Good point. It's hard to finish a puzzle when pieces are missing. Does anyone have a good read on what the relative proportions are among:
- The number of people "missing" overall.
- The number of them who are reported to local authorities.
- The number of the ones who are ultimately reported to NamUs.
- The number of ones that NamUs can confirm and post publicly.
I'd guess the proportions as 80% reported locally vs 65% who are reported to NamUs vs. 60% that are posted publicly by NamUs. (That is 60 out of 100 get reported all the way up the chain.) Those are my own, doubtless plenty wrong, seat of the pants guesstimates.
Here's what
NamUs site has to say on the subject:
"Cases of missing persons 18 years old and younger must be reported, but reporting adult missing persons cases is voluntary. Only a handful of States have laws that require law enforcement agencies to prepare missing person reports on adults. Overall, there is a low rate of reporting these cases through NCIC."
Some of you clearly have a fair amount of experience with this subject. I'd love to hear your estimates.