Missing Persons training held to help law enforcement investigate local cases

Month after month, case after case, another child or adult has gone missing. Houston police report nearly 350 kids went missing in January alone. The Harris County Sheriff's Office sees similar numbers. Sgt. Bonnie Ewerling with the missing persons unit  says, "we have anywhere from 250 to 350 children reported as runaways every month. Adults probably average about 50 a month some of them come back on their own some of them don't come back and it's where it gets into trying to find out whether or not they left on their own or if there was foul play".

At a conference on missing persons at the training acadmey, experts like former Chicago policeman Brian Killacky are teaching new ways to approach cold caes. "You try to resurrect cases that are contemporary because the instantaneous response and current forensic technology is there but not for the historical cases so we try to show improvements in anthropology all of the various sciences that can be applicable in a case that occurred in a decade that's different from today", says Killacky.

They talked about real-life cases as well. Sgt. Ewerling has worked the Ