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One moment they're there. The next, they've vanished. Hundreds of thousands of people go missing in the United States every year. Sometimes, it's a case of the person deliberately disappearing but other times, there's something a lot more sinister at play.

Take Nancy Guthrie, for example. The mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie is believed to have been snatched from her bed in the middle of the night. Months later, her whereabouts are still unknown, and no arrests have yet been made. The mystery proves that none of us are ever 100% safe, even in our own homes. Someone asked, "What missing person case in America feels like a straight-up internet horror story?" and many of the responses read like the stuff nightmares are made of.

Bored Panda has put together a list of some of the most bone-chilling ones. There's the story of the woman who got abducted from a payphone booth while on a call with her fiancé, the 9-year-old girl who walked out of her house at 3am during a thunderstorm, and plenty of others that might have you sleeping with one eye open.

#1

A pig on a farm, a seemingly unrelated image to symbolize the chilling randomness of missing person cases. Not America but Canada. All of the missing women whose remains were found at the Pickton pig farm. That story is the most disturbing thing to happen in my area.

shellsandsnails , Tadeja Pavšič / Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Breadcrumb.
Community Member
15 hours ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He attempted to m****r a s*x worker who stabbed him back and broke out of the hand cuffs, she than ended up at the same hospital as him with the hand cuffs still on one arm. The police show up and literally have to get the key from his pocket to unlock the hand cuffs but he was set free.

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More than 500,000 people go missing every year in the United States alone. That's according to data from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), a resource center for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases across the country.

NamUs' site notes that between 2021 and 2025, an average of 532,727 missing persons records annually were entered into the National Crime Information Center. It adds that many individuals reported missing are found alive and well, but some become long-term missing persons. Then there are those found deceased but unidentified.

"Over 11,000 sets of unidentified human remains were held in medical examiner and coroner offices throughout the U.S. according to the 2018 Census of Medical Examiners and Coroners," reveals NamUS. It's a scary statistic.

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    #2

    A young woman sitting in a car, looking out, illustrating the feeling of being vulnerable in missing person cases. Martha Leanne Green - she was picked up by her twin brother from work, but they run out of gas just a half mile up the road. A nice family pulls over and offers to take them to get gas. Her brother goes with them, but she decides to stay in the locked car and wait for him to return. In the nine minutes it took to get gas and return to the car, she vanished.

    memedison , wirestock / Magnific (not the actual photo) Report

    Sven Horlemann
    Community Member
    2 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    According to newschannel5: "The search was launched by the Dickson County Sheriff's Office. It grew into a large investigation involving multiple agencies including the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the FBI. Hundreds of searches have happened as well as interviews. A Florida inmate, Robert Richards, confessed to murdering Leanne, but no evidence connected him to the scene. He was never charged, and was later stabbed to d***h in his prison cell."

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    #3

    A forest path representing a location connected to missing person cases that still terrify people years later. Asha Degree.

    9 year old girl walks out of her house around 3am with a backpack and just starts walking down the road in a thunderstorm. Multiple cars pass her, but when a motorist tries to help, she runs into the woods. Never seen again.

    Investigators find some of her belongings the next day, but no leads. A year and a half after she disappears, her backpack is found wrapped in trash bags and buried at a construction site.

    No new leads until 2024 when some new search warrants were issued. Still no trace of her.

    nanavb13 , shaplovevg / Magnific (not the actual photo) Report

    Mari
    Community Member
    15 hours ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    If the weather was bad, maybe someone accidentaly hit her with a car and concealed her body. Poor girl

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    According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, nearly 30,000 children were reported missing in 2024 alone.

    The Federal Investigation Bureau (FBI) says that about 90% of those cases were resolved, adding that a vast majority of missing children cases turn out to be runaways. Despite this, investigators are trained to treat each case as a missing minor and possible abduction until they learn otherwise.

    #4

    Three kayaks on a riverbank, hinting at a water-related missing person case investigation. Nancy Ng. 

    She's the same age as me and from my hometown. She went on a yoga retreat with a bunch of people in Guatemala. The group rented kayaks and went out on a lake. Everyone returned on their kayaks except her, and immediately flew home. All of them are refusing to speak on the matter.

    Exciting-Fee4754 , akophotography / Magnific (not the actual photo) Report

    Barbara Hill
    Community Member
    15 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They are covering for who ever harm her. Bunch of scum bags. and why did the cops let them leaves ?

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    #5

    A building with a large SCIENTOLOGY sign, linked to high-profile missing person cases. Shelley Miscavige

    The whole scientology thing is weird but this is peak weird.

