detailing the pornographic artwork and graffiti left on the walls of the former bunker of RAF Bempton was missing, and the trainers he supposedly wore that day were found in the family's holiday home even further up the coast after he had disappeared.
Renda, a member of the Rizzuto crime family, told his family he would be picking up steaks for dinner on his way back from a funeral, but he never arrived. He was presumed kidnapped after his car was found with the windows down and keys in the ignition along his route. The family believes he was killed in retaliation for his role in a 1970s murder; however, their 2013 attempt to have him declared legally dead was denied on the grounds of insufficient evidence. On 2 September 2018, the courts had reportedly declared Renda dead.
Horman, an American schoolboy, did not return from his school in northwest Portland on 4 June 2010. Multiple searches since that day have uncovered no evidence of his whereabouts.
Klymentyev, an investigative journalist and the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Noviy Stil based in Kharkiv, disappeared under mysterious circumstances and is presumed dead.
McDaniel, of Collierville, Tennessee, and a recreational scuba diver, was last seen 58 feet (18 m) under water while going into a cave that he was not certified to enter at Vortex Spring. His failure to return was not noted for another two days, and extensive searches found only two decompression tanks that were placed incorrectly and filled with the wrong gases, but no evidence of a body has been found in the spring. While his body still may be in an unexplored area of the cave, other theories include foul play that is possibly related to the suspicious 2011 death of Vortex Spring's owner, or a possible staged disappearance in the wake of McDaniel's recent marital and financial failures.
Schab, a Canadian rapper better known by his stage name "DY", was reported missing in Mexico on 18 November 2010. He has not been seen since leaving Canada in the middle of August.
Alessia and Livia Schepp are twin sisters who were picked up for the weekend from their mother's home by their father Mathias Kaspar Schepp on 28 January 2011. Their father was found dead a few days later, having apparently committed suicide. A suicide note he left suggests he killed them.
Pitzen was dropped off at school by his father James on 11 May 2011. However, he was picked up shortly after by his mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, who took him on a three-day trip to various amusement and water parks. She may have handed him off to unknown persons at some point during their trip; her vehicle was found to have been parked in a grassy field for a length of time during their trip, shortly after the last time she was seen with her son, and before she was found dead by suicide in a motel room in the nearby city of Rockford, Illinois, with a note stating that Timmothy was safe, but would never be found.
Spierer, a student at Indiana University, disappeared after a night of partying at a local bar. Spierer left a gathering at a housing complex alone in the early morning hours while highly intoxicated, and her disappearance generated national press coverage. In 2014, Spierer's parents filed a lawsuit against two individuals with whom Spierer had socialized on the evening before her disappearance, but a federal judge dismissed the suit.
A Druze-Syrian politician and Arab nationalist, al-Aysami helped with the foundation of the National Alliance for the Liberation of Syria in 1982. Despite retiring from politics in 1992, al-Aysami was kidnapped during a visit to Lebanon, allegedly on orders of Bashar al-Assad, and is presumed dead.
Disappeared at the age of 23 after attending an electronic music festival at Fort de Tamié near Albertville. Shortly before vanishing, Morin is known to have told a witness by the entrance to the festival area that he had to leave because somebody was trying to hurt him.
Lagerlöf, a Swedish director and screenwriter, disappeared at Tjurpannans Nature Reserve outside Tanumshede during preparations for the filming of Camilla Läckberg's Fjällbackamorden – Strandriddaren. The search for him was suspended after two days without result.
A South Korean mountaineer renowned for climbing some of the world's dangerous summits and trekking on both poles, Park and two team members went missing while descending Annapurna in Nepal after an aborted attempt at a new travel route there, and are presumed dead.
Metalwala was left in a parked car by his mother on the morning of 6 November 2011, after it supposedly ran out of gas. She was on the way to the hospital, where she claimed to have been taking him after he woke up sick, and when she returned, he was gone. Upon inspection, police found that the car had plenty of fuel left and was working properly. The police publicly expressed doubts about her story, as she and the boy's father were getting divorced, and she had just withdrawn from a mediated custody agreement that gave him visitation. The case was also noted to be similar to a recently aired episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and investigators have even questioned whether Sky was in the car that morning at all. While police have indicated they could charge the mother with child endangerment, they have declined to do so due to those doubts.
Reynolds disappeared under the supervision of her father at his home, and was discovered missing by his sister or girlfriend, both of whom were also in residence. The search for the 20-month-old was the largest missing-persons investigation in the state's history. Police have evidence from the house suggesting foul play and believe her to be dead; however, her body has not been found, and no arrests have been made.
