Tens of thousands of people go missing each year across the US, leaving behind a large hole in the lives of those who their lives touched. It is often the not knowing that is most difficult for the families of missing persons, unable to find any sense of closure to the mystery.
One person recently asked Reddit, "Redditors who were a 'missing person' what's your story?" So, I have gathered some of the most interesting, heartbreaking, and shocking answers for you below.
"Took off to clear my head about failing marriage. Contacted wife two days later, she filed missing persons. Went abroad and when I came back, got stopped by customs. They let me go and cleared the missing persons' report. Nothing too exciting. Dick move on my part for not telling her I was going off-grid." — dryless
It can be natural to feel like just dropping off the grid from time to time, but it is important to remember the feelings of those we leave behind in such instances.
"My sister once had the entire neighborhood, the police department, and God knows who else out looking for her. It turns out, she had crawled behind the sofa and fell asleep on top of an air conditioning vent for about 5 hours. My mom went inside as the sun started to go down, and sat down on the couch to cry. My sister then crawled out from behind the couch, and started petting her on the head asking her what was wrong" — Bangbangsmashsmash
Your sister had one hell of an excellent sense of timing!
"I had a manic episode and went on a spontaneous trip and blocked everyone’s numbers. Don't ask me why. I now know I have bipolar disorder and generalized anxiety disorder and have gotten help." — smith__time
Everyone can go through dark periods when dealing with mental illness, and it's good to know that this person got help in the end.
"Was never reported but my dad once forgot me at a café in the mid-90s during a time when local police were looking for [Marc Dutroux]. Because everyone was paranoid at the time, my mom had made me learn my full name, my address, our phone number and my parents' work phone numbers by heart and so when people realized that I was alone they were able to call my mom at work. Shortly after my dad showed up absolutely horrified. He had forgotten that he’d taken me with him." — Thr0wmeawayalready
Marc Dutroux was a man convicted of the abduction and rape of five young girls in 1989. However, he was released after three years and then arrested again in 1996 on suspicion of having kidnapped, tortured and sexually abused six females aged between 8 and 19.
"Not me, but my brother was missing for around a year. He'd disappeared before, but only for a few days --he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and would often get delusional--but this time he didn't turn up. We live in NYC and my parents had no idea where to look for him.
"A year later we got a call from a hospital in DC. My brother had been picked up on the street, nearly dead from malnutrition. He'd gone to Washington to warn the government about something or other. He often refused to eat, believing his food was poison and lived on the streets for a year." — jew_biscuits
"When I was 8 my brother caught me kiss Superman through the TV. I got so embarrassed I hid behind my wardrobe in my room and fell asleep for a VERY long time. Woke up and the police had been called, my parents had been searching everywhere. Oops." — Livvydoll_
I fundamentally despised the Christopher Reeve Superman films as a child, so I can understand your embarrassment at having been seen expressing any positive emotion towards those terrible, terrible movies.
"I was briefly stolen as an infant from a certain amusement park. I was apparently eventually recovered in an area that an infant couldn't have gotten to on its own, up a steep flight of stairs. They found me on the tip of a woman sitting by herself in the amusement park who wouldn't look them in the eye, and who simply pointed to where I was while refusing to speak." — Maniacademic
If I got that "tip" from a woman acting that suspiciously, I wouldn't have let her out of my sight either!
"Got tired of my dad kicking the sh*t out of me so I ran away at 15. KSP found me less than a week later drunk as f**k in the train yard by where I lived. Dad was pretty upset but he got sober and stopped being a dick after that." — TheKentuckyRifleman
"When I was young, probably about 6 I think, my family went on vacation to Yosemite. We stayed in a small cabin at a campground. I met another kid who was a bit older than me, and we went exploring. Apparently we went a bit too far and eventually ran into a bear cub. We just stood and stared at each other for a few minutes and went our separate ways.
