One of the small bits of good to come out of Latoyia Figueroa’s disappearance was that it engaged bloggers both here and abroad, and made many of us acutely aware that Latoyia was only one of many missing persons whose stories needed to be publicized.
Philly blogger Pax Romano, along with British bloggers Taz and Piggy, came up with the idea to have bloggers set aside one post on the first Monday of every month in order to publicize a missing persons case in their area. It’s called Missing Monday. Other Philly bloggers participating in Missing Monday can be found here.
Blogs are perfect vehicles for spreading the word on missing persons cases. All it takes for one of these cases to be solved is for the right pair of eyes to catch sight of a familiar face.
If you blog, please consider joining us.
I’d like to focus on two cases today. The first is a Pennsylvania case:
DOB: Jan 30, 1990
Missing: May 2, 2005
Height: 5′9″ (175 cm)
Eyes: Brown
Race: White/Hisp
Age Now: 15
Sex: Male
Weight: 130 lbs (59 kg)
Hair: Brown
Missing From:
ALLENTOWN
PA
United States
Alfred was last seen on May 2, 2005. He may be traveling with a male companion and an adult female companion. They may still be in the local area, or they may have traveled to Reading, Pennsylvania. They may be traveling in a white Honda Civic with Florida license plates X66JVU. Alfred may use the alias first names Christian or Cris, or the alias last name Campos.
ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)
Allentown Police Department (Pennsylvania) 1-610-437-7753
The second case involves children who were separated from their caretakers in the New Orleans airport after Hurricane Katrina:
Lyndell:
DOB: Sep 3, 1993
Found: Sep 4, 2005
Age Now: 12
Sex: Male
Race: Black
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: Unknown
Weight: 43 kg (95 lbs)
Found:
NEW ORLEANS
LA
United States
Demarco:
DOB:
Found: Sep 4, 2005
Age Now: 4
Sex: Male
Race: Black
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 91 cm (3′0″)
Weight: 27 kg (60 lbs)
Found:
NEW ORLEANS
LA
United States
These are pictures of children who became separated from their caretakers by Hurricane Katrina. They were picked up from the New Orleans airport on September 4, 2005. They were in the company of their cousin, Johnny Robinson, who is also featured on www.missingkids.com. Lyndell has scars on both his knees.
ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST) or contact NCMEC Cold Case Review Unit at 1-877-446-2632, ext. 6235 or 6295
Louisiana Missing Childrens Clearinghouse - 1-225-342-8631
I found all of these cases on the website of The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which has a page devoted to connecting children missing after Hurricane Katrina.
More Katrina-related missing persons links (via Disenchanted Forest):
- Craigslist: New Orleans Lost & Found
- Nola.com’s forums
- WWL-TV’s forums
- WDSU-TV’s message board
- Hurricane Katrina Survivors
- N.O. Pundit bulletin boards
- Now Public’s missing persons board
- Salvation Army information request form
- Slidell Hurricane Damage Blog
- U.S. Next of Kin Registry
- Hurricane Katrina message boards
- Katrina Family and Friends
- The Sun Herald “Reach loved ones”
- The Weather Channel message boards
- Pearl River County Katrina survivors
- Hurricane Katrina Survivors
- GCN Survivor-Connector DataBase
- Hurricane Katrina Connection
- Pensacola News Journal forums
Again, if you blog, take a good look at those faces, and please consider joining Missing Monday.
One post on one day a month. Surely, that’s not too much to ask.
7 Comments on "Missing Monday"
Angie:
I have on my blog the codeamber alert running across. As well as whenever I come across any article that has a missing child I post about it. Doesn’t matter where that child is located and under what circumstance, I run a post on it.
So basically I guess what I’m saying is that this is an ongoing this for me. Not just a Monday thing. But a everytime I see an article on another child has been taken or missing thing.
Matt:
That’s amazing, Angie, and I laud you for your efforts. But many well-meaning people struggle to keep track of many worthwhile issues. “Missing Monday” certainly doesn’t accomplish everything that needs to be done, but it will do something if enough people join in.
the smedley log » Blog Archive » Missing Monday: Chrisoula Gabranidis:
[…] The Tattered Coat […]
ol cranky:
Angie:
There are a couple of us for whom this is more than one Monday/month. While we all post missing children (pity even some cable news outlets don’t even cover amber alerts even when they know the child is endangered *cough* Fox *cough, cough*), what we’ve found is that even local/regional media provide little, if any coverage for missing adults. It’s not too hard to get people to cover a child believed to be kidnapped, but getting the quick and necessary attention for an adult’s disappearance seems to be pretty damned difficult to say the least. Additionally, if there’s no success with more timely coverage, bringing a cool/cold case back to the forefront may also help garner some publicity (as well as helping the families get the story out) that could potentially be helpful.
If you’re curious as to why some of us are making a bit of a big deal about this, please check out the following:
I have a dream
Missing Monday
Adult Missing Persons: A difficult protocol”
Kelly Jolkowski:
Thanks to those of you who help with our cause. I publish stories about missing people and related issues each and every day.
Chris McElroy:
I’m happy to find out about Missing Monday. A great idea. I do it all the time, but thats because I participate in the searches for missing and abducted children.
Seeing others involving themselves and giving some time to these children is very heartwarming.
I’ll promote missing monday on my blog at http://kidsearchnetwork.blogspot.com and on my website at http://www.kidsearchnetwork.org
It would be nice to have you make a post about it in the Kidsearch Network Forum I just started. The link to the forum is on the blog.
Chris McElroy:
I just posted about Missing Monday in my Blog and linked over to you for them to read where I found the info. Thank you.
http://kidsearchnetwork.blogspot.com/
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