CONSIDERED MISSING

According to the Department of Justice Missing Persons Unit, during the last decade 121 children (less than 18 years old) have disappeared in Orange County and have not been accounted for yet. Since 1977, 152 adults have done the same. Nearly all of the juveniles involved are, for now, classified as runaways. As for the adults, most are considered “voluntary disappeared”--meaning they did so by their own choice (adults are not classified as “runaways”). Here’s the trend for both adults and juveniles, and the circumstances accorded their disappearances:

ADULTS

Voluntary Suspicious Reason Year Missing* Circumstances Unknown 1989 ** 1 1 0 1988 21 5 2 1987 11 2 0 1986 22 1 3 1985 18 2 0 1984 16 0 0 1983 17 1 1 1982 9 2 0 1981 3 0 1 1980 3 0 0 1979 3 1 0 1978 2 1 0 1977 2 1 0 TOTAL 128 17 7

** Through March 24

* Applies to adults who are thought to have left of their own volition, not under suspicious circumstances or presumed catastrophic events, such as where evidence points, for example, to a drowning, but no body is recovered.

JUVENILES

Parental Suspicious Reason Year Abduction Runaways Circumstances Unknown 1989 *** 0 3 1 0 1988 0 75 0 4 1987 2 24 0 0 1986 0 8 0 0 1985 0 2 0 0 1984 0 1 0 0 1979** 0 0 1 0 TOTAL 2 113 2 4

*** Through March 24

*Applies to adults who are thought to have left their everyday circumstances of their own volition, not under suspicious circumstances or presumed catastrophic events, such as where evidence points, for example, to a drowning, but no body is recovered.

** There are no active cases between 1979 and 1984.

Source: California Department of Justice, Missing/Unidentified Persons Unit.