"When I got back to the cabin, I found out that park rangers had been out looking for me because my parents had no idea where I was. For some reason, they didn't think my bear story was as cool as I did." — SonOfDadOfSam
I think your bear story is pretty cool, but at the time I can imagine it being very not cool for your parents.
"My friends and I were staying at a beach hotel for a bachelorette party and after a night of drinking one of the girls got mad and started arguing [...] I decided to take a walk instead of listen to it, but no one realized I left.
"I ended up walking down the beach and stood in the water, and I remember very clearly thinking 'you've been drinking; going swimming at night in the ocean is a BAD idea.' So I walked back up and fell asleep on a beach chair. Sometime later I was found by my friends, who had called hotel security and the cops." — teenytinyducks
We have a friend who always ends up disappearing at least once whenever we go on holiday, so I can sympathize with your friend's plight!
"In 6th grade, I got caught cheating on my spelling test in class. We did everything out of this little book. When my mom was driving me home I sat in the back seat and we started arguing. Eventually, my mom threw the book at me in the back seat and said something along the lines of 'why do you do these things you little b*tch?'
"I tuck and rolled out of the car and ran as fast as I could. I just wanted to get away from her. She called the police and it wasn't long till they found me a few hours later hiding at a playground sobbing." — operachick209
No child should be forced to the point where they feel the only option they have is to tuck and roll out of a moving car. Hopefully, they're doing better now.
"I was walking home from school when I blacked out. I apparently never made it home and I woke up/was found a week later in the costume shed at my high school." — Ali-Bell
Something of this magnitude would suggest something akin to a psychosis. You should definitely consult your doctor about something like this should you experience it yourself!
"I (hardly 1 year old) was 10 minutes away from having an Amber alert on me when I was kidnapped by my grandparents. They were babysitting me and kept me for two days nowhere to be found. Then right before the alert came out they filled for emergency custody and won the case. They then raised me very poorly for eight years until I could live with my mom." — SlavK-ntSolaire
What a horrific situation to be caught in. If they were raising a child poorly after the fact, it begs the question as to how they won the custody case in the first place.
"I got lost at Knott's Berry Farm because I wanted to shake hands with one of the characters. When I turned around to find my parents, they had disappeared. Then I got a nosebleed.
"Security found me. I asked the security guy what would happen if my parents couldn't find me. He told me that I would be sent to the children's hospital and if my parents never claimed me eventually I might find a foster home or adoptive parents if I was lucky. Thankfully, my dad found me". — TenterMusic
And the award for worst security guard ever goes to this guy!
"My mom thought I was missing once because she forgot she had sent me to my room several hours earlier and I fell asleep (under my bed, who knows why)... I woke up to an empty house and turns out she had the whole damn neighborhood out looking for me..." — StreberinLiebe
Can you imagine trying to explain that to all of the people that you had roused up for a manhunt?
"One I was like 8 I ran away from my mom in a clothing store and hid in the racks of clothes and when an employee found me they asked 'are you insert name here' to which I replied with 'nope' and she actually left me there lol" — EEbunny
Now that is some thorough detective work from the sales assistant right there, clearly missed their calling as a police officer.
"My parents stopped talking to each other since I was 5 but they still lived together.
One day, my father took me (9F at the time) to go shopping with him. We came back to find all the neighbourhood looking for me and screaming my name, well...my mother was relieved but my parents had their 1245543th fight again. This could have been avoided with one phone call. I wish they could just divorce." - AerisRuby
Unfortunately, it often happens that "staying together for the kids" doesn't do them as many favors as it may seem.
"It was my first day in kindergarten, I was supposed to go to the after school day care but I lost the note saying I was supposed to. So the teacher shoved me on the the bus and told the bus driver where I lived (not sure if that's actually how it went down but regardless they made me leave)
The bus drops little 5 year old me off at home. All the doors are locked and my mother wouldn't even get out of work for another 2-3 hours. So I do what any little kid does I sit on my front porch and cry." -spektorboy
Around the same time, this person's mother was also in tears until the principal was able to find them. Both the teacher and the bus driver were suspended shortly afterwards.
