This has been my latest obsession.  The Charley Project (www.charleyproject.org) features over 8300 cold cases of missing people in the US.  Many are runaways, many are family abductions (non custodial parent kidnaps child), and some surely are adults who walked away from their situations and started a new life elsewhere.  But those don't even scrape the tip of the iceberg.

The most troubling are the children and teens who have not resurfaced in 20-40 years.

All the cases are sad.  Some are just plain bizarre.

This girl, Rose Cole, was sentenced to a supposed drug & alcohol rehab in 1972.  She lived in Michigan, but the judge sent her all the way to Oakland, CA to a place called Synanon.  Synanon turned out to be a cult, where you were expected to give up all of your assets, and become a member for life.  People who were caught trying to leave were beaten.  They had children marrying children, from what I've heard.  She escaped.  She sent letters home and said she was living on the streets of San Francisco, and that she would contact them again after she turned 18, but nobody ever heard from her again.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/cole_rose.html

There may be court records for her, but they would be juvenile court records.  Her family (siblings) cannot access them due to juvenile records being confidential, and Rose is "an adult".  Of course, the courts can't prove she ever lived to be an adult, and the family can't prove she didn't.  So she's stuck somewhere in between. :(


This girl, Melinda Creech, got into some petty trouble at age 13 in 1979.  She was taken to a juvenile detention facility.  Nobody knows what happened to her after that.  The profile on the Charley Project website says she ran away from the facility, but it turns out that was just a rumor or theory.  There were documents found in her late mother's possessions, where the detention center requested her mother to appear with Melinda at a court appearance.  This letter was dated AFTER she supposedly was missing.  Again, the government, who was the last to have custody of her, won't give any info to her family because she is no longer a juvenile.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/creech_melinda.html


This especially infuriates me in these cases, because the government was responsible for them when they went missing.  They were in the government's custody!  I realize things happen.  Kids run away.  I don't fault the government for that, but for heaven's sake, at least help find them!!!!  And if they're too busy, give their families the info they need so THEY can do it!  How can they be adults when there is no evidence they lived to be 18???

The police in many cases don't do much either.  On CSI & similar shows, nobody goes home or gets a good night's sleep until the case is solved.  Even the law enforcement on Dateline and 48 Hours say "This case has haunted me for 20 years.", or "We really want to hear from anyone who might know anything, regardless of how insignificant it seems."  Phbbt.  In reality, people claim they try to submit tips to law enforcement and often have to hound them with emails just to get a generic reply.

Is this asking too much?

God just imagine if that was your sister or daughter or brother or son.  I can't even imagine what it would be like never knowing what happened to them. 

God just imagine if that was your sister or daughter or brother or son.  I can't even imagine what it would be like never knowing what happened to them.  


I agree.... especially when you can't get the information you need to try to find out what happened.

I really think that in cases of missing minors, they should be considered minors unless there is evidence that they lived to be 18.   That way the parents would have parental rights to access the child's records.

There are thousands of such cases - where the missing minor is now considered an adult, therefore all documents are confidential, even the parents can't access them.  Ridiculous.

8300 missing out of a 310 million population.  We're statistically not doing so bad in that department.  As for the unlucky 8300, terrible fates usually await. 

8300 missing out of a 310 million population.  We're statistically not doing so bad in that department.  As for the unlucky 8300, terrible fates usually await. 


I wish it were only 8300 missing... the 8300 is just cold cases, people who have been missing for so long that the police have stopped investigating.  I don't know of any count of active cases...

I wish it were only 8300 missing... the 8300 is just cold cases, people who have been missing for so long that the police have stopped investigating.  I don't know of any count of active cases...


If they haven't found the child is 72 hours, you've probably seen the last of him.  Some do turn up months, years, even decades later, but these are rare.  Most of the time the missing child is deceased.

There is the exception of parental abduction.  That's when one parent illegally seizes custody of a minor child.  These cases usually don't end up as cold case murders though.

If they haven't found the child is 72 hours, you've probably seen the last of him.  Some do turn up months, years, even decades later, but these are rare.  Most of the time the missing child is deceased.

There is the exception of parental abduction.  That's when one parent illegally seizes custody of a minor child.  These cases usually don't end up as cold case murders though.


Yeah, that is the sad part... in the cases I described, I think there is some chance they are alive, but no way to find out.  It is rare though, that a random person goes missing.  It seems they usually are leading risky lifestyles... either an abusive significant other, drugs, prostitution, or hanging out with the wrong crowd... in the 70's, a lot of them were hitchhiking when they were last seen.  It also seems that when teens had these sorts of issues, law enforcement didn't take their disappearances too seriously.

There are also hundreds of unidentified remains that nobody has claimed.

I've been really into browsing through all this lately... I don't know why or how long it will last.

I guess I got on a bit of a tangent there.... :-\\

My question was supposed to be: Should missing teens from back in the day be considered juveniles or adults as far as the court is concerned?

I guess I got on a bit of a tangent there.... :-\\

My question was supposed to be: Should missing teens from back in the day be considered juveniles or adults as far as the court is concerned?


I say if the completely disappeared while in the custody of someone else they should be considered juveniles or have their parents be considered their custodians, until the question of there whereabouts is ascertained.

I guess I got on a bit of a tangent there.... :-\\

My question was supposed to be: Should missing teens from back in the day be considered juveniles or adults as far as the court is concerned?


It is beyond me why there should be a difference between a teen gone missing or an adult gone missing. Both cases should be treated as missing persons!

It is beyond me why there should be a difference between a teen gone missing or an adult gone missing. Both cases should be treated as missing persons!


