Kids run away all the time. Some of them stay gone for years. Very few of them, however, stay gone forever. This list is of Charley Project cases classified as runaways where the child has been missing for a minimum of twenty years.
I’m using my own classifications here, not the NCMEC’s, because their classifications are often wrong — they’ve got Mitchell Darlington listed as a runaway, for example, when he almost certainly drowned.
- Jorge Acosta, 12, missing since 1992
- Lurline Michelle Bergeron, 14, missing since 1991
- James Eric Bess, 14, and Chipley Charles Sanders, 13, missing since 1984
- Sandra Breed, 16, missing since 1964
- Niki Diane Britten, 15, missing since 1969
- Mary Jo Burnette, 16, missing since 1984
- Shawna Chavez, 14, missing since 1994
- Rose Lena Cole, 15 or 16, missing since 1972 or 1973
- Melinda Karen Creech, 13, missing since 1979
- Kenneth Allen Daily, 16, missing since 1985
- Brenda Sue Davidson, 13, missing since 1974
- Krystyn Rae Dunlap, 17, missing since 1994
- Martha Wes Dunn, 15, missing since 1990
- Duane Edward Fochtman, 15, missing since 1986
- Nerissa Franklin, 15, missing since 1989
- Helen Marie Green, 13, missing since 1971 or 1972
- Shaunda Renne Green, 13, missing since 1983
- Karen Marie Hughes, 12, missing since 1983
- John Christopher Inman, 17, missing since 1993
- Danny Lee Jones, 15, missing since 1974
- Christopher Matthew Kerze, 17, missing since 1990
- Christine Marie Kingsley, 17, missing since 1995
- Janet Ann Kramer, 13, missing since 1971
- Desiree Lynette Lopez, 17, missing since 1996
- Meredith Ann Medina, 16, missing since 1989
- Alishia Dachone Miller, 13, missing since 1989
- Jerome Eugene Morris, 14, missing since 1990
- Scott Michael Morris, 14, missing since 1978
- Jennifer Lynn Pandos, 15, missing since 1987
- Aaron Michael Pate, 17, missing since 1992
- Cynthia Lorraine Perry, 17, missing since 1985
- Jennifer Rae Perry, 13, missing since 1993
- Shaliegh Sharrie Phillips, 12, missing since 1988
- Taranika Michelle Raymond, 13, missing since 1995
- Jason Donald Reynolds, 17, missing since 1993
- Eva Marie Ridall, 15, missing since 1977
- Angela Arlene Robles, 16, missing since 1996
- Froelan Rosales Jr., 15, missing since 1989
- Carlota Maria Sanchez, 12, and Elsie Eldora Luscier, 13, missing since 1979
- Beverly Sharpman, 17, missing since 1947
- Aron Holmes Silverman, 17, missing since 1993
- Stevey Howard Sommerville, 14, missing since 1990
- Mary Ann Ruth Switalski, 16, missing since 1963
- Misty Dawn Thompson, 15, missing since 1993
- Deborah Lee Tomlinson, 16, missing since 1973
- Darci Renae Warde, 16, missing since 1990
- Renata Sharisse Myles Whitehead, 14, missing since 1996
- Heide Dawn Wilbur, 16, missing since 1991
The Charley Project Blog 
Thing is, some of these ‘runaways’ could be murder victims, particularly hitchhiking females. Some serial killers just target these victims knowing that because of their age, police will just write them off as a runaway.
I don’t doubt that at least a few of these kids are dead.
If I had to guess, I’ll bet almost all of them are.
OT….concerning Kara Kopetsky….this could prove to be very, very interesting.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3785415/Man-named-Kylr-girlfriend-disappeared-2007-arrested-burning-car-Missouri-woman-s-missing-three-days.html
I just came on here to leave the same message, lol. Beat me to it.
Yeah, I live in the KC area, it’s been all over the news here. Was horrified to find out who it was. If this guy goes to trial here for this or Kara’s case, no way it’s ever gonna be a fair one. He’s way too well known and a lot of people around here think he’s responsible for whatever happened to Kara.
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article101482227.html Here’s a local newspaper. Says much of the same as the DM’s, I assume.
Thanks Becky. I’m very curious to see where this goes. I’m sure people do wonder why I always link to DM, it is because I have little time to search by case and their US page is great, they cover cases from all over the US and USUALLY they are valid info. Not much goes on around here (bigger on drugs than MPs) so my local papers aren’t much help. I figure if I can post and get someone to look and bring attention to the case, then great! And I love when people respond with their links too, gives a different perspective.
I recently exchanged a few messages with Brian Neil Hooks’ sister. She’s been taking care of her cancer-stricken mother, so she wasn’t able to talk much.
In a rather bizarre coincidence, I was watching an old episode of Child’s Play with Bill Cullen and one of the kids on there was from Florence, South Carolina, where Hooks disappeared from. It’s sort of weird, but the show (which was on the air in 1983) always has me trying to see if any missing kids are on there. I know there probably won’t be.
Actually, I think a good chunk of these people could still be alive. If they wanted to get away, they could have changed their identities.
I’ve done a lot of research on the Rose Cole case. There’s a lot of layers to that story. I’ve also done a lot of research on Synanon. Very weird organization. If you do a google search, it will produce results. The part about the snake being left in someone’s mailbox was definitely a stand-out moment.
Sandra Breed is an interesting one. It was on Unsolved Mysteries around 1994. It’s an extremely rare segment, but I do have an excellent copy of it.
There was a runaway named Michelle Branch who’d been missing for a long time — around ten years, I think, give or take — and she found out she was missing when she saw her own missing child poster in a Wal-Mart or somewhere. She was shocked. She said she’d been a “wild kid” and when she left at age 16 or 17 (it’s been awhile; my memory’s fuzzy) it never crossed her mind that anyone would look for her.