Missing and Unheard

Books and movies have time and again shown stories, both fictional and facts, about the timeless tales of crime and their victims. Stories like “Kiss the girls” (where beautiful and intelligent young women are kidnapped by the mysterious Casanova), and “Gone but not forgotten” are some of the most memorable tales of people being placed under the trust of those who happen to be the guilty, or those placed under wrong suspicions.

From domestic violence to those that even involves the government, time and again have we reflected on the situations that cause disturbances within our own home that there are times we don’t know whether we could even trust ourselves and the decisions we make. But of all the criminal activities ever committed the most troubling perhaps is that of the child kidnapping. Some are found; most are missing.

Kidnapping is detaining a person as hostage against his or her will. To picture a child being together with a kidnapper in an unknown room, nothing but plea for family is more than just a heartbreaking thought. The feeling of helplessness is but torture to the onlookers, more so for the family of the victim. For them it is death.

According to FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC), the number of missing persons that was reported from 1982 to 2000 has increased at 468%. What is more staggering is the fact that there are even times that someone trusted and known, or more so related is the perpetrator himself. In the US, 49% are what we categorized as “family kidnapping”. “Acquaintance kidnapping” is 27%, while a “stranger kidnapping” ranks lowest with 24%.

There are ways that can help prevent this from happening. Doing a background check is one way that can secure the family. A Background check can be done through private investigators or through law enforcement themselves. There are even times that this has been great help in detecting a serial killer or kidnapper for that matter by means of their background both of family and, if there are, criminal. Even health has become an issue in going through a background check.

A family makes the greatest contribution in the community, and the child is its warmth. With a family in jeopardy the rest are shattered. There is nothing far more devastating than the unheard cries of the helpless victims of kidnapping—them missing and the rest unknowing whether they are dead or yet to be found.