W
Sometimes, I find myself in a bit of a conundrum when I see indications that a missing person may have been located, but am unable to verify it and have to make a judgment call.
I recently classified Mary Belle Henley as located, based on information posted by her family. I trusted it. They’d made a Find-A-Grave page for her and explained how she had indeed left voluntarily, remarried and died of natural causes in Florida.
But sometimes I’m not so sure. I’ve been told that Christopher Bridgeman also left his family behind. He apparently remarried and had more children, before abandoning that family too. In a reddit thread, that second family claimed that Christopher had died under a different name after starting yet another family, and that it’s been confirmed with DNA. However, the first family responded, disputing this claim and saying he has not been found. He’s still listed on Namus, Charley Project and Doe Network as missing. So he’s still listed as missing here too.
Someone commented not too long ago on my article about Judy Jurgens. The commenter said she was found deceased many years ago, but only recently identified. But she’s still listed everywhere as missing.
Then there are the ones who mysteriously disappear from Namus. I never am sure what to do with those. Doe Network will often add these to their resolved cases, indicating that the person has been removed from Namus and no further information is available. However, I know for a fact that cases are removed from Namus when they haven’t been found. Sometimes their Namus profiles reappear, sometimes they don’t. So the fact that they’ve been removed isn’t enough to convince me that the person has been found.
Lois Darnopuk is one example of a case that is no longer in Namus, something I became aware of after someone commented on the article, letting me know. Soon after, someone claiming to know the family replied and said Lois is still missing. I do recall that NYPD hadn’t been willing to take a missing persons report and the LE contact in Namus was a lab in Washington DC. She may have been removed partly because there’s no police report.
Doris Scandalis is another that I know of who was removed from Namus at the request of a family member, but is still missing.
Michael Alfinito was removed temporarily due to an error (law enforcement lost the file) and is now back.
Desiree Lenahan was also removed and I have no idea why.
Andrew Karis is also no longer on Namus without explanation.
I’ll be honest, I tend to trust the families of the missing more than I do law enforcement to actually know what’s happening. Families aren’t likely to confuse cases or have glitches, typos or any other of the issues that occur with software and large government agencies. The problem is that I can’t verify that people posting online are actually family members. If someone online says they were found AND they’re removed from Namus without explanation, that’s generally enough for me. But when it’s just one or the other, it’s hard to know.
But there are enough of these questionable ones that I felt it warranted a quick post to share that these people might have been found.
Continue reading...
I recently classified Mary Belle Henley as located, based on information posted by her family. I trusted it. They’d made a Find-A-Grave page for her and explained how she had indeed left voluntarily, remarried and died of natural causes in Florida.
But sometimes I’m not so sure. I’ve been told that Christopher Bridgeman also left his family behind. He apparently remarried and had more children, before abandoning that family too. In a reddit thread, that second family claimed that Christopher had died under a different name after starting yet another family, and that it’s been confirmed with DNA. However, the first family responded, disputing this claim and saying he has not been found. He’s still listed on Namus, Charley Project and Doe Network as missing. So he’s still listed as missing here too.
Someone commented not too long ago on my article about Judy Jurgens. The commenter said she was found deceased many years ago, but only recently identified. But she’s still listed everywhere as missing.
Then there are the ones who mysteriously disappear from Namus. I never am sure what to do with those. Doe Network will often add these to their resolved cases, indicating that the person has been removed from Namus and no further information is available. However, I know for a fact that cases are removed from Namus when they haven’t been found. Sometimes their Namus profiles reappear, sometimes they don’t. So the fact that they’ve been removed isn’t enough to convince me that the person has been found.
Lois Darnopuk is one example of a case that is no longer in Namus, something I became aware of after someone commented on the article, letting me know. Soon after, someone claiming to know the family replied and said Lois is still missing. I do recall that NYPD hadn’t been willing to take a missing persons report and the LE contact in Namus was a lab in Washington DC. She may have been removed partly because there’s no police report.
Doris Scandalis is another that I know of who was removed from Namus at the request of a family member, but is still missing.
Michael Alfinito was removed temporarily due to an error (law enforcement lost the file) and is now back.
Desiree Lenahan was also removed and I have no idea why.
Andrew Karis is also no longer on Namus without explanation.
I’ll be honest, I tend to trust the families of the missing more than I do law enforcement to actually know what’s happening. Families aren’t likely to confuse cases or have glitches, typos or any other of the issues that occur with software and large government agencies. The problem is that I can’t verify that people posting online are actually family members. If someone online says they were found AND they’re removed from Namus without explanation, that’s generally enough for me. But when it’s just one or the other, it’s hard to know.
But there are enough of these questionable ones that I felt it warranted a quick post to share that these people might have been found.
Continue reading...