Three dollars

Hey guys, the Charley Project is asking you for something: three dollars.

For three dollars a month, less than the price of a McDonald’s milkshake, you can help maintain one of the largest, most detailed missing persons databases online, a major tool for getting the information out there about cold cases.

If everyone who viewed the Charley Project on a daily basis donated just three dollars each month, that would be enough that the administrator could keep it as a full-time job and not have to cut back on missing persons work.

In exchange, this important tool can still be used by hundreds of thousands of people around the world, including law enforcement, journalists, podcasters, missing persons’ families, bloggers, amateur sleuths, and more.

If you can only afford to give two dollars or one dollar, that’s fine. If you can give more, terrific—any amount is appreciated.

You can use PayPal to donate to administrator@charleyproject.org. If you go to any Charley Project casefile, the PayPal button is at the top. Type in the amount, check the box that says “make this a monthly donation” and follow the steps.

It’s very easy and very, very much appreciated.

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month: Rachel Mellon

In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I am profiling one Asian or Pacific Islander MP for every day of the month of May. Today’s case is Rachel Marie Mellon, also known as Rachel Mellon Skemp, a thirteen-year-old girl who disappeared from Bolingbrook, Illinois on January 31, 1996. She is listed as Asian, but I think she may have some Caucasian ancestry as well.

Rachel had stayed home sick from school on the day of her disappearance. Her stepfather, Vince Mellon, said she was lying on the couch when he went to take the dog for a walk, and when he came back, she was gone.

Vince himself has been a suspect in Rachel’s case for years, though. Rachel had written in her diary that he kissed her and touched her inappropriately, and he had scratches on him after her disappearance. There just isn’t enough evidence at present to charge anyone, however.