"I had a s*** homelife, so I'd be anywhere and everywhere I could be to not go home. Beginning of the school year was still really nice outside, so I decided to hit the Dunkin Donuts near my house, grab some coffee, and I walked to the cemetery that was maybe 10 minutes walk from my house.
There was a really nice mausoleum in the cemetery, which happened to be the structure at the highest point in the city, so you can, on a clear day, see about 15 miles. I chilled there for a while, just kinda thinking. About 300 feet away is a statue of Jesus on the cross, with other figures. I was kinda tired so I laid a little ways away from it, just enough to get some shade, not enough to be laying on it, and I listened to music until I passed out. Woke up a few hours later, figured 'f*** it, might as well go home' and my mother started losing her s***. 'He just walked in, I'm so sorry- WHERE THE F*** WERE YOU????'
I left and went back to the cemetery" -moonshinetemp093
"I ran away with my 17 year old boyfriend (who was not reported missing by his parents).
My parents had read through some of my chat messages (I had a habit of saving logs) and knew I was likely heading north or west, but weren’t sure. Thankfully, since I was listed as missing and they knew who I was with, the guy was being monitored and he used his debit card on the way, so they had an idea where I'd be.
Cops came with a search warrant to the place we were staying a couple hours before we were going to head off west. We already had a new car ready to go, with some cash, to make it harder to be tracked- were gonna leave later that night." -Saltwaterblood
She said that this person turned out to be abusive, so she's now relieved the police found her when they did.
"After a long period of estrangement, I went to visit my mother and father. This was after a long drive and I was quite tired. My mother decided it was the perfect opportunity to berate me. I tried to leave and she blocked my car physically so she could continue to berate me.
I just left my car in the driveway and walked to a nearby hotel. I stayed there for a couple days, went back and got my car without seeing them, and drove back home.
A few years later I googled myself as I was up for a job and wanted to make sure there wasn't anything stupid on the Internet about me. I found out they reported me missing." - fw0rd
Fortunately, they were able to make it clear to local police what was actually going on.
"I have really strict parents and they absolutely did not want me to have a boyfriend. Instead of doing what they wanted, I went and got a boyfriend (age 17, almost 18) behind their backs and would routinely sneak out to hang with him. One night, he dropped me off at home and my mom saw us kiss.
She flipped her s*** and started beating the hell out of me and threatened to kill me. So, when everyone went to sleep, I packed all my stuff in the middle of the night and left. I walked to my boyfriends house (clear on the other side of town) and stayed with him." - moonslife
As the boyfriend was 20 and moonslife wasn't 18 yet, her parents threatened to charge him with being a sexual predator. Nothing came of it, the police took her home, and her relationship with her mother improved sometime after she moved out at 18.
"Not that interesting but I was 14 and I decided to walk to my then boyfriend's house which was an hour away walking but I thought I could do it since it was still in the same city. Anyway, I sneak out the front door while everyone's asleep.
And I almost got kidnapped. Some guy pulled up in his car on the side of the street where I was walking. There was no sidewalk so I was in the shoulder and I made the ugliest double chin face I could make and picked up a rock trying to make my self look super ugly so I wouldn't get kidnapped and I just stood there with my double chins until he finally drove off.
I kept walking. It's maybe 25 minutes later and I've now found myself passing night clubs and so many people outside drunk and in short revealing clothes. That's when I got scared and went up to two policeman I saw in the corner. I told them I needed a ride home." - [deleted]
If it works, it's not stupid.
"Was missing for about 2 days. My family didn't notice but the school did. I was 300 miles away drinking my life away at a beach town. Went there on a Sunday morning and told my dad I'm going to stay with my friend this week.
I got on a train and drove for about 3 hours and rented a hotel for those 2 nights. Got drunk everyday and made some friends. When i got back to school on Wednesday people were so happy that i was alive. It was only 2 days. Someone started a rumor that i was kidnapped." - L04D1NGD34TH
One might say it's pretty telling who was worried and who wasn't, but it seems that only the family actually received their excuse.
"Not me, but when I was in middle school, there was an episode of 7th Heaven where pictures of missing children were scrolled through at the end of the show, and one of them was of a girl who rode on my school bus.
Apparently, her parents were divorced (or well on their way there), and her Dad took her and absconded from her home state. I remember how eerie it felt to actually recognize one of the missing children photos / posters." -idiosyncraticunicorn
Apparently, the girl didn't relish the attention and didn't realize the pleasant time she spent with her father was technically a kidnapping.
"I had had a psychotic break.
One day, I decided to head into the city to spend the day at museums and stuff. At some point during the day, I had a complete break from reality. I don’t really remember anything.
At the time I was living with my parents and when I didn’t come home they reported me missing. I was gone for four days. During that time I’d gone and bought entirely new clothes and threw away everything I had and I’d booked myself into a hotel room.
I have no idea how police found me." - disco-pandas
To this day, this person has no memory of what they did during those four days.
"Had something happen during a school trip in high school. Big trip too, one where we stayed in a hotel for like 3 or 4 nights. Rooms were split up in groups and I ended up with a room to share with 2 others. One guy was proper weird though. There were strict rules for not leaving the room at night, but for some reason he did.
Of course he was caught by a teacher and for no reason whatsoever told him his roommates were not in their room either and that he had no idea where they were. Panic broke out among the teachers and every room got searched, except of course our room. Don't think they kept a very good record of who stayed where." - Diederikgr
Panic can be powerful, but it still seems odd that they never thought to ask the guy which room was his so they could've avoided this whole mess.
"I wasn't technically missing but one time my mother told me to get something she had forgotten on a nearby aisle of Wal-Mart I guess she forgot she need the thing and me and checked out.
About an hour of searching for her I finally called her cell phone and asked where she was. She went home and was taking a nap. 10 minutes later she picked me up and we went home. I was 7 at the time." - gamerkw07
And to think that a lot of parents don't think it's a good idea to give their kids cell phones.
"I was 4 years old, we were having a nice family vacation in the mountains. There was this thing called "baby club" where parents staying at the hotel could leave their children to be cared for while they did their stuff, so my parents left me and my 7 years old sister with them. The baby club took us to a nearby ice rink.
Back then, I was an extremely quiet kid, so they kind of forgot me sitting on the bleachers and went back to the hotel. My sister at first didn't realize that I wasn't with them - you know, she was only seven years old, she was preoccupied with playing with the other kids! But after a while she realized that I wasn't there and told the baby club people "hey, so, where's my sister?" - Valkyrja
Considering that this then-four-year-old was able to find a friendly stranger to bring her back to her hotel room that she somehow remembered the number of and the parents decided not to sue the hotel into oblivion, there was a obviously lot of luck to go around here.
"As a parent, we carpooled pickup of our kids to their after school care. Well, we paid one parent and she did it. One day, the parent took all the kids to McDonalds instead, on a whim. My wife called her phone, she was too busy with the kids to answer ... so she didn't. She called other parents, who confirmed that yes, our kids got into the car with her after school. She called again and again and no answer, she called the lady's husband, who also tried to contact the driver but no answer.
"After an hour of this, another Mom finally contacted us, she was also with the driver, but we didn't know her. My wife was full on in tears with worry. After she calmed down, she verbally flayed the skin off the driver for not answering the phone and for taking the kids without telling the parents. It was not a good day. The kids had fun though. I think they were 6 at the time." - ClownfishSoup
It may have been a nice idea, but that was the only nice thing about how she handled this one.
"When I was 13 I met a girl in Metin2, she was my age and more or less close to me. One day I arranged with her to spend the day together, went to her city, which was 40 minutes by train from mine. I left home at 6 am and I arrived after midnight.
"In the afternoon I ran out of battery so I couldn't ring my mother (cell phone were crappy then), when I was arriving in to my street my brother-in-law passed me and said "I was going to police now with a picture of you to give you as a 'missing person "my mother was upset but at least I had no punishment xD" - fallensylva
Crappy cell phone or no, it often helps to tell family members where you're actually going when you arrange to meet someone. Although I suppose it's possible that an online friend in another city would raise red flags.
"Behind my house was a playground where i always used to play. One day whilst playing there i made new friends around my age. My mom always used to watch me but this day she had to get something from the house. (my house was 2 minutes away from the playground)
"During the time my mom was gone my new friends decided that they wanted to go to their house, so i of course joined them. When my mom returned she noticed that i wasn't there so she went looking around for me. After a while she decided to call the cops and my dad. (my dad was faster home than the cops, it only took him 5 minutes to get home instead of the usual 20 minutes)
"Eventually the cops found me by flying a helicopter over the neighbourhood. Needless to say, my parents were very mad at me when i returned home." - hshgja
While it likely didn't feel so good to get in trouble, it would probably feel pretty cool as a four-year-old to know that a helicopter was sent out just for you. There's a balance there.
"My dad and I did get lost hiking int he Davis mountains back in the mid 90s though and wound up getting rescued by a Texas Parks and Wildlife guy; there was much rejoicing, and I got to have ice cream at the restaurant in Fort Davis ( I can't remember the name, it was attached to a hotel in town).
I'm 90% sure dad got a chewing out from both mom and the park ranger too." - paulwhite959
Aside from getting lost, it's hard to tell what the dad actually did wrong here to get the park ranger mad at him. It happens to the best of us, right?
"When I was little lets say 4 years old my mum was at work and my dad was at home looking after me. This is important to remember but I am wearing a dark blue sleeping gown. So anyways my dad went on the computer for 10 minutes to check something. He then comes out to the living room and finds I'm not there, he checks the house I'm not there.
"He then sees the front door open a bit and then begins to panic. He calls my mum and the police, the police came and they begin to search for me in the house. Soon bringing out sniffer dogs and more police to check the whole street. Somehow no police person nor my dad had bothered to check the dark blue couch with removable pillows! So when a police man sat down with my dad they then see my leg behind the movable pillows and everyone just lost it. Saying stuff like "how the hell did she sleep through all this".... i was asleep for about 2 hours and i never woke up to them screaming my name..." - YaoiXTrash
"Okay when I was young I never shut up. Drove my mom nuts. So here we go, she is taking me to the babysitter then she goes to work. I was typically driving her nuts and my mom snapped and screamed at me to shut up please. Scared the hell out of me, so I went dead silent. That's where it went bad.
"Apparently, I was so quiet that my mom forgot about me and went to work. I kept my mouth shut. About an hour later the babysitter called my mom, then my mom started freaking. Then everyone got involved looking for me. Now here I was bored, so I found out I could fold the seats and crawl in the trunk, where I fell asleep. I woke up hours later crawled back to back seats.
"Looked around and was trying to figure why I was at a police station. I got scared and decided to be brave and walked into the police station and ask for help. My parents came running from inside asking me a million questions freaking out. All I could say was, 'you told me to be quiet so I was.' Lol" -Alpha2110
Never have the words "be careful what you wish for" applied so perfectly as to this accidentally harrowing tale.
"I went to a concert with my friends and they didn’t want to drive me all the way to my apartment, so they asked if they could drop me off at 13th street, which as an alleyway that connected to the street my apartment was on (I guess. I didn’t know that). My friend Emily said she was familiar with the area. It’s 10pm and there’s snow on the ground and icy patches along this alleyway. It’s a pretty sketchy area with frequent shootings and occasional assaults. I tried walking around but got lost.
"I eventually stumbled upon a convenience store and called my mom (my cell had died). She was able to Facebook message my roommates but they couldn’t locate the convenience store with the few details I could give my mom who then probably transposed some details trying to relay it back to them. So they reported me as missing!! I eventually remembered that I had memorized another friend’s cell phone by heart so I called her and she knew where I was and came and picked me up. Needless to say I never hung out with those friends ever again." - yo_imengaged
No matter how intensely this person's roommates may have responded to the situation, they at least showed they cared more than the people who dropped them off in an unfamiliar area.
And in such a totally comforting place, to boot.
"My boyfriend at the time and I were snorkeling on a jetty and like stupid teenagers we didn't check in with our folks when we were supposed to. They called the Coast Guard assuming we'd been swallowed by the angry sea. Embarrassing." - ScamperSand
That sounded like a reasonable concern from some responsible parents, but I still like the idea of them wondering whether these two ran afoul of "the angry sea." Especially since it sounds like the sea wasn't even slightly annoyed that day.
"I proposed to my fiancee on the peak of a mountain in the Appalachians. It was a surprise and she had apparently told her parents we were going to be staying in DC (which was true but we left a few days earlier). Anyways, her parents couldn't get a hold of her because there was no service in the mountains, so they filed a missing persons report. We get back to civilization only for the police to think I'm some kidnapper." -poly_meh
In a situation like that, her enthusiasm to be with this person might have come off as brainwashing to the already suspicious police. That must've required some delicate explanations.
"When I was around 8 years old I ran away from my daycare after an older kid threw sand in my eyes. Problem was that we were at the local pool for our weekly field trip. Since the pool wasn't to far from home I just walked to my house and hid under my bed eating Twinkies.
"The pool was evacuated and searched. The police were called to search the house and the daycare called my mother to say that I may have drowned at the local pool. Needless to say my mother was relieved that I wasn't dead but to this day that pool still does a hourly safety check." -armywife523
I wonder if the kid who threw the sand argued that they shouldn't get in trouble because they might indirectly save other kids' lives in the future. They did if they were smart and bold enough, I guess.
"A kid was shot in front of the middle school and was missing for 1 day. He was in a ditch." -getoffmyproperty12
Unfortunately, that's all we know about this person's fate. However, it illustrates exactly why each of these reports led to such a panic. Sometimes, our worst fears do come true.
"The worst part was when you call the number from the poster is that you have to answer very private questions about yourself or your past, that only you can know the answer. I did it a few years ago. After being missing for the most 20 years. Those questions were difficult. They asked me about my dog. I swear to god my dog was the only thing I missed all those years. I miss my dog."
The idea of having to call up your own missing poster and answer questions about your life sounds like something out of a tragic novel. Nobody should have to go through that.
"I was kidnapped by my biological mother and missing for 3 months when I was a year old. My bio-mother has a horrendous crystal meth habit, took me during a court-mandated visitation and kept me in her various users/sellers' houses.
"When I was found, I hadn't been changed in days, I was in damp clothing and I had been given cough syrup daily to keep quiet." — thunderp00ps
"In 2nd grade, I fell asleep on the school bus ride home and missed my stop. My mom always waited at my stop to meet me and freaked out when I didn't get off the bus. The bus driver looked back, and since I was lying down fast asleep, he didn't see me. An hour later, I woke up at a random school bus terminal on the outskirts of town, and my mom had phoned half the town freaking out." — surejan94
I was always falling asleep in places I shouldn't have as a kid, but fortunately, it never got me into as much trouble as this!
"I've been 'missing' for about 5 years now. It really gives you a new perspective on how many missing people, particularly adults, either just don't want to be found or simply haven't contacted the particular people who filed their report." — ToxicLivingSituation
It is strange to think that some people simply do not want to be found. We're so used to the notion that everyone who is on missing person lists has been kidnapped or the like, but sometimes that just isn't the case. Some people want to remain "missing" in a certain sense of the word.