    NewsZestyclose2849 , Alexey Taktarov / Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

    Upstaged75
    Community Member
    14 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This one comes up every time. I really hope she's in hiding somewhere, but the reality is that David probably has her locked up in one of his compounds. Or worse. 😥 No one has seen her in public since 2007.

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    #6

    This is a Canadian one but Amber Tuccaro, she was a first Nations woman who was kidnapped when she was hitchhiking a ride from Edmonton. 

    She was on a call with I believe her cousin(?) and you can hear she starts realizing the man is taking her from where she was wanting to go, she starts asking him where he's taking her and he tries lying to her then the call gets dropped. That's the last anyone has heard or seen of her, and people believe she was a victim to an active serial criminal that's been preying on women from Edmonton.

    Ok-Cup-5372 Report

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    Children go missing for various reasons. Some are taken by a person known to them, such as a parent, other relative, or family friend. Others run away to meet an online acquaintance or to escape their home life. Then there are those reported as missing in order to cover up horrific crimes.

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    Some children, especially babies, are kidnapped by people who want to raise them as their own. There are also cases of very young kids, or those with developmental disabilities, wandering off and getting lost. And there are children who get snatched by complete strangers.

    #7

    A young man in a red and white shirt, representing a missing person case that still terrifies people years later. Jason Jolkowski. He left his home in broad daylight to go meet his friend a few blocks away but never showed up and was never seen again. There has literally never been a trace of him found between the few blocks he was supposed to walk that day. No camera footage, no clothing, no witnesses. He just walked out of his house and was never seen or heard from again.

    unicorns3373 , Unknown Report

    Dogfacedboy1980
    Community Member
    8 hours ago

    This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

    He'll show up at his parents door in about 20 years and just say, "Tada"!

    #8

    It's always going to be Shannon Sherrill for me. A little girl out playing hid and seek with neighborhood kids and she just vanished. I don't buy the serial k**ler story. I think something far worse happened to her.

    will_write_for_tacos Report

    astheshadowsfall
    Community Member
    14 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It's so sad that there are worse fates than serial m****r. Our species has come so far, yet has so much further to go. The majority are doing fine, but we need a better way to police the abbhorant.

    #9

    An old green payphone in the dark, symbolizing a mysterious communication point in missing person cases. Angela Hammond. I saw this case as a kid on Unsolved Mysteries and never forgot it.

    In 1991, she was abducted from a payphone booth while on the phone with her boyfriend. He heard her screaming and also heard the voice of the person who is presumed to have kidnapped her.

    So her boyfriend hops in his car and starts racing toward where she is. At some point on that route, a truck passes by headed the opposite direction and he hears her screaming from the truck. He attempts to turn around to chase the truck, but his car breaks down. She's never been found.

    sanityfordummy , Yurei (Yann A) / Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

    Mari
    Community Member
    15 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The police thinks it is possibly a case of mistaken identity. a CIs daughter also named Angela had been threatened before the abduction.

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    The FBI's Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) Team steps in when a child is believed to have been abducted by a stranger. They're ready to deploy at a moment's notice.

    "Rapid is part of the team's name for a reason," reads the FBI's site. "When a child is missing, time is a central factor."

    There are number of reasons why... Based on past cases, as well as interviews with victims and perpetrators, the FBI warns that children abducted by for the purpose of a*****t are usually harmed within minutes of the abduction.

    #10

    Black and white portrait of a smiling woman, a missing person from a cold case. Jodi Huisentruit

    Jodi was a news anchor in 1995. On the day of her disappearance, a coworker called Jodi at 4 AM when they noticed that Jodi was late for work. Jodi answered the call and said she had overslept, but was on her way. She never showed up. When police were called, they found signs of a struggle outside her apartment near her car including a bent car key and her shoes, leading them to believe she had been abducted.

    It’s been over 30 years, and she’s never been seen or found. It’s still an active investigation.

    saddiesnow , Unknown Report

    John O'Donnell
    Community Member
    4 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The police are fairly sure they know who did it, but don’t have the evidence.

    #11

    An overflowing dumpster with cardboard boxes and a cat resting nearby, evoking urban missing person cases. Diana Vicari

    Just learned about her story, basically she vanished one night and they found only her arms in a dumpster, still unsolved.

