COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Currently, over 1,000 people are missing from the state of Ohio.
Lori Davis has been an advocate for missing people since 2006, offering guidance and support to over 100 families whose loved ones have vanished, including those of Brian Shaffer and Tyler Davis. She has also completed a training program for victim advocates through the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and helped bring attention to numerous unsolved disappearances. View NBC4’s previous coverage of the Brian Shaffer March for the Missing featuring Lori Davis above.
In her nine years of experience, she has developed tips on what to do if a family member goes missing, and how to maximize the chances of bringing them home.
Record all the details
The first thing Davis said she would do when a loved one goes missing is try to remember as many details as possible about what the person looked like that day, such as what they were wearing. Family members should write this down along with the person’s physical characteristics, including their hair color, eye color, tattoos, scars or any other identifying characteristics.
“Get as many details as possible about the situation where they were last seen, what their mental status was,” Davis said. “Were they angry? Were they fighting with someone?”
Davis recommends collecting photos to give to law enforcement, and ensuring that those images accurately reflect what the person currently looks like. Davis said once some or all of that basic information is collected, she would contact the local police department where the person went missing.
Contact law enforcement
Individuals should contact law enforcement quickly when they have reason to believe a loved one is missing, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. There is no law in place in Ohio or nationally requiring a 24-hour waiting period to report someone missing. Davis said sometimes police departments will have a preference to do so.
“Sometimes, they’ll be told, you know, well, you have to wait so long,” Davis said. “I would push back on that and say I still want a report taken.”
Davis said she recommends advocating for a Missing Adult Alert, Ohio’s statewide emergency alert system for seniors, if the person is at least 65 years old or has a mental impairment. Parents of missing minors can also push for an Amber Alert, but law enforcement must have reason to believe an abduction has occurred and the child is in danger in order to send one out.
While some families may be hesitant to disclose drug use or mental health issues, Davis said she recommends being as honest as possible.
“If you go looking for me and I have no drug use … you’re probably going to look in different areas then you’re going to look for someone that might have those issues,” Davis said. “That way you’re spending your time looking in the areas that might be most useful.”
If law enforcement is adamant about waiting a period to look for the missing individual, Davis recommends traveling routes they may have recently taken, especially if the missing person was last known to be driving.
“Look for any signs that a car could have went off the road and look in areas that you don’t even feel like a car could go off the road,” Davis said. “I would gather as many friends, family, everybody that I could get to start looking.”
Davis said she has been involved in cases where family members have retraced the missing persons’ steps and found them themselves.
“If they went missing from an apartment or their own house or something like that, I would treat that as a crime scene,” Davis said. “I would not let people come in and start staying there while they look. You never know what evidence might be in that location.”
Family members should reach out to law enforcement “very frequently” and ask about what specifically they are doing, according to Davis. They may decline to provide information citing an “open investigation.” In that instance, Davis suggests asking pointed questions, such as if the family should be collecting DNA or taking any specific actions to help.
Enter the missing person in databases
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs, is a database of missing people and unidentified remains. The program provides a singular national resource for law enforcement, medical examiners, coroners and the general public. Dental records, fingerprints and DNA profiles can also be uploaded to the database. NamUs has helped solve tens of thousands of missing persons cases through identifying remains.
Davis said she would ask police if they are going to enter the missing person in NamUs. If they are not, family members can enter the individual themselves.
Davis also recommends contacting the Ohio Attorney General’s Office to get the missing person listed in the state’s database. This can also help law enforcement easily access and compare missing people with unidentified remains, as well as publicize the case.
If the missing person is under 18, Davis said family members can contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The nonprofit provides support to families and lists missing children in its national database.
Public awareness and support
Public awareness can be crucial in solving a missing persons case since it gives more people the opportunity to recognize the individual. Along with trying to get news coverage, Davis said she recommends creating missing persons flyers and posting them around the area.
“Make sure you’re always in a buddy system at least, if not in a bigger group,” Davis said. “We’ve had great success in that, actually.”
Social media can also be a helpful resource to garner attention, Davis said, but it can also have its drawbacks.
“Be cautious because people out there are keyboard warriors,” Davis said. “They will say anything they feel at that moment, they will accuse people, they will say the brother did it, the sister did it and they do not care whose feelings they hurt and they do not care how they slander somebody.”
Podcasts can also be a valuable tool, but Davis said families should do their research to ensure the podcaster has pure intentions and that they are okay with their style of storytelling. Davis also suggested reaching out to other families of missing people for support and advice.