Spollen, an Irish journalist for the International Herald Tribune, and formerly assistant foreign editor of The National in Abu Dhabi, was last seen on 3 February 2012 in Rishikesh. Around 11 March 2012, some of Spollen's belongings were found near a small waterfall halfway up the road to Phool Chatti.
Maharjan disappeared under unclear circumstances on 28 February 2012, supposedly because she owed a man named Nikki Singh money. While Singh was charged, he was later acquitted due to lack of evidence. As of 2021[update], the case remains unsolved.
Ilias Ali was a Jatiya Sangsad member and a Bangladeshi politician who disappeared also with his personal driver on 17 April 2012 after he left Dhaka. Neither of them have been seen or heard from since.
Plemmons, a Mexican-American freelance journalist and photographer working for the newspaper El Debate, went missing after covering a shootout between rival drug cartels in Nuevo Laredo. It is believed that a drug cartel might be responsible for his disappearance.
Leading Seaman Timothy MacColl of the Royal Navy went missing when the ship he was serving aboard was docked in Dubai. MacColl had gone out to the town, and was last properly accounted for when two of his shipmates put him into a taxi to take him back to HMS Westminster. He never reboarded the ship, and witnesses claim they saw him getting into another taxi to go back into Dubai. He was declared dead (presumed drowned according to the death certificate) in 2014.
Brazilian-born American industrialist, and part-owner of Israel's Beitar Jerusalem football club, Aguiar was last seen leaving his home. The next day, his fishing boat, the T.T. Zion, was found with lights on and engines running, having gone aground on a local beach with his wallet and cell phone on board. Two weeks of searches failed to find any trace of him, and he was declared legally dead in 2015.
Tice, a former U.S. Marine Corps officer and freelance journalist, was kidnapped while reporting in Darayya, Syria on 14 August 2012.[302] A 47-second video of Tice blindfolded and bound was released in September 2012. His whereabouts as of 2014[update] are unknown.
Cantlie, a British photographer and war correspondent, was kidnapped along with American journalist James Foley by ISIS militants. Unlike Foley, who was confirmed to have been beheaded, intelligence agencies believe that, as of 2019[update], Cantlie is still alive, and is being held as a hostage in Deir ez-Zor Governorate.
Sombath, a Laotian community activist, disappeared at a police post after having been stopped while driving his wife's car. CCTV footage showed a motorcyclist getting off his bike and driving Sombath's car away, and a white truck approaching and subsequently driving off with Sombath.
The metropolitan bishop and archbishop of the archdiocese based in Aleppo, respectively, the two clerics were abducted by ISIL militants during the Syrian civil war. Since then, neither has been located, and it has been alleged by an investigative reporter that both had been killed in 2016.
Polish mountaineer Berbeka disappeared with his companion Tomasz Kowalski on 6 March 2013 while descending Broad Peak in Pakistan. Their bodies were never found, and both were declared dead two days later.
Tobares, an Argentine chef, disappeared on 5 June 2013 while driving from Puerto Vallarta to Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. On 10 June, a co-worker and friend of Tobares' went to the Mexican police to report his disappearance, making Tobares the first Argentine to disappear in Mexico.
According to friends, Kelly left her campground in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, stating she was going on a "spiritual quest", removing her clothing and wandering into the forest with only a fanny pack containing knives, matches and a compass. She has not been seen since.
Basil disappeared from the Kuz Che Reservation after leaving a house party with her cousin and another man. Numerous theories exist surrounding her case, including animal attacks and being the victim of murder.
French woman Marie-José Benitez and her adult daughter Allison disappeared from Perpignan on 14 July 2013. Francisco Benitez, the husband of Marie-José and father of Allison, told police that they had traveled to Toulouse and switched their mobile phones off after a family argument, but no evidence shows that they ever left. Francisco Benitez committed suicide three weeks later after becoming the prime suspect. He was found to have led a double life involving numerous affairs, and a mistress of his had also disappeared under similarly mysterious circumstances in 2004.
Iranian mountain climbers Aidin Bozorgi, Pouya Keivan and Mojtaba Jarahi successfully completed climbing a new route on the Southwest Face of Broad Peak, Pakistan on 20 July 2013, which they had been working on since 2009. The group disappeared during the descent and are believed to be dead.