    YellowLabbyLab , Magnific (not the actual photo) Report

    Ravenkbh
    Community Member
    2 hours ago

    This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

    I find this one a little disarming (giggle)

    #12

    A police wristband and evidence marker number 1 on the ground, suggesting investigation of missing person cases. DeOrr Kunz Jr. ‘is a 2-year-old boy who vanished on July 10, 2015, from the remote Timber Creek Campground in Lemhi County, Idaho. Despite a decade of extensive searches and investigations by authorities, the case remains open and unsolved with no trace of the child ever found’

    Being a parent of a 2 year old right now, I can’t even begin to imagine what that child went through. How scared he must of been. I hope the case is solved in my life time.

    foxxsinn , Nik / Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

    "Time is also critical in recovering the abducted child alive," says Special Agent Jenifer Sparks, who leads the FBI's South Central CARD Team. Sparks reveals that historically, in cases where children are abducted and not found alive, 74% pass away within three hours of being taken. 90% don't make it to 24 hours.

    Thankfully, the FBI says child abductions by complete strangers are rare. "In roughly 19 years, the CARD Team has deployed for 225 child abductions, an average of 12 a year," notes the agency.

    #13

    Stack of newspapers representing old missing person cases and news archives. Combo of three:

    * Johnny Gosch, 12 years old, disappeared while delivering the Des Moines Register on September 5, 1982 at
    42nd Street & Marcourt Lane, West Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.

    * Eugene Martin, 13 years old, disappeared while delivering the Des Moines Register on August 12, 1984 at
    Southwest 12th Street & Highview Drive, Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.

    * Marc Allen, 13 years old, disappeared while going to visit his friend on March 29, 1986 at Emma Ave, Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.

    Overall distance, 13 miles, and a 23 minute drive between each. Gosch disappeared exactly a 4 minute drive away from the Interstate 80 and Interstate 35 interchange. While Martin & Allen disappeared just a short mile away from each other.

    CTeam19 , Andrej Lišakov / Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

    Gingersnap In Iowa
    Community Member
    15 hours ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I was just 13 when these disappearances started happening. I grew up about 60 miles from Des Moines, Iowa.

    #14

    A white car at night, possibly linked to missing person cases, with its taillight glowing red in the dark. Jennifer Kesse. Someone was caught on video parking her car about a mile away from her apartment the day she went missing but because of the poor quality, their face is blocked by fencing in every single frame. Super creepy that this person was recorded the day of the incident but they got so lucky and have still never been identified.

    christameff , Claude Gabriel / Unsplahs (not the actual photo) Report

    #15

    Brian Shaffer. Walking into a bar with only one exit and completely vanishing from security footage.

    echobranch7 Report

    If your child ever (God forbid) goes missing, you should call your local law enforcement agency immediately.

    Provide them with your child’s name, date of birth, height, weight, and descriptions of any other unique identifiers such as eyeglasses, braces or scars. Explain when you noticed your child was missing, what clothing they were wearing, and any other important details that could help with the search.

    "Request law enforcement authorities immediately enter your child’s name and identifying information into the FBI’s National society/">Crime Information Center Missing Person File," adds the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's site.

    Never miss a story that brings joy to the world. Follow on Google News

    #16

    A lone figure walks down a dark, narrow alley illuminated by a single streetlamp, hinting at mysterious missing person cases. Lindsey Baum. Kidnapped from McCleary, WA 16 years ago while walking home from a friend’s house. Super small sleepy town, so it truly shocked the community. My family was on the way home from the coast after it happened and police were stopping and searching all cars, so it’s stuck with me for years. They found partial remains in Eastern WA, but no one’s ever been convicted. Hoping her family gets closure one day.

    callapitters , Martin Baron / Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

    Upstaged75
    Community Member
    14 hours ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They DID find her remains. They just don't have any suspects for who k.illed her. 😥

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    #17

    The Springfield Three. Suzie Streeter and Stacy McCall were friends and had just graduated high school in Springfield, Missouri. They were staying at Suzie’s house, and when a third friend showed up the next day for a planned meetup, everyone was gone, including Suzie’s mother, Sherrill Levitt. All of their belongings were still in the house, including purses, clothes, cigarettes, etc. Outside of a broken porch light, nothing was out of place and there were no signs of a struggle. Suzie, Stacy, and Sherrill have not been seen or heard from since.

    Gazzarris Report

    #18

    Michael Negrete. Living in a dorm at UCLA on a music scholarship. On December 10, he had attended a party with friends on the floor he lived on, and had subsequently returned to his room. He then played an online video game with a friend in another room. At 4 AM, the game finished, and he left his room to congratulate the other player. He was last seen by the friend returning to his own room, and was never seen again. When Negrete's roommate woke up at 9 AM, Negrete was gone, but his clothing, shoes, wallet, keys and musical instruments were still there.

    He was my husbands friend in high school. I don’t understand how someone disappears completely from an extremely full college dorm never to be seen again. I really hope his family gets answers one day. I think about it all the time.

    venusdances Report

    If you're in the United States, once you have called the police, you can also call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST® (1-800-843-5678).

