SUSAN TUSA/Detroit Free Press
Missing Persons Day - For information or to register for the Michigan's Missing Persons Day event, call Michigan State Police Trooper Sarah Krebs at 313-215-0675 or e-mail her at krebss@michigan.gov
It was the day before Thanksgiving 2009 when Mamie Watkins got the call: Her elderly brother had gone missing.
The first thought was that William Bracken had walked from his Highland Park home to a bus stop. Bracken, who would be 82 this year, had caught the bus before to visit Watkins in Detroit, she said. But he was nowhere to be found.
"He just hasn't been seen since," Watkins said.
Her family is one of dozens with missing loved ones expected to turn out Saturday at Ford Field for Michigan's Missing Persons Day, an event hosted by law enforcement agencies and intended to help raise awareness.
Michigan State Police Trooper Sarah Krebs said the event, which runs 4-9 p.m., also gives law enforcement officers a chance to update their databases with online profiles of missing people, dental records or DNA samples from relatives.
In January, there were more than 3,000 missing people across Michigan, based on reports entered into the National Crime Information Center, she said.
Incorporated in that number are juvenile cases, runaways, people who are missing in catastrophes and people who are considered endangered or missing involuntarily, including those who were abducted or left without needed medication and cases where foul play is suspected, Krebs said.
The total changes as people return home, are recovered or are found deceased.
"It's a very fluid number," Krebs said.
Each missing person whose family attends the event will be commemorated Saturday. Families are encouraged to bring a photograph of their loved one so police can scan them and update their databases.
Free child identification kits will be provided to families. Krebs said each kit will include the child's fingerprint, a DNA swab and a digital photo and video and be given to the family to keep.
For the families of people who are missing, the search never ends, said John Broad, president of Crime Stoppers of Michigan, which is helping with the event.
"People need our help," he said "We're all part of a neighborhood, part of a community. We're not in this alone."
Watkins, 80, looks forward to meeting other families in similar situations. And she fears the worst for her brother.
"The biggest thing, naturally, is not knowing," Watkins said. "Not knowing if he's even walking around here living."
Source: http://www.freep.com/article/20110503/NEWS01/105030330/Families-missing-people-Michigan-honor-loved-ones-Ford-Field-event
Contact Gina Damron: 313-223-4526 or gdamron@freepress.com
The first thought was that William Bracken had walked from his Highland Park home to a bus stop. Bracken, who would be 82 this year, had caught the bus before to visit Watkins in Detroit, she said. But he was nowhere to be found.
"He just hasn't been seen since," Watkins said.
Her family is one of dozens with missing loved ones expected to turn out Saturday at Ford Field for Michigan's Missing Persons Day, an event hosted by law enforcement agencies and intended to help raise awareness.
Michigan State Police Trooper Sarah Krebs said the event, which runs 4-9 p.m., also gives law enforcement officers a chance to update their databases with online profiles of missing people, dental records or DNA samples from relatives.
In January, there were more than 3,000 missing people across Michigan, based on reports entered into the National Crime Information Center, she said.
Incorporated in that number are juvenile cases, runaways, people who are missing in catastrophes and people who are considered endangered or missing involuntarily, including those who were abducted or left without needed medication and cases where foul play is suspected, Krebs said.
The total changes as people return home, are recovered or are found deceased.
"It's a very fluid number," Krebs said.
Each missing person whose family attends the event will be commemorated Saturday. Families are encouraged to bring a photograph of their loved one so police can scan them and update their databases.
Free child identification kits will be provided to families. Krebs said each kit will include the child's fingerprint, a DNA swab and a digital photo and video and be given to the family to keep.
For the families of people who are missing, the search never ends, said John Broad, president of Crime Stoppers of Michigan, which is helping with the event.
"People need our help," he said "We're all part of a neighborhood, part of a community. We're not in this alone."
Watkins, 80, looks forward to meeting other families in similar situations. And she fears the worst for her brother.
"The biggest thing, naturally, is not knowing," Watkins said. "Not knowing if he's even walking around here living."
Source: http://www.freep.com/article/20110503/NEWS01/105030330/Families-missing-people-Michigan-honor-loved-ones-Ford-Field-event
Contact Gina Damron: 313-223-4526 or gdamron@freepress.com
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