On the night of 8 August 2013, Lawson got into an argument with his girlfriend of ten years, Ladessa Lofton, about his recent drug relapse, and left to drive to his father's house. He was next heard from at about 12:30 a.m. on 9 August, where he called his brother, Kyle Lawson, asking for help, as he had run out of gas. Kyle picked up a can from Lofton's house, all the while keeping on a call with Brandon. However, Brandon would repeatedly hang up after only a few sentences, and claimed he was being chased. Brandon called 9-1-1 at about 12:50 a.m., again asking for gas, and claiming that he was being chased. After a few more phone calls with his brother, Brandon was no longer picking up, and neither Kyle nor a deputy on the scene were able to locate him. He has not been seen or heard from since.
Daniels, a theatre technician at Pensacola State College, left work early on 12 August 2013 after telling her supervisor that she would be taking the rest of the week off, as she had "some things to take care of". She returned to her home briefly afterwards, but was not seen by her housemate, who was on the phone at the time. Eight days later, her car was found in a Pensacola Beach parking lot, with witnesses reporting that they saw a man in red shorts get out of the car and open its tailgate on the day it was found. No other trace of her has been found despite extensive searches, but based on a description of a woman seen at a New Orleans-area restaurant who resembled her and had some similar behaviors, her family believes she was abducted and became a victim of human trafficking.
Early on the morning of 13 September 2013, Whitton, an unemployed drug addict on parole, was stopped for suspected shoplifting just short of the exit of the Marietta Walmart, an encounter recorded by the store's security cameras. She managed to flee, leaving behind her purse and footwear; she has not been seen since. Her family and authorities suspect her boyfriend, who served a long prison sentence for drug dealing; he is considered a person of interest in the case. He denies any knowledge of her whereabouts since leaving the store, which he himself left shortly afterwards to look for her, leaving about 20 minutes of his time unaccounted for (although records do confirm his later calls to hospitals and jails to find her). In January 2014, her half-brother claimed he had received a phone call from her.
Puga was kidnapped by who were believed to be organized crime gunmen on 3 November 2013 in Jiménez, Tamaulipas. Four days later, a police team was sent to the area to investigate, but were attacked, leaving three officers wounded by gunfire. He has not been seen since.
A human rights activist active during the Syrian uprising in 2011, Zaitouneh was kidnapped together with her husband and two colleagues by unidentified militants. Since then, it has been alleged that she has been killed, and investigations are still ongoing to determine whether Jaysh al-Islam members might have been involved.
Elvis has not been seen since a date dropped her off at her apartment. A half-hour later, she called her roommate, then visiting her own family in Florida, to tell her that a married older man, with whom she had ended an affair two months earlier, had just called. Her whereabouts since then have not been conclusively established, but cell phone records and video surveillance suggest that she might have spent the next two hours attempting to meet him somewhere in the area; her car was found on the next evening parked oddly at a local boat launch where her phone's last activity had been recorded. Her lover, Sidney Moorer, and his wife Tammy were also implicated; however, murder charges against them were dropped in 2016. Sidney's 2016 trial on the kidnapping charge ended in a hung jury. Sidney has since been convicted of obstruction of justice, and Tammy of kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap.
Rakchongcharoen, a Karen environmental and community activist, was last seen in Kaeng Krachan National Park. He was arrested at a park checkpoint by park superintendent Chaiwat Limlikitaksorn and four of his men for alleged illegally collecting wild honey in the forest. Three years earlier, in 2011, Rakchongcharoen had filed a lawsuit against Chiwat over the May 2011 destruction and burning of houses, and eviction of over 20 Karen families living in the park's Pong Luk Bang Kloy village, in the Huai Mae Phriang Sub-district of Kaeng Krachan District. No official records of his arrest or detention remain. Following Rakchongcharoen's supposed arrest, he was never seen again.
A Ukrainian journalist and advocate for Neo-Soviet policies, Dolgov was kidnapped and presumably murdered by a group of six masked men. His body has never been located.
Mittank, a German tourist on holiday in Bulgaria, was last seen at Varna Airport on 8 July 2014. He was last seen on security footage entering the airport with all his luggage, and later running out of the building in panic, leaving his luggage behind, then jumping over a fence and going into a nearby forest.
Tyrrell vanished while playing with his sister in the front yard of their grandmother's house in Kendall, New South Wales. Although police still regard it as an active case, no trace of the boy has been found. In 2023 they recommended charges against his foster mother for perverting the course of justice and interfering with a corpse.
