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Guidelines to Follow
- The First 24 Hours |
The first 24 to 48 hours of a missing person case are the most
crucial. Whether a person is found alive is most probable during
this time period. It is of the upmost importance that family,
friends, law enforcement and others work together, work fast and
do the correct things.
The most important thing to know is that a person does not have to
be missing 24 hours before he or she is reported to law enforcement.
The Cookes did not know this, which was very unfortunate.
The younger a missing child is, the faster the search must begin. A
young child cannot take care of him or herself.
Please follow these steps:
- Make an initial search of your home and neighborhood, but try
not to touch anything in the person's room or his or her personal
items. Look in closets, under beds, in automobiles, culverts and
anything else big enough to hold the missing person. Just be
careful not to disturb any clues that may be present.
- Call your loved one's closest friends and family members to
find out if they may know where the missing person is. Have the
friends call everyone they know and ask about the whereabouts of
the missing person.
- Call 911 or your local law enforcement phone number immediately
and report the disappearance.
- Call some close friends and family to be with you. Keep the
number of people small at first. Limit access to your home to
this small group. Ask neighbors if other people may meet at
their houses.
- Start making a list of neighbors, friends, family members,
coworkers school friends, teachers, and others who know your
loved one. Make a copy of this list and give it to law
enforcement.
- Delegate responsibility. It will help reduce the stress you
will encounter.
- Create a missing person flyer with the missing person's picture,
a description of what he or she was last wearing, the last place
and time he or she was seen, any physical traits, such as hair
and eye color, height and weight, body markings, piercings, etc.
Have your friends and family saturate the neighborhood and stores
with the flyers within a five mile radius of the last place he or
she was seen. Do not be surprised if the first law enforcement
personnel to respond are not experienced in missing person cases.
The authorities may take hours to respond with someone with that
expertise. In most cases, copies of the flyer will be donated if
you ask. A special section on creating a missing person flyer or
poster is included in this document.
- Keep a notebook of everyone's phone number involved from law
enforcement, media, and other important people. Also log and
date what law enforcement tells you; list anything they may take
from your home.
- Have a family member or close friend answer your telephone.
Hundreds of incoming phone calls are possible.
- Please remember this one important thing. You have the right to
get your loved one back. You have the right to make
recommendations and ask questions of law enforcement and others.
They are all working for you and your missing loved one.
- If the missing person is 13 or over and there are no witnesses
to the abduction, law enforcement will probably automatically
think that she ran away or left on her own. Only you will know
if she left on her own or not. Remember, you and your missing
loved one have rights. Be empowered and be strong!
- A search will probably need to be started as soon as possible.
Have your helpers call people to come search. This is not the
time to hold back. It is not the time to worry about asking
for things. Search organizations are listed at the end of this
document.
- The media is your most important tool. Let them interview the
family if at all possible. Nothing draws viewers like seeing
the victim’s family themselves making a plea to get their loved
one back. Be short and precise with your statements and answers.
Several minutes of videotape may be recorded during the
interview, but only a few seconds may appear in the actual
broadcast segment.
- Check the links provided at the end of this document for
information on searches, missing person and victims' rights
organizations. Do not hold back anything.
- The family is almost always suspected first. Try to not be
offended by this. Cooperate with law enforcement. The sooner
that law enforcement eliminates the family from any
involvement, the sooner they can move on to other potential
suspects.
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