A missing person is someone who has disappeared from their accustomed network of social and personal relationships to the extent that other members of the network define their absence as interfering with the performance by that person of expected social responsibilities. People can go missing for many different reasons. Some disappear because they wish to remain undiscovered, e.g., suicide in a remote place (to spare their families the distress of finding their bodies) or to avoid discovery by police by disappearing (to allow them to be declared legally dead in absentia). Others may have been abducted or kidnapped and are presumed to be in danger and will not return home until their well-being is established.
People can also become missing by accident, for example, a car accident that leaves the person in a remote location where they have no way of getting home and where it is hard to find their vehicle or mobile phone. This type of disappearance can be extremely dangerous, especially for older adults who have mobility problems.
Whenever possible, family members and friends should contact the person’s relatives and friends to ask them about their whereabouts. They can then share this information with the police. It is also important to look at the missing person’s social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to see if there are any clues there. It can be helpful to create a website for the missing person with a heading like “Please Help Find John Doe” or “Missing Jane Smith.” This will help it show up in search results on Google.