Kingery was last seen in her home by her husband before he went out with one of their children to run errands on the morning of 20 September 2014. She had come home early from work, claiming she did not feel well, and atypically for her, left behind a note saying she was going for a walk and would return soon. Her purse and phone were left behind, along with her keys, which she would have needed to lock the house, as her husband found it to be open upon his return. Police consider her disappearance suspicious.
Selimovic and Kesinovic were Austrian teenagers who left their homes to join the militant Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). In April 2014, they were postergirls for ISIS in Syria. There are reports that Kesinovic was beaten to death when trying to flee Syria, and Selimovic has not been seen since that time.
An engineer and former Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Sim Chol-ho disappeared during a purge of government officials in October 2014. While it was reported that he was executed, this cannot be confirmed with certainty, and Sim remains classified as missing.
A former high-school basketball star and Harlem Globetrotter, Harris was last heard from when he called his girlfriend at their home in Seattle, Washington on the morning of 10 October 2014, to tell her he was going to the mountains to rest. At the time, he was north of Sacramento, California, at the midpoint of his drive back to Seattle from a visit to his family near Los Angeles. Four days later, his abandoned car was found at a park along Cache Creek. Video footage and photos on his cell phone suggest that he had arrived there sometime after his last phone call. Several possible sightings of him were reported in the area over the next week, and footprints were found near the location of his car that were large enough to belong to the 6-foot-9-inch (206 cm) Harris.
Swedish-born New Zealander John Breckenridge breached a parenting order and picked up his 11-year-old step-son while he was attending school. Over the following week they were located around the Catlins area of New Zealand, near Invercargill. Shortly after they were declared missing. Their bodies have never been found.
Rogers disappeared from her home, where she lived with her children and boyfriend, Brooks Houck. While her car was located a short while later, Rogers has never been found. The mysterious circumstances surrounding her disappearance on the property, and later the unsolved killing of her father, indicates she might've been the victim of a homicide. In 2023 her former boyfriend and another man were indicted on charges related to the case; police also announced the recovery of a gun possibly used in her father's death.
Cohen and Stephanos, both 14 years old, went out fishing in an eighteen-foot single-engine 1978 seacraft out of Jupiter Island marina. Shortly after they left, a large thunderstorm moved into the area, and contact was lost with the boys. The boat was discovered abandoned on 26 July 2015.
Kreimer, an Australian national living with her boyfriend in California, left her table at a restaurant during breakfast on the morning of 21 September 2015 to go to the bathroom. A friend who went there shortly afterwards did not see her; no one has seen her since.
Bali, a Canadian teenager, disappeared from her hometown of Yorkton, Saskatchewan, on 12 April 2016. She was last seen at a local bus stop between 1:00 and 1:45 p.m., and despite several reported sightings, no definitive clues to Bali's whereabouts have since been found.
Schiendelman, a 19-year-old man, disappeared after his vehicle was discovered abandoned on Interstate 5 in Washington. One witness saw his vehicle parked on the interstate shoulder that morning, and noticed a man resembling Schiendelman with two unknown men standing outside. Later that afternoon, Schiendelman's vehicle was seen by multiple witnesses crossing several lanes of traffic (with no apparent driver) before crashing into the center median; one witness reported seeing an unknown man exit the vehicle from the passenger door and run into the woods. Schiendelman's whereabouts remain unknown.
Etungat, an Inuit sculptor, disappeared on 29 June 2016, and was officially reported missing on 1 September 2016. Some of his belongings were found in August 2018, and police suspect that he died in a hunting accident, but his whereabouts are unknown.
Splinter is a German-South African spoken-word author and writer who mysteriously disappeared while she was in Vals, Graubünden, Switzerland in August 2016. Splinter has not been seen or heard of since.
McKeague, a member of the Royal Air Force Regiment, went missing in the early hours of 24 September 2016. Despite an extensive search and public appeals, no trace of him has been found.
A former North Korean government agent who defected to South Korea and worked at the National Intelligence Service. Following his retirement, he acquired a job at the Korea Gas Corporation. He disappeared while on a trip in China, presumably murdered by North Korean or Chinese intelligence operatives.
Ahmed, a first-year biotechnology master's student from Jawaharlal Nehru University, disappeared under suspicious circumstances from his college campus, and has not been seen since. Suspected to have been kidnapped by ABVP, the student wing of the ruling BJP government.
Social activist Amri Che Mat is alleged to have been abducted by the Malaysian Special Branch for criticising the Royal Malaysia Police. As of 2020[update], his abduction, as well as those of other activists, are under active investigation.
Koh, a Christian pastor, was abducted by a group of armed men, possibly due to his social activism, or for ransom. No trace of him has been found since his kidnapping.
Russian-Chechen singer Zelim Bakaev disappeared in Chechnya while on a brief visit to the region to attend his sister's wedding. He is widely believed to have been abducted, tortured, and murdered by the Chechen authorities as part of their systematic persecution of homosexuals.
Chinese billionaire Duan is believed to have been arrested on trumped up charges of corruption by the Chinese government, and is kept in detention without trial.
Gwanda, a journalist for Mwananchi Communications known for his publications investigating the murders of government officials and police officers by assailants on motorcycles, was allegedly abducted by a group unarmed men from his house in Kibiti, and has not been seen since.
Polish high-altitude climber Mackiewicz disappeared while attempting to climb Pakistan's Nanga Parbat mountain, together with fellow climber Élisabeth Revol. He was left behind after feeling sick during the climb, but later on, he nor his body were able to be located.
A Uyghur singer known for promoting the Uyghur identity and culture, Ayup was detained by police in Guma without any reason given. According to his brother, the Chinese authorities had arrested Ayup for his promotion of Uyghur and Turkic identities as a whole, and is being held at an internment camp in Xinjiang.
Starting from March 2018, there were emerging reports that women were disappearing in the area, and over 173 women and girls were missing, and allegations of torture and sexual violence were the center of attention in these case. Although an approximate 30 cases were solved, an estimated 109 females remains missing as of today.[366]
Georgina Gharsallah was last seen in her home town of Worthing on 7 March 2018. She was reported missing to Sussex Police on 17 March, and the major crime team took over the investigation on 26 March. Two men were arrested on suspicion of murder after her disappearance, but were later released with no further action. In August 2019, Sussex police announced that they were treating her disappearance as a homicide case.
The German-American son and heir of billionaire businessman Erivan Haub, and leader of Tengelmann Group, went skiing at the Matterhorn in Switzerland on 7 April 2018 alone, and did not return.
The Bulgarian zoologist and mountaineer was declared missing on 5 May 2018 while climbing Shishapangma. The search for him was discontinued on 16 May. According to other climbers, he may have fallen into a crevasse on the way to the top.
Pakistani poet, journalist, and blogger Mudassar Naaru vanished under unclear circumstances while sightseeing with his family and has been missing since.
Joseph Mifsud is a Maltese academic who was declared missing in September 2018. The media has claimed that he was in Rome as of April 2019[update], but this has not been proven. His whereabouts are unknown.
Thai political activist and former political prisoner Surachai was the last communist to be pardoned in Thailand, and has been in exile in Laos, following the 2014 Thai coup d'état. His spouse last heard from him in December 2018 when he was in Vientiane. The bodies of two of his aides were found in the Mekong river later that month.
Rebecca Reusch is a teenage German girl who disappeared from Berlin, Germany on 17 February 2019. She has not been seen since and is thought to have been killed.
Zhanxuan, a Chinese student activist, was last seen alive on 29 April 2019. According to eyewitnesses, he was abducted by State security agents on the outskirts of Beijing. He has not been seen since.
Od is a Lao human rights activist who vanished shortly after telling his housemate that he was returning home for dinner. Od was living in Thailand as a refugee, and human rights organisations have accused the Lao and Thai governments of playing a role in his enforced disappearance.
Alavez is a female American child who vanished on 16 September 2019 while near a playground, and is believed to have been kidnapped. As of December 2020[update], no trace of Alavez has been discovered.
Uyghur folk singer and composer Abdurehim Heyt was arrested by Chinese government agents in March 2017, for supposedly having anti-government sentiments in one of his songs. Turkish authorities confirmed that he was under house arrest on 25 July 2019, but as of October 2019[update], Abdurehim has not been located, and there are allegations that he was tortured to death.
Canadian man who disappeared after 17 November 2019 and whose truck was found burned near Pemberton, British Columbia six days later on 23 November 2019.
Ehler disappeared from his home while playing near a river. He has not been located to this day; his case generated public outrage over police response.
Wanchalearm Satsaksit, a Thai pro-democracy activist living in exile in Cambodia, was abducted by armed men outside his home in Phnom Penh on 4 June 2020. He has not been seen since.
39-year-old Cynthia Martyna Bah-Traore, a mother of two, was last seen near a gas station in Grandview, Texas, on the night of 3 February 2021. Her phone and vehicle were later recovered, though Bah-Traore herself remains missing.
Anna Zimmermann was kidnapped along with her sister, Olivia, by their biological father Tomás Antonio Gimeno Casañas, who allegedly murdered both at his house in Igueste de Candelaria. Olivia's body was found off the coast of Santa Cruz de Tenerife on 10 June, but Anna's body has not been found.
From May 2021, to roughly ten months later, around 34 cockfight major fans or participants disappeared without leaving any trace at all, in different locations of Luzon, Philippines, where they are believed to have gone to watch a cockfighting event. One of the people who had disappeared is known to have been kidnapped by a group of men in Laguna. None of the people who have disappeared have been located.
De la Torre, a young trans man, was last seen leaving his home in San Vicente heading to Alejandro Korn to meet a man who had offered him a job as a waiter.
Daniel Robinson was last seen leaving a job site in Buckeye, Arizona, in his jeep. The Jeep was later found crashed with some of his personal belongings about 3 miles (5 km) away.
Somali civil servant Ikran Tahlil Farah, who worked for the NISA cybersecurity department, was supposedly abducted and killed by Al-Shabaab militants. However, the group denied responsibility, and Ikran's body has not been located.
The father and his three children had previously been considered missing for 18 days in September 2021 before emerging from the bush unharmed. After Thomas was charged for wasting police resources, the family disappeared again on 9 December, with Thomas making one appearance to family on 9 February 2022 before disappearing again.
The unnamed mother and her three children were said since mid-April 2022 to live on a farm owned by actor Ezra Miller. However, children and their mother reportedly mysteriously disappeared and could not be located in August 2022 when the police attempted to serve the mother an emergency care order that would result in the children's removal from her care and from Miller's property due to safety concerns. Vermont police also said Miller's actions were consistent with an attempt to "evade service" of the court's order.
English rugby union player Davis was last seen on 29 October at a Barcelona pub, and reported missing in November when his former rugby club appealed for information on his whereabouts.
Ana Walshe, a Serbian-American real estate executive, disappeared on 1 January 2023, in Cohasset, Massachusetts. She was reported missing by her employer and husband, Brian Walshe. Despite Brian's claim of Ana's sudden trip to Washington, D.C., no flight or card transactions could be confirmed. Brian was later charged with murder and disinterring a body without authority, following discovery of incriminating evidence at their home and in his search history. She has yet to be found.
Thuzar Maung, a Burmese human rights activist living as a refugee in Malaysia, was last seen on 4 July 2023 entering into a Royal Malaysia Police car with her husband and children. The vehicle was subsequently identified as not being an official police car, and the family have not been seen since.
Samantha Murphy is a 51-year-old Australian woman who disappeared from Ballarat, Victoria on 4 February 2024, while going on a morning jog, in the forest near Ballarat, and has not been seen since.
^"Trésors Cachés – Alain Kan" [Hidden Treasures – Alain Kan]. brain-magazine.fr (in French). 22 February 2012. Archived from the original on 9 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
^Brown, Andrew (2004). Labour, Politics, and the State in Industrializing Thailand. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. pp. 102–104. ISBN978-0-415-31862-4.
^Chakma, Shantimoy; Preetha, Sushmita S (14 January 2013). "CID probe vexes all". The Daily Star. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
^Fanning, Diane (2006). Baby Be Mine: The Shocking True Story of a Woman Who Murdered a Pregnant Mother to Steal Her Child. New York: Macmillan. pp. 166–180. ISBN978-1-4299-3683-5.
^Wright, Tim (September 2010). "The 727 that Vanished". airspacemag.com. Air & Space Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 May 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
^O'Brien, Matthew (2010). My Week at the Blue Angel: And Other Stories from the Storm Drains, Strip Clubs, and Trailer Parks of Las Vegas. Huntington Press. p. 212. ISBN978-1-935396-41-3.
^"纽约时报:段伟红事件牵涉温家宝，抑或孙政才？" [The New York Times: Duan Weihong incident involves Wen Jiabao or Sun Zhengcai?]. Deutsche Welle (in Chinese). 8 February 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
^Harris, Rachel (11 June 2018). "Uyghur pop star detained in China". Freemuse. Archived from the original on 14 September 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2019. Ablajan disappeared in February, on his way home to Urumchi following a recording trip in Shanghai, reported the Financial Times on 21 March 2018.
^"View The Data". Missing Afrin Women Project. 24 June 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
