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Ed Solving Missing-Person Cases / Anti-Abduction Tips

AmyStrange said:
Thanks, catsmate. It might take more than a couple days to get a real roundabout number. Some folks might be missed immediately, but others might take a few days, and others might never be missed---hopefully not many of those or none at all.


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I would be surprised if bodies aren't being found next year.
 
AmyStrange said:
I agree, but the problem is three-fold. One, there are 40,000 plus unidentified bodies in the US that still haven't been identified with an average of a thousand more being added every year, two, the family itself has to be in a database somewhere, and three, it's expensive as hell to do.

It's why volunteer organizations like the Doe Network are so important.


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Note that Ashley Flowers (Crime Junkie podcaster) created a non-profit organization Seasons of Justice that provides grants for DNA testing in cold cases. They don't look to be huge amount of funding, probably on the order of $1500 each, according to the reports.
 
pgwenthold said:
Note that Ashley Flowers (Crime Junkie podcaster) created a non-profit organization Seasons of Justice that provides grants for DNA testing in cold cases. They don't look to be huge amount of funding, probably on the order of $1500 each, according to the reports.
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Thanks for the info. pgwenthold.

Here's her website. I can't find where she has more info about her non-profit, and she does have a little bit of controversy surrounding her, but the grant you mentioned sounds legit:

(The following article seems to be paywalled, but here are four paragraphs from the article itself, under the Fair-Use Doctrine)

Podcaster Ashley Flowers Launches Nonprofit to Fund DNA Testing in Cold Cases
By Andrea Marks (July 15, 2021)

Season of Justice will pay for law enforcement agencies' lab tests as well as awareness campaigns for crime victims and their families

"'What I was seeing over and over is, ‘We’ve got these amazing new ways of bringing resolution to cold cases,’ but the funds weren’t there to do it,' Flowers says. 'It was just this gap that [made me think], we can come up with the funding, but we need a way to get it to them, through the proper channels.''

"Flowers has a background interacting with law enforcement, first as a volunteer and then as a board member of Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana. 'I always wanted to be a cold case detective, but I would make a terrible police officer and it just wasn’t going to happen for me,' she says. In 2016, During her time there, she originated a version of her now famous podcast Crime Junkie as a way to draw attention to unsolved cases. Her interest in true crime stems from the same desire to find answers for victims’ families, she explains, something she believes Season of Justice will contribute to. 'I think there is a responsible way to engage with these stories,' she says. 'That’s what we set out to do when I started Audiochuck — if we’re going to be talking about the worst times in families’ lives every single week, what can we do to be responsible with that? How can we… use our voice for education, for advocacy, use the money that we’re bringing in to actually fund non-profits, and make real change in true crime?'

"Flowers quietly founded Season of Justice in June of 2020 with funds from Audiochuck, including from podcast fans who have donated through Patreon or bought merchandise. ''We put on our website ‘A portion of your money is going to go to a nonprofit;’ they just didn’t know which one yet because we hadn’t announced,' Flowers says. Since then private donors have begun contributing, too. After delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the organization got its tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status in early 2021, and today Flowers is announcing the launch.

"Law enforcement agencies in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., or Australia can apply for a grant from Season of Justice by filling out an application on their website indicating what type of testing they want to do and which lab they’d like to use. The lab then bills Season of Justice directly for the testing..."


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AmyStrange said:
Thanks for the info. pgwenthold.

Here's her website. I can't find where she has more info about her non-profit, and she does have a little bit of controversy surrounding her, but the grant you mentioned sounds legit:




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The grant program is a licensed charity, so it's going to have to be responsive to regulation.

Given that she is funding it from proceeds from her Audiochuck business, I don't think there's a concerns she's skimming off the top. I legitimately think that she wanted to be able to fund DNA testing for cold cases, and the way to do that from the business is to funnel it through a 501c3. The business gives to the charity and can write it off. If she wanted to use business proceeds to pay for testing directly, it wouldn't be tax deductable.

Of course with the charity she is also able to fundraise publically.
 
pgwenthold said:
The grant program is a licensed charity, so it's going to have to be responsive to regulation.

Given that she is funding it from proceeds from her Audiochuck business, I don't think there's a concerns she's skimming off the top. I legitimately think that she wanted to be able to fund DNA testing for cold cases, and the way to do that from the business is to funnel it through a 501c3. The business gives to the charity and can write it off. If she wanted to use business proceeds to pay for testing directly, it wouldn't be tax deductable.