The reason why (not that I agree with this theory 100%) is that it is perfectly legal for an adult to disappear, while it is not for a minor.  From a police standpoint, it unfortunately makes alot of difference.  Unless there is evidence of a crime, they won't investigate a missing adult.

Yeah, that is the sad part... in the cases I described, I think there is some chance they are alive, but no way to find out.   It is rare though, that a random person goes missing.  It seems they usually are leading risky lifestyles... either an abusive significant other, drugs, prostitution, or hanging out with the wrong crowd... in the 70's, a lot of them were hitchhiking when they were last seen.   It also seems that when teens had these sorts of issues, law enforcement didn't take their disappearances too seriously.

There are also hundreds of unidentified remains that nobody has claimed.

I've been really into browsing through all this lately... I don't know why or how long it will last.


OMG, I do remember the case of particularly sick and sadistic serial murderers targeting female hitchhikers back then.  I just can't think of the case name.  I must be thinking of the Hillside Strangler case -- Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Bruno.  REALLY sick sh*t.  It's one of the things that eroded the sense of trust and community we thought we built up in the 1960s!
:(

One vast difference (not to be confused with a vas deferens) between now and forty years ago is 24/7 cable news.  In 1910 if some cowpoke got murdered in Virginia City, a New Yorker would never hear about it.  If the cowpoke murdered the nephew of J.P. Morgan, then you'd hear about it!

One of the sad realities Andrea, when you're talking about cases from the seventies is that record keeping was not automated... after thirty years those records have to go somewhere to make room for new reports... often times, for most agencies, that somewhere is a basement. Paper deteriorates,  basements flood, rodents invade and nest in the storage areas... its not the right answer but it's the most common one.

sometimes records just can't be maintained...sometimes they get tossed. Legally, our records department is only required to keep reports for 7 years. If the case is open then we keep it longer but if the case is not then it will be tossed... So, I'm thinking about Rose Cole here... if she had any law enforcement contact after she escaped the cult those records are long gone...


I don't know what the requirement is for the agencies that take custody of children. If a facility takes custody of a child those records probably should still be available to immediate family after the child is 18 but then again- were the parents looking into the records prior to the kid turning 18?  and how long are the agencies supposed to hold on to the records? 

some of those places are obviously covering up for wrong doing or negligence but in other cases they may just not know... we may never know.

I get messages all the time via the law enforcement computer about unidentified bodies found across the state... or from other agencies investigating a particular type of murder reaching out to other agencies to see if they have similar cases... it sucks but at least the agencies are trying to work together now...that was not the case in 1970. or even in 1980. It's taken advancements in technology to truly make this possible...


sorry if my response is all over the map but it brought up a lot.. I don't even know if I hit on all the points I wanted to... 

The police in many cases don't do much either.  On CSI & similar shows, nobody goes home or gets a good night's sleep until the case is solved.   Even the law enforcement on Dateline and 48 Hours say "This case has haunted me for 20 years.", or "We really want to hear from anyone who might know anything, regardless of how insignificant it seems."   Phbbt.   In reality, people claim they try to submit tips to law enforcement and often have to hound them with emails just to get a generic reply.

Is this asking too much?




dramas like CSI and new mags like 48 hours always make it look like the investigators are working on only one case... the truth is that detectives work on several cases at once.. the follow the hottest ones for a while but as the leads cool down they have to refocus on the 20 or more other open investigations sitting on their desk... it'd be nice if we only had time to look at one crime at a time but that's never the case... 

sometimes records just can't be maintained...sometimes they get tossed. Legally, our records department is only required to keep reports for 7 years. If the case is open then we keep it longer but if the case is not then it will be tossed... So, I'm thinking about Rose Cole here... if she had any law enforcement contact after she escaped the cult those records are long gone...
   



I know... and my frustration isn't that the police aren't dedicating every minute to a cold case... that would be unrealistic.    And I wouldn't know this firsthand, but there is a message board 30000 members strong of volunteers who try to help the missing... and I see posts constantly from people who try to submit info to law enforcement and have to keep bugging them just to get a reply.  I'm sure not all police departments are like this, and that people who are frustrated by a lack of response are more likely to post than people who get through right away...

There is a lot more to the Rose Cole case than I posted... I just didn't want to make my post into a manuscript but this document surfaced among her parents things:

January 4th, 1974 Petition to Drop Charges
State of Michigan
Juvenile Division

The Probate Court County of Genesee

IN THE MATTER OF THE Rose Cole FILE # 47085

BIRTHDATE 12-23-1956 SCHOOL Emerson

ADDRESS 208 W. Jackson, Flint

At the session of said Court in the City of Flint on the 4th day of January, 1974.

PRESENT: HONORABLE EARL E. BORRADAILE Judge of Probate

WHEREAS: A petition has been filed for proceedings and disposition in accordance with the Juvenile Code, Chapter 712A of C.L. 1948, as amended, and upon investigation and hearing, upon due notice, as provided by said laws and said child appearing in Court with parent or guardian and from the evidence and admissions of said petition are true and that said child is subject to the power of this Court, which ORDERS, as follows:

ON THE COURT'S OWN MOTION, This matter be and the same is hereby dismissed.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

This could mean that Rose eventually went back to Michigan after escaping from the cult in California.  It could have been a document that was sent ahead of time, assuming she was going to appear.  (She was last heard from via a letter she mailed in March 1973 from San Francisco - almost a year before the date of this document)

Her parents unfortunately weren't all that concerned at the time, they figured she was alive and well.  It is her siblings that are now searching for her.  They are trying to find out if Rose actually did appear in court, and what exactly this case was??  The courts won't give them access to this information.

Scanned copies of Rose's letters can be found here.

http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y171/christine2448/Rose%20Cole/