    If your child goes missing at home, experts at that center advise that you search through closets, piles of laundry, in and under beds, inside large appliances, inside vehicles (including trunks) and anywhere else that a child may be able to crawl or hide.

    If your child goes missing in a mall or in a store, notify the store manager or security office. Then immediately call your local law enforcement agency. "Many stores have a Code Adam plan of action in place," reveals the center.

    #19

    A line of young children with backpacks, walking together, reminding of vulnerability in missing person cases. Kyron Horman. 2010. 7 years old and disappeared from his elementary school in Portland. His disappearance launched the largest criminal investigation in Portland's history. Lots of theories around his step-mom, Terry.

    MC_Etchasketch , notethanun / Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

    #20

    Andrew Gosden. UK 2007. He faked off from school and bought himself a one way train ticket to London. Where he was last seen exiting King Cross Station never to be seen again.

    Professional_March54 Report

    Mary Kelly
    Community Member
    28 minutes ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    this sounds like a runaway situation

    #21

    A smartphone lying on a wooden table, symbolizing communication in missing person cases. Nolan Wells. Literally unfolding in Mississippi right now. Black teen boy goes missing on trip with all white friends. They all returned without him, have his phone, and claim they didn't know anything. After a day they said he stayed behind (without his phone) because he met up with some other friends, including a girl he liked. One of the boy's mom is a judge who somehow is allowed to review and weigh on on this ongoing investigation. His body still hasnt been found.

    Almost no mainstream media coverage. The amount of people who have pointed out that if a white boy went missing on a trip with all black kids...the story would be so different and it would be everywhere.

    EDIT: Thankfully, his body has recently been found, but his "friends" stories still don't add up.

    BexRants , farknot / Magnific (not the actual photo) Report

    Upstaged75
    Community Member
    14 hours ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It's total BS to call this a racial crime without knowing the facts. It seems like he was drinking and accidentally drowned. And this case has been all over the news - mostly with people jumping to conclusions about it being a racial crime. 🙄 I don't blame the kids for retaining lawyers! They've already been convicted in the court of public opinion before there's even any evidence. Also, it was one of the friends who called Nolan's parents when they couldn't find him.

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    #22

    Susan Cox Powell.


    While she has never been found, this case ended up turning into a horror story. Her husband was the main suspect, and he ended up taking himself and their kids out in a gnarly m****r s*****e. His father also had a bunch of sketchiness involved with this case also.

    fcfromhell Report

    #23

    Erica Baker from Dayton, OH. On February 7, 1999, Erica's father dropped her off at her mother, Misty Baker's, house at approximately 3:00pm. Around 3:30pm, Erica had asked her grandmother, Pam Schmidt, if she could take her Shih Tzu out for a walk.

    At first, she was uncertain, but eventually let her go. A long time had passed and she hadn't returned. At around 4:30pm, her dog was found alone dragging its leash, but Erica was nowhere to be found, and she has not been seen or heard from since. Her fate and whereabouts remain unknown.

    They are pretty sure that she was hit by a van with some d*****d out people in it. They supposedly took her and buried her but can't remember where. They've tried many times to find her grave.

    The main suspect confessed to hitting her. He had two people with him, they were high. One of the people with him was uncooperative with the police and later died from a d**g o******e. The police were pretty sure she had told her attorney about it, but her attorney claimed client/attorney privileges. She even refused to testify after her client had passed. She still refuses to this day to tell what her d**d client might have known about where the girl is buried.

    In 2011, Erica Baker's grandmother, Pam Schmidt, picked up the only man ever convicted in the girl's disappearance, Christian Gabriel, from the Mercer County Jail in Ohio. Schmidt did this hoping to persuade him, as a grandparent, to reveal where Erica's body was hidden. Christian Gabriel served six years in prison for tampering with evidence and gross a***e of a corpse but never led police to her remains.

    Christian Gabriel was found guilty on one count of gross a***e of a corpse and one count of tampering with evidence.

    In the search for Erica's body, Gabriel took investigators to Eastwood Lake, Huffman MetroPark and finally to Caesar Creek State Park. In July 2004, he told Kettering Police that he and three others were in a van when they struck Erica in the street. The other three buried her at Huffman MetroPark.

    Four months later, his story changed. He was in the van with just one other person, Jan Franks, and they buried the body in a different location.

    Three months later, his story changed again. This time he said he did not own a van at the time of her disappearance. Erica's body has never been found.

    Kyttengyrl Report

    #24

    Stacy Peterson. Fourth Wife of Drew Peterson (Illinois police officer). Drew’s third wife, Kathleen, was m******d in 2003, presumed to have died by accidental drowning in a bathtub a few months after their divorce, eventually Drew was found guilty of Kathleen’s m****r in 2012. For Stacy Peterson, she went missing in 2007 with zero leads or ideas where she went. So sad to be a fourth wife and second presumably k****d by the same man.

    Huge-Engineering-839 Report

    #25

    For me, it's the disappearance of Paul Skiba, Sarah Skiba, and Lorenzo Chivers. Paul owned a moving company where Lorenzo was his employee, and his daughter Sarah joined them on a job but they were never seen again. Paul was actually supposed to be off that day but the night before a different employee asked for it off so he could assist with planning a funeral. So whatever happened to them must have been a spur of the moment thing.

    Based on the evidence found in the moving van Paul & Sarah are likely deceased, but there was no sign of what happened to Lorenzo. There's a significant amount of circumstantial evidence pointing at Paul's fiancée and her family; she was pregnant and Paul was not 100% sure the child was his, her sister was dating Lorenzo but he was trying to reconcile with his wife, and the fiancée's brother tried to get money out of Paul's estate as well. But some people think Lorenzo k****d Paul & Sarah and has been on the run since. It's just so strange for 3 people to go missing, and so tragic since it seems like they most likely met with foul play.

    MoonMakeover Report

    #26

    Yuba County Five has always been a complete horror story in my mind. All those crazy things about them just dying by a roadside and the one guy who went into a shed and lived for months without eating, despite there being food.

    mrwriter1701 Report

    #27

    Brandon Swanson. May 14, 2008, he was a 19 year old who drove his car into a ditch late at night after being at a party. He got out and called his parents and they started driving to his location. But they couldn't quite find him or his car. Still on the phone, he suddenly yelled. "Oh, s**t!" and went silent. He's never been seen or heard from since.

    Kansai_Lai Report

    Upstaged75
    Community Member
    13 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This guy was near a river and most likely fell in while walking in the dark.

    #28

    Kenny Veach

    Avid hiker who, reportedly, found a cave shaped exactly like the letter “M” in Nevada. Tried approaching it, but his entire body started shaking violently making him retreat. He tried multiple times to go and find the exact cave again and again. Eventually one day he just never came back.

    -Pl4gu3- Report

    Upstaged75
    Community Member
    14 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Kenny had some mental issues and his girlfriend thinks he took his own life. The area he was supposedly looking for the cave is very remote desert, so it's also possible he had some sort of accident.

    #29

    This was a Cracked article and I can't remember his name, but a guy was on his phone at night after his car broke down, saying to whoever's on the other end of the line that he's cutting through the desert and walking towards the lights of a city. The call goes d**d, and although they find his car broken down along the side of the road, it's in the remote desert and there shouldn't be any "lights of a city" to walk towards.

    thispartyrules Report

    #30

    Daniel Robinson from Buckeye Arizona. The incompetent police work, his weird behavior, and the staged crash scene just don't add up. I feel bad for his father. He's looking really hard for his son but he still doesn't have any answers.

    extreme_snothells Report

    #31

    The Yuba County Five. Such a strange case.

    chance125 Report

    #32

    Disappearance of Lauren Spierer.

    20-year-old Indiana University student vanished after a night out with friends in Indiana. Surveillance footage and witness accounts traced her movements during the early morning hours, but she was never seen again.

    Personally I think the group she was with did something to her, or she accident OD and they freaked out.

    Chessh2036 Report

    #33

    Almost guarantee there will be a movie about the Nancy Guthrie case. It’s got all the elements - famous daughter, scrutiny of possible family involvement, ransom requests, TMZ involvement, corruption of the Sherrifs Office, and the fact that it hasn’t been solved yet makes me feel like that may be the tip of the iceberg.

    zuis0804 Report

    #34

    Not a single disappearance, but the Starlight tour m*rders in rural Canada come to mind. The police would pick up indigenous people, many of them drunk, and would drive them out into the middle of nowhere in Canadian winter. It only became reported on when one of the people survived and walked back to their reservation. The reporting about it came out on.... 9/11/2001. As you can imagine, it was buried by bigger news stories pretty swiftly.

    We may not have proof of similar practices in the US (that i'm aware of anyway), but the amount of missing Native American men and women suggests that something nefarious is still going on to this day.

    MItrwaway Report

    #35

    I think about dane elkins, who went missing near me, all the time. junior olympian + engineering student; i feel that he must have been under so much pressure that he developed psychosis during covid :(.

    flightoftheladybirds Report

    Upstaged75
    Community Member
    13 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Apparently he had some sort of mental break. His mother thinks he's living off grid with the homeless somewhere.

    #36

    Amy Mihaljevic, a 10 year old girl from Ohio, who went missing in 1989 after heading to a store after school one day. After talking with her friends, investigators found out that a man had been calling her house claiming to be her mother's friend who wanted help in buying her mom a present for a recent promotion she got at work. IIRC she and her friends rode their bikes to a strip mall and the friends saw her walk over to meet a man but they have little to no description of him.

    She was later found in a field with a really odd, obviously home made blanket and/or curtain.

    The weirder part in all this is other kids had said, both before and after Amy was abducted, that they also received phone calls from a man claiming to be a family friend and that he would either have information that only the family would know or would know a decent amount about the family that the kids would assume he did actually know their family.

    They've never been able to locate origin of the calls or the man who did it though.

    mrsjs15 Report

    #37

    Canada, but Lilly and Jack Sullivan. I'm from Nova Scotia and it's something that we all collectively carry daily even after a year. It just makes no sense.

    muddertung Report

    Elladine DesIsles
    Community Member
    13 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The most likely explanation is that this is a tragic case of two young children wandering off and getting lost, in dense forest with rough terrain and waterways. Many people are inclined to blame the stepfather, but the known timeline makes it pretty much impossible for him to have harmed the children without their mother, and probably also his mother, being aware of it, if not involved. Given that they split up immediately after the kids disappeared, it's hard to believe that their mother would still be protecting him, or that they wouldn't have turned on each other. There were rumours that she had orchestrated the whole thing and had them hidden away with relatives in an Indigenous community, but the logistics of keeping that from authorities, and the fact that she'd have been separated from them for over a year now, makes that highly unlikely (if less grim than their probable demise in the wilderness).

    #38

    Diamond and Tionda Bradley.

    Vanished from their apartment in Chicago 25? years ago.

    Suspicion fell on mom's boyfriend, but he has never been arrested.

    Geekygreeneyes Report

    #39

    The Maura Murray case. She crashes her car on a dark rural road and disappears with no trace despite years of online sleuthing and creepy theories.

    chipychakchuk Report

    Upstaged75
    Community Member
    13 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yeah, this one is weird and worth reading about if you're curious.

    #40

    Genette Tate 1978 - disappeared aged 13 in the middle of her newpaper delivery round and has never been found. Chatted to some friends then cycled off and they discovered her bike laying in the road about 5 mins later. It's suspected that she was grabbed by serial k**ler Robert Black - after he was caught about 15 years later.

    aliceathome Report

    Cee Cee
    Community Member
    14 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Aylesbeare, Devon. Robert Black wasn't charged as he died during the investigation. UK's longest missing person case. RIP Genette.

    #41

    Not USA, but I will say it anyway. The children of Bacabal in Brazil, it happened early these year I think. 

    These 3 kids simply disappeared and only one of them was randomly found a few days later in the middle of the forest and literally no one has a clue of what happened. The one who was found was a kid with autism, and i can't help but to think they "let him go" simply because they wouldn't be able to make him comply.

    No one knows what happened and this incident happened in a brazilian Quilombo. Quilombos are independent Brazilian communities that originated from enslaved people that were able to escape in colonial times. 

    They are still missing, we have no idea what happened. I do believe they are alive but I'm pretty sure these 2 black brazilian children are not okay and that breaks my heart. They were 6 and 4.

    Additional-Pepper346 Report

    #42

    Samantha Koenig.

    A man kidnapped her from an ice cream shop or diner that she worked at very late at night when she was working alone, s*xually ab*sed her, and m******d her the very next day. Weeks later, he returned to the shed where he had hidden her body, staged her corpse by sewing her eyes open, took a "proof of life" photo next to a recent newspaper, and used it to successfully demand 30k ransom from her family before fleeing.

    I watch a lot of true crime so nothing shocks me anymore but that one had my jaw on the floor. The photo is so chilling.

    _BillyBumbler_ Report

    Pollywog
    Community Member
    13 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Israel Keyes was responsible for her and several others. He did everyone a favor and took himself out in 2012.

    #43

    Serenity Dennard. Little girl who went missing from a troubled girls home in the black hills in South Dakota. Very strange story. She roamed away and the people in charge there waited like an hour to search for her. Gone without a trace. I was friends were her biological parents (she was adopted by the time she was missing). So sad. And still no one knows what happened like at all.

    fanofclutch Report

    #44

    The disappearance of Brian Shaffer. It genuinely feels like an internet horror story. A med student walks into a crowded bar in Columbus, security cameras clearly capture him entering, but there's no footage of him ever leaving. Hundreds of people came and went that night, police searched extensively, and yet he was never found. Every explanation has a major hole in it, which is why people have been obsessing over it online for nearly two decades. It's one of those cases where the more you read, the stranger it gets.

    No_Biscotti_5815 Report

    #45

    Gloria Ramirez. She went into the ER and her body gave off noxious fumes, that it poisoned quite a few staff on that day. If I remember correctly, she was trying to have chemo at home using over-the-counter products that were similar to chemo ingredients. Could you imagine?! Working in an ER and having no idea why you succumbed to noxious vapors?!

    TheCheshireCatCan Report

    #46

    Johnny Gosch. And with everything that's come out about epstein, Paul Bonacci's stories don't seem so far fetched anymore.

    Prince87Charming Report

    #47

    **Sandra Johnsen Hughes. She went missing in Bass Lake, CA; a small lake town approx. 1 hour drive east of Yosemite NP.**

    **On 07/2/2020, Sandra’s camp site was found thrown around by hikers; the hikers thought a bear attack occurred and report it to rangers. Rangers found Sandra’s wallet, birth certificate, and passport and then contacted her family. Her parents said they had not seen her since 06/29/2020, but reported she was supposed to be in bass lake/Yosemite area camping; she was an outdoor enthusiast.**

    **On July 4, 2020, Sandra was reportedly sighted hiking on the** Chiquito Trail in the Serrias just above bass lake; hikers noted she had a blank look on her face but no signs of obvious distress. They asked is Sandra needed help but she denied.

    On July 5, 2020, Sandra wrecked vehicle at the Chiquito trailhead near Yosemite NP Witness said it was a slow speed impact into a tree. Passersby attempted to help or see if she was hurt; Sandra denied all help and appeared be distance and seemed to ignore them. Witnesses stated Sandra hung around her car for awhile then just walked off into the woods.

    A sleeping bag matching the description of Sandra’s sleeping bag was found 3 days after accident about 2.5 miles for the accident scene.

    NP rangers and local authorities organized a mass search of the Serria park and Yosemite NP area; fearing Sandra suffered a head injury and was now lost. The search continued until massive Creek Fire burned throughout the search area. Search was suspended.

    On August 9th Sandra was reportedly seen by two hunters driving on a remote fire road in the Serria’s, just above Bass Lake. The area had recently just been burnt down by the creek fire.

    The hunters stated she didn’t attempt to wave them down for help or appeared to be in distress. Yet, The hunters noted Sandra was significantly thinner when they saw the pictures of her before she went missing.

    One yeah later, in 2021, Sandra was seen by a young boy and his parents were camping near a meadow in the Bass Lake; not too far off from Sandra initial campsite. The boy told his mom that there’s a woman in the meadow that needs help. The boy said she was hurt and she need help. The mom and dad searched the meadow and did see anything. The parents initially wrote it off, but the boy would stop, adding the woman told him her body wasn’t far from there. That spooked the parents and they left.

    Few weeks later the mom was on Facebook with her son over her shoulder when they randomly saw Sandra’s missing poster on community board. The boy yelled that was the lady from the meadow, saying she was the one that was hurt.

    The mom reportedly freaked out because they have never seen or heard of Sandra before this time. The mom reported this to authorities.

    Don’t remember what happened after that but still strange story. I’ve been in those mountains so many times and they can get eerie.

    Joe_cool_beans Report

    kaycee14
    Community Member
    14 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    She took her passport and birth certificate to go camping?

    #48

    My husband. Jon Ganz went missing April 5, 2025 in Thomasville, Missouri. He had been using Gemini for 13 days, suffered a psychotic break, and fled our Airbnb. Last time I ever saw him. I tried to get law enforcement to ping his phone and they refused, said they didn’t consider him endangered since he was eating and bathing. His car, along with all of his belongings inside - including cell, wallet, keys, etc) was found at the Thomasville Restaurant and Eleven Point River. After I recovered his car and gained access to his phone there were 39 chats. He believed he had found a cure for cancer, solved the Riemann Hypothesis, built an app to eradicate poverty, and was working on climate change. At the time we were constantly being pinged with flooding and tornado warning notifications. He said AI had told him the flooding was going to be catastrophic and we needed to leave to go rescue my stepmom in another state. I was still recovering from food poisoning acquired on our trip and told him to get my stepmom and bring her back to the Airbnb. To this day I wish I had let him take my car which had an AirTag inside. And I could have found him that way. Or if I had simply just left with him so I could have been present with him to talk with him regarding the paranoia that had developed so quickly.

    I still wonder if he met with foul play. As was told by a LEO to a friend of mine, “Everyone has guns here.” Kinda an odd statement when we were trying to obtain an update on the case. A lot of things just don’t add up. He didn’t walk off into civilization. Ranch land, the Ozarks, and the Eleven Point River. Nothing of him has been found. And all the cadaver dog teams kept getting canceled. Odd, right?

    EmbeddedWithDirt Report

    Upstaged75
    Community Member
    13 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Gemini is a chatbot. Sounds like it played into his mental illness.

    View more comments
    #49

    The disappearance of Jason Jolkowski.

    He was a 19-year-old from Omaha, Nebraska who disappeared on June 13, 2001. That morning, his car was in the shop, so he was supposed to walk about 8 blocks (10-15 minute walk or 0.5mi) from his home to Benson High School. It was so that he can meet a coworker who would give him a ride to work. He was working at Fazolis at the time.

    He was last seen at home helping his brother take out trash cans. After that, he left on foot in broad daylight through a normal residential neighborhood. This was around 10:45am.

    Jason was supposed to meet his coworker at the school approximately around 11am. When his coworker tried calling his younger Brother around 11:15–11:30 AM to see where he was, Jason couldn’t be reached. He was never seen or heard from again after leaving his house, and there’s no confirmed evidence of what happened during that short walk.

    What makes it stand out is how ordinary everything was. He had no known enemies, no signs he planned to disappear, no financial issues or activity suggesting he left voluntarily.

    He was literally just walking a short distance in a normal neighborhood during the day, and then there’s a complete gap where no one can place him after he left his driveway. That’s why it gets mentioned so often in discussions that it’s not that something dramatic had happened, it’s that there’s almost nothing to explain what *did* happen.

    The only downside was that the Police didn’t really investigate until 10 days later. During the investigation, they’ve showed the school’s security cameras and it showed he never made it to the school.

    Ever since and now 25 years later, nothing has ever surfaced.

    OptimalFox1800 Report

    #50

    Maura Murray.

    Her car was found in the side of a New Hampshire road in the kids of the night in a snow storm. Neighbors and other passersbys saw her..... and then she just vanished. Gone. No signs of her anywhere. No body. No evidence.

    Just weird.

    Magerimoje Report

    #51

    Jodi Huisentruit from Mason City, IA. On her way to work at a news station. Never seen again. Found some of her personal belongings outside her car.

    odie1963 Report

    #52

    Tabitha Tuders, this story haunts me because it was local for me but she was just walking to her bus stop and vanished. This happened in like 2003, I know someone that went on to work for the Nashville PD who said the general attitude is this is a very solvable case and they are confident someone is withholding information but wouldn't/ couldn't tell me more.

    Every couple of years I get this random fierce burning passion to solve her case somehow from the internet.

    AlmondJoyDdos Report

    #53

    Kevin Nguyen from Ft. Wayne, IN

    He just vanished without a trace in the middle of the city. They found his glasses in an Arby’s parking lot and that was it.

    Emiwuiii Report

    #54

    Amy Bradley. Vanished from cruise ship, witnesses coming forward years later reporting meeting her strung out & disheveled in a brothel & a public bathroom asking for help & telling them her name. A woman's photo was found on s*x worker website, her parents identified the unhealthy looking sad woman as their daughter, Amy Bradley.

    Extreme_Notice_8119 Report

    Lukas (f​u​ck/tra​ns​pho​b​es)
    Community Member
    Premium
    13 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    From Reddit: "Almost certainly a s​ui​cid​e which the parents covered up. She was dep​ressed because she'd recently been through a bad breakup, her parents were extremely controlling and homophobic and refused to accept the fact she was a le​sbi​an (her dad wrote nasty letters to Amy's ex-girlfriend). Amy vanished from the cabins she was sharing with her parents, in the space of minutes, with her dad asleep only a few feet away. She'd pushed a table up against the edge of the balcony, there were fresh footprints on the table, and her handprints on the balcony rail at exactly the position you'd grab a rail to climb over. The man who claimed to have been approached by Amy in a b​r​ot​hel didn't come forward until years after the alleged sighting, and only came forward after Amy's case became famous. Talk to anyone in law enforcement, any case that becomes high profile generates a ton of fake sightings from nuts who want proximity to fame." (continued)

    View more comments
    #55

    Kendrick Johnson. 17-year-old black male, Valdosta, Georgia. Found rolled upon a wrestling mat, vertically.

    The GBI determined he fell in the mat trying to retrieve a shoe. A private autopsy showed he died of blunt force trauma to the neck.

    How do you fall into a rolled up mat? With BLUNT force trauma? From padding?

    Tiny-Watercress7122 Report

    Upstaged75
    Community Member
    13 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This has been proven to be an accident. Someone threw his shoes inside the mat and he was trying to get them. People d.ie from positional asphyxia all the time. His family just doesn't want to accept it.