Of course with the charity she is also able to fundraise publically.
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I agree. I wasn't questioning the inability of the charity to be responsive to regulation or her skimming off the top.

I think it's an awesome idea, and I love her for doing it. I also saw on her website that she's actually helped solve some 21 doe cases, and I also found the website for the non-profit she organized: Season of Justice.

I also signed up for the newsletter the organization puts out, and I'll be sure to post here any news relevant to missing person cold cases that I get.

Thank you again, pgwenthold, for the information.


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AmyStrange said:
I agree. I wasn't questioning the inability of the charity to be responsive to regulation or her skimming off the top.

I think it's an awesome idea, and I love her for doing it. I also saw on her website that she's actually helped solve some 21 doe cases, and I also found the website for the non-profit she organized: Season of Justice.

I also signed up for the newsletter the organization puts out, and I'll be sure to post here any news relevant to missing person cold cases that I get.

Thank you again, pgwenthold, for the information.


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And I know that you mentioned that there is some controversy surrounding her, but I think that's mostly questions of how much material in her podcasts is totally original and how much she borrows from others. I think she's pretty clear when she is borrowing a lot, and will state up front that they are using a lot of information from someone's book or even someone else's podcast, but I think her strength is in her storytelling ability and that's why she is popular.

(disclosure, I've had email discussions with Ashley over the years over various topics, and we've exchanged dog pictures)
 
pgwenthold said:
And I know that you mentioned that there is some controversy surrounding her, but I think that's mostly questions of how much material in her podcasts is totally original and how much she borrows from others. I think she's pretty clear when she is borrowing a lot, and will state up front that they are using a lot of information from someone's book or even someone else's podcast, but I think her strength is in her storytelling ability and that's why she is popular.

(disclosure, I've had email discussions with Ashley over the years over various topics, and we've exchanged dog pictures)
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Yeah, it's minor crap that you'll hear from anyone who just likes to hate, and being a celebrity, she gets her share. I only mentioned it because it was the first website that came up when I did a google, and I always try to get it all out there rather than try and hide anything. I know if I tried to hide it, some folks in here would give me **** about it. Trust me, it's happened before.

Anyway, the missing and unidentified (and their friends and loved ones, even if it's years later) need all the help they can get. It's one of the major reasons I started this thread, and she is definitely one of the good guys.


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AmyStrange said:
Yeah, it's minor crap that you'll hear from anyone who just likes to hate, and being a celebrity, she gets her share. I only mentioned it because it was the first website that came up when I did a google, and I always try to get it all out there rather than try and hide anything. I know if I tried to hide it, some folks in here would give me **** about it. Trust me, it's happened before.

Anyway, the missing and unidentified (and their friends and loved ones, even if it's years later) need all the help they can get. It's one of the major reasons I started this thread, and she is definitely one of the good guys.


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Looking around at the Seasons of Justice website, it appears the funds can't be used for Doe identification and looks to be only for testing of suspects.
 
pgwenthold said:
Looking around at the Seasons of Justice website, it appears the funds can't be used for Doe identification and looks to be only for testing of suspects.
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Yes, it does seem that the funds are only available for limited purposes, but according to the application page (at least the way it's worded anyway), it can be considered in matters of clear homicide or special circumstances:

"Season of Justice does not fund adult Doe or baby Doe cases where the investigative goal is limited to the identification of the victim. Doe cases may be considered in matters of clear homicide or where special circumstances exist. If you need additional guidance, please contact the Season of Justice staff."
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Otherwise, it's very difficult (if not impossible) to identify suspects if you can't ID the body first. I explain the reason for this here:

AmyStrange

Ed Post in thread 'Solving Missing-Person Cases / Anti-Abduction Tips'

How Some Unsolved Missing Person Cases Are Solved (Pt. 2)

In Part 1, I quickly skimmed over what we did at the Doe Network, and to correct that, here's a little more information.


Finding a missing person is one thing, and that's hard enough, but trying to match up an unidentified body with a missing person is a whole 'nother ball of wax.

Once a body is found, LE immediately cordons off the area, and then photos and measurements are taken. After that, the forensic team takes over and scours the area for any clues and bags anything that remotely seems relevant.

After the body is...

Of course, if foreign DNA is found on or near the body of an unidentified (or identified) victim, that can be used to find suspects, but you would think LE would already be able to do that. There are many examples of this being done today including this one, which is considered one the oldest cold case to have ever been solved using DNA and forensic genealogy.

Although, the forementioned example is not specifically about solving a missing person case (unless you consider a homicide suspect one), forensic genealogy is being used more and more today to not only help solve those type of cases, but also cold case crimes


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AmyStrange said:
Of course, if foreign DNA is found on or near the body of an unidentified (or identified) victim, that can be used to find suspects, but you would think LE would already be able to do that. There are many examples of this being done today including this one, which is considered one the oldest cold case to have ever been solved using DNA and forensic genealogy.

Although, the forementioned example is not specifically about solving a missing person case (unless you consider a homicide suspect one), forensic genealogy is being used more and more today to not only help solve those type of cases, but also cold case crimes
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The way I interpret it, I think her goal is to fund the DNA testing on evidence in cold cases. Take the case where the semen sample has been sitting in the evidence box for 30 years and LE wants to test it but can't because they don't have sufficient cold case funding. SoJ will pay for that DNA, assuming all the other conditions are met.

I know they do a lot of work with the Doe network, but I don't think that's with SoJ funding.

I'm not putting a value judgement on it (it is what it is), but I figured since I brought up SoJ in the context of your discussion of solving missing persons cases, I thought I should clarify having read up on it.
 
pgwenthold said:
The way I interpret it, I think her goal is to fund the DNA testing on evidence in cold cases. Take the case where the semen sample has been sitting in the evidence box for 30 years and LE wants to test it but can't because they don't have sufficient cold case funding. SoJ will pay for that DNA, assuming all the other conditions are met.

I know they do a lot of work with the Doe network, but I don't think that's with SoJ funding.

I'm not putting a value judgement on it (it is what it is), but I figured since I brought up SoJ in the context of your discussion of solving missing persons cases, I thought I should clarify having read up on it.
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Thank you for the clarification, and the info on SOJ.

Hopefully, no one on this forum ever has to deal with a missing friend or a loved one, but it's good to know that there are people out there who care, and that there are resources available to help them cope or find the missing.

And if you love solving mysteries, the Doe Network is one of the best volunteer organizations around to do just that.


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I found the following video very fascinating because of the many different ways and reasons folks have disappeared and also how they were found.

The reasons ranged from being abducted as a baby to surviving 8 days trapped in a car after an accident to running away from a fellow thief who threatened to kill them if they went to the cops. It also highlights the many ways they were found from the use of cell tower data to being shocked at seeing a missing person webpage about themselves to the tenacity of a cop never wanting to give up on the missing.

In my opinion, it's a must-see educational tool for thinking outside the box when looking for a missing loved one:

Top 30 Missing People Who Were Eventually Found


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Speaking of cell towers, here's an interesting case that did end in some tragedy, but it's important to know about because of the way the couple and their two children were eventually found:

Ten years ago, Kim family endured wilderness tragedy
JEFF DUEWEL Grants Pass Daily Courier Dec 2, 2016

"Trouble was, no one knew they were lost, or even overdue. When word got out three days later, the initial search area was huge — much of southwest Oregon, recalled Phil Turnbull, now chief for Rural/Metro Fire Department.
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But it slowly narrowed, as details trickled out, including a cellphone ping discovered by Edge Wireless engineers from a tower near Glendale. They plotted a wedge shape to the west that covered the Bear Camp Road area. But it also covered areas north of the Rogue River, and a week had already passed since the Kims had become stranded."
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The cell tower ping was from a cellphone text from James Kim's wife, Kati, and at first it didn't go through, but as atmospheric conditions changed the cell found a tower and went through.

What's important to remember is that if you get lost in a similar situation and can't get service, it doesn't always matter, because if you send a text, your cell (as long as you keep it on and the battery doesn't die) will keep trying and sometimes (like in this case) the text will go through.

Even then, it still took a while to find them (and in the meantime James died from exposure trying to find his way out), but at least it had a partially happy ending, because Kati and their two daughters were eventually found and all because of a cellphone text.


ETA: This all happened so long ago (almost twenty years) that I'm not exactly sure if it was a text message or just because the Kims kept their cellphone on until the battery died, but regardless because the results were the same.


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AmyStrange said:
Thanks for the update catsmate. I'm glad someone's paying attention to the problems that are going on outside of America. We are, after all, a world community and not isolationist, but unfortunately, that may change soon.


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Well I'm Irish. We're having an election ourselves in a few weeks.
 
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