KRONENWETTER, Wis (WSAW) -- A mother from Wausau says the laws to report a missing adult need to change after her daughter was found dead five days after she went missing.
Lisa Nagel, the mother of 38-year-old Paula Wopp who went missing on Wednesday, February 13, claims the current laws delayed the investigation and took valuable time from a possible search and rescue.
Unlike children, who have Amber Alerts, and senior citizens, who have Silver Alerts, reporting an adult who doesn’t fall within those categories could be tricky due to privacy laws.
“You would need to prove that the person is in some type of danger in order to have them entered into as a missing person,” explained Chief Terry McHugh of the Kronenwetter Police Department. “We started the search for Paula Wopp the day we were informed she missing, regardless of her not being added to a national missing database.”
In order for police to ping someone’s phone to track a location, a search warrant would need to be requested. The only way to receive a search warrant is if the police can provide proof to the courts that a crime was committed.
However, if there is evidence that shows the missing person is in danger within the first 24 hours, police can ping the victims phone without having a warrant. Wopp’s family was able to provide that evidence but it came after the initial 24-hour period.
Mother of victim: 'Laws to report missing adults need to change'
