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Lots of factors go into missing persons cases
Photo
Foley
By JOE GORMAN
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown Police Chief Rod Foley is re-examining his department’s missing- person cases after the discovery of three women in Cleveland earlier this month who had been missing for more than a decade.
As Foley ordered his detective division to comb through its files of missing people, detectives in other departments said they take several elements into account when investigating missing- person cases. Often, cases of missing adults and juveniles are treated differently.
A person’s family history may play a part in why he or she is missing. A history of mental problems or drug or alcohol abuse also will be considered, officials said. Also factored in is whether a person wants to be found.
Missing people have been in the spotlight since the three women were found in a Cleveland neighborhood May 6. They had been missing for nine, 10 and 11 years.
The discovery turned a spotlight on how police handle missing-person investigations, with some criticizing Cleveland police for not searching harder for the women after they first went missing.
Foley said the case made him re-examine his own department’s files, and police found 10 cases that were unsolved dating back to 1988. Of those 10, two people have since been found dead: James Donofrio, 64, who was missing since Sept. 25, 2011, and whose body was identified in April more than a year after it was discovered in the Ohio River near Clarington; and David Jackson, 26, who went missing in November and whose remains were found on the East Side in February.
Of the remaining cases, one person is believed to have been murdered, and the remaining seven are considered missing, Foley said. Also being reconsidered are 22 juveniles who have been missing for more than a year and a half, Foley said.
“Cleveland made us take another look at what we were doing,” Foley said.
Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Tom Stewart said the first thing he does when investigating a missing-person case is enter the person into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NAMUS, which was used to identify Donofrio’s remains.
If dealing with a juvenile, after 30 days, family members are required to provide dental records, which can be entered into the database, Stewart said.
But Stewart said an adult who does not want to be found can usually do a pretty good job of remaining hidden.
Stewart said investigators will check in with family members every so often, but when leads are exhausted detectives have no choice but to move onto another case and hope they catch a break.
“The sad thing is sometimes there’s not much you can do,” Stewart said.
Warren police Lt. Jeff Cole, who heads the department’s detective bureau, said in most cases with juveniles, they are not missing but have run away from home, and police will take a report and have the family sign off on it when their missing juvenile returns.
If an adult is missing, investigators try to learn the person’s history, such as any substance-abuse problems or family turmoil.
“Every case is different,” Cole said. “You have to look at those factors.”
Sometimes, people with bad family situations will report a person missing but will leave out some details because they are embarrassed, Cole said.
“You investigate what you can,” Cole said. “But at some point there’s nothing you can do.”
Austintown police Lt. Jeff Solic said when he starts an investigation, the first thing he wants to know is the person’s mental state before he or she disappeared. He also said he has to determine if the person is really missing or if they just decided to drop out of sight for a while.
“There’s a difference between hiding and missing,” Solic said.
Foley said homicide detectives in his department are assigned missing- person cases. He said an experienced investigator will know after a while if a person has met with foul play or has gone missing.
There also comes a point sometimes when a person is found by police who wants no one to know where they are. If that’s the case, Cole said he will ask the person to call whoever filed a police report, and will tell relatives that they found the person and they are in good shape, but they do not want anyone to know where they are.
Foley said he has had that experience as well.
Solic said if someone does not want to be found, they avoid leaving clues, such as using credit cards to pay for food or gas. He said if someone keeps things simple, police will have a hard time finding them.
Foley said those with close families often have someone in regular contact with the police. “If they’re a tight-knit family, they’re calling you every day,” Foley said.