Kids & Family
National Missing Children's Day: Find Lost Austin Kids
A child is reported missing every 40 seconds in America, with some in Austin area still missing. Help bring them home.
AUSTIN, TX — Every 40 seconds, the time it takes to heat up a slice of pizza in the microwave, a child is reported missing somewhere in America.
Some of these children are runaways, but others are abducted. Most have come home alive, thanks in part to efforts like those taking place Friday, May 25, on National Missing Children's Day to promote reunions between children and their families. In Texas, at least 489 children have been reported as missing since 1994.
That's according to a database kept by the Polly Klaas Foundation that includes the names of more than 9,800 children reported missing from 1994-2017. The foundation is named for the California 12-year-old taken from her home on Oct. 1, 1993, by a knife-wielding intruder who interrupted a children's slumber party and carried her away. Her body was found nine weeks later.
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Related story: Bicyclists To Ride From Austin Capitol For Missing Children's Day
The actual number of children reported missing each year is difficult to calculate, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a group established in 1984 to provide a coordinated national approach to find missing kids. Because some children are never reported missing and others, like repeat runaways, are entered in the FBI National Crime Information Center each time they flee their homes.
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The upshot: There is no reliable way to know how many children are missing.
Since its founding nearly 35 years ago, the NCMEC has assisted in the recovery of more than 260,000 children. But some have never been found. Still missing from their homes in Austin, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, are these children:
Missing since: Nov 10, 2017
Date of birth: Jan. 13, 2001
Age now: 16
Sex: Female
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Brown
Height: 5 feet, two inches
Weight: 120 pounds
Race: White
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Brown
Height: Five feet, two inches
Weight: 125 pounds
Race: White
Hair color: Blonde
Eye color: Blue
Height: Five feet, two inches
Weight: 160 pounds
Note: When last seen, Julia's hair was dyed reddish-brown.
Missing Since: April 7, 2018
Date of birth: Dec. 24, 2002
Age now: 15
Sex: Female
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Hair color: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: Five feet, five inches
Weight: 135 pounds
Date found: June 24, 2007
Location found: Austin
Estimated age: 15 to 25 years
Sex: Male
Race/ethnicity: White or Hispanic
Hair color: Unknown
Eye color: Unknown
Note: On June 24, 2007, the skeletal remains of an unidentified male were located in a rural creek bed along the 1400 block of Old Cedar Lane. Based on the condition of the remains, the decedent is believed to have been deceased six months to one year when found. He had two lower molars extracted sometime before death, but did not appear to have any other fillings or dental work. Anyone with information should contact the Austin Police Department, reference case number 071750786, or the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office, reference case number 07-1276.
Race: Black
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Brown
Height: Five feet, nine inches
Weight: 146 pounds
Note: Anthony has a tattoo on his right arm.
Missing Since: April 10, 2018
Date of birth: Nov. 13, 2000
Age now: 17
Sex: Male
Race: Black
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Black
Height: Six feet
Weight: 180 pounds
Missing Since: July 7, 2006
Date of birth: Jan. 3, 1988
Age now: 30
Sex: Female
Race: White
Hair color: Blonde
Eye color: Green
Height: Five feet, four inches
Weight: 115 pounds
Note: Roxanne's navel is pierced.
Missing since: March 10, 2018
Date of birth: Aug. 23, 2001
Age now: 16
Sex: Male
Race: Black
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Brown
Height: Six feet
Weight: 190 pounds
Note: Daveandre may travel to San Antonio
Missing since: June 11, 2016
Date of birth: March 13, 1999
Age now: 19
Sex: Female
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Sex: Female
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Brown
Height: Five feet, four inches
Weight: 130 pounds
Note: Karina may be in the company of her infant daughter, and they may still be in the local area. Karina's ears are pierced and she has a scar on the left side of her face. When she was last seen, her hair was dyed blonde.
Missing Since: March 23, 2017
Date of birth: Aug. 14, 2000
Age now: 17
Sex: Male
Race: White
Hair color: Brown
Eye color: Brown
Height: Five feet, seven inches
Weight: 139 pounds
Note: James may be in the areas of Electra or Wichita Falls, Texas, or he may travel to North Dakota or California.
Missing since: April 27, 2018
Date of birth: May 21, 2003
Age now: 15
Sex: Female
Race: White
Hair color: Brown
Eye color: Brown
Height: Five feet, five inches
Weight: 150 pounds
Age progressed image
Missing Since: May 6, 2007
Date of birth: June 8, 1988
Age now: 29
Sex: Male
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Brown
Height: Five feet, nine inches
Weight: 130 pounds
Note: Adan's photo is shown age-progressed to 25 years. He may have traveled to Chicago. He has a tattoo on his abdomen, and may be in need of medical attention.
Age progressed image
Missing since: Jan 5, 1984
Date of birth: Aug. 22, 1981
Age now: 36
Sex: Female
Race: Black
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Brown
Height: Three feet
Weight: 42 pounds
Note: The second image is a composite of what Tanisha may have looked like at 32 years old.
Missing since: March 1, 2017
Date of birth: Feb. 19, 2001
Age now: 17
Sex: Male
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Hair color: Brown
Eye color: Brown
Height: Five feet, five inches
Weight: 115 pounds
Note: Michael may still be in the local area or he may travel to Dallas. When last seen, his hair was dyed red. He may go by the alias last name Haros.
The nonprofit National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was established by parents like John and Revé Walsh, whose 6-year-old son, Adam, was abducted from a Florida shopping mall in 1981 and later found murdered.
Before the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children existed, police could enter information about stolen cars, guns and other items on the FBI's crime database, but not stolen children. The Adam Walsh disappearance was among several tragic cases that illuminated the need for a nationwide, coordinated system to address the problem of missing children.
Others included Etan Patz, a 6-year-old who vanished from a New York street on the way to school in 1979. Over the next several years, 29 children and young adults reported as missing were found murdered in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1982, West Des Moines, Iowa, paperboy Johnny Gosch, 12, never came home from his paper route. His disappearance remains unsolved.
Former President Ronald Reagan was an honored guest when the NCMEC opened its doors in 1984. A year earlier, he had proclaimed every May 25 as National Missing Children's Day.
Since then, the Department of Justice has annually commemorated National Missing Children's Day with a ceremony honoring heroic and exemplary efforts of agencies, organizations and individuals to protect children, and to coordinate efforts to reunite missing children with their families.
The problem of missing children is particularly acute in California, which accounts for nearly half of the missing children cases documented on the Polly Klaas Foundation website. The states with the most missing children reports since 1994 are:
California: 4,541
Texas: 489
Florida: 364
Arizona: 246
New York: 223
Washington: 218
Ohio: 209
Colorado: 183
Illinois: 177
Georgia: 171
Oregon: 153
Pennsylvania: 153
Nevada: 150
Michigan: 130
Indiana: 124
>>> Uppermost image via Lightspring / Shutterstock, photos/images of missing children courtesy of National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
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