Dreamed about NamUs

Last night I had a dream about NamUs. I dreamed I’d discovered a keyboard shortcut — ctrl-U — that made each entire casefile visible to me, including all the stuff that’s hidden to private citizens who aren’t law enforcement. Of course I was basically drooling over the treasure trove of information that had suddenly been revealed to me, but uncertain what to do with it all, since it was supposed to be hidden and if I posted it on Charley it would no longer be so.

In real life, ctrl-U shows you the sourcecode for pages.

Flashback Friday: Janet Kramer

This week’s Flashback Friday case is Janet Ann Kramer. She was thirteen and living in a group home for girls when she disappeared from Willmar, Minnesota. Presumed to have run away. The date of disappearance is given as January 1, 1971, but I wonder if that’s accurate. January 1 seems a strange date to run away on, especially in Minnesota, and that date is often used when the person disappeared at some unknown date in a particular year.

I Googled “Willmar Minnesota group home” and found a website for an organization that operates girls’ and boys’ group homes in the area, but their girls’ home isn’t old enough to be Janet’s. Presumably Janet’s group home has long since closed.

In any case, I have almost no information on her. A friend believes she looks a little like me. The resemblance is more obvious when you check out this photo of myself at Janet’s age.

Janet’s been missing for over forty years. If she is still alive — and I suppose there’s no evidence to indicate she’s not — she would be 56 years old today.

Possibly a break in Fronczak baby case?

There’s a guy who thinks he might be Paul Fronczak, who was abducted from a hospital in 1964 at only one day old.

Sam Miller was allegedly born to a Chicago teenage mother named Sheila Kohn, but he hasn’t been able to locate her and thinks, if Sheila is in fact his biological mother, she used an alias. He’s got a pretty strong motivation to find his biological family, whoever they are: he needs a kidney.

I don’t know why they can’t just do a blood test or a DNA test or whatever to see if he’s related to Paul’s parents, who are, I believe, still alive. I’m not holding my breath here; I’ve seen so many cases where someone thought he was a missing child and it turned out he wasn’t.

Yasmin Acree’s adoptive mother dies

Per the Chicago Tribune: Yasmin Acree‘s adoptive mother, Rose Starnes (who was also her aunt by marriage) has died. She was 57. Natural causes. According to her family, she had diabetes and kidney problems.

For years, Starnes was tormented by not knowing what happened to Yasmin, said her older daughter, Shakelia Johnson. The woman spent a lot of time searching the neighborhood and city, but she also lay in bed crying, feeling helpless. Many times it seemed the case wasn’t important to anyone but her, Johnson said.

I hope she’s at peace now, and maybe knows what happened to Yasmin.

New MP of the week, better late than never!

I just plumb forgot to change the missing person of the week yesterday. Well, I have now. This time it’s Tu Thi-Cam Tran, a University of Maryland senior who disappeared from Baltimore on November 26, 1990. I don’t have much on her.

In-depth article about Kara Nichols

Last month the Denver Post did a seven-page article about Kara Nichols, who’s been missing since October 2012. What can I say? It’s a very sad story; her disappearance is just the latest in a long string of troubles in Kara’s life.

Matthew Hatfield case becomes MWAB

Authorities have announced that the 2008 disappearance of Matthew Hatfield is now considered a MWAB (murder without a body) disappearance. The man’s own son, Adam, has been arrested for the alleged crime.

Prior to this I hadn’t had much on Mr. Hatfield. I will of course be updating his case.

Make-a-List Monday: People with plates in them

MPs with plates surgically implanted in their bodies (usually to repair broken bones).

Angela Dawn Bates
James Roy Bridenstine Jr.
Mary Gertrude Brosley
Alicia Digna
Charles Wane Dodd
Antonio Dominguez
Ricky Lee Frayer
Marco Antonio Guarderas
Billie Jean Hall
Matthew Ellis Keith
Joe David Key
Willy Ray Lecompte
Benjamin Lopez Jr.
Joseph Arthur Martin Jr.
Wilbert Martin
Robert Lawrence Rollins
James S. Ruland
Jonathan Lee Zeigler

Select It Sunday: Ada Marie Odell

Ada Marie Odell‘s sister asked me to profile her for Ada’s birthday. I wasn’t able to do that ON her birthday, on account of being sick, but I figured I could do it now. Ada turned 54 on February 13. She’s been missing from Dunnellon, Florida since June 30, 2010, and left all her belongings behind.

Disturbingly, Ada’s live-in boyfriend, Raul Diaz Sosa, disappeared at the same time she did and didn’t resurface for almost two weeks. And when he did, he refused to talk to the police about his missing girlfriend. Hmm…

Needless to say, Ada is considered missing under suspicious circumstances.

Yet another “I hate it when this happens” post

I write up a whole casefile for a man who’s listed as missing on NamUs and on his police department’s website, only to discover this individual is wanted for NINETEEN sex crime charges and is, in all probability, running from the law. No Sir, I will not have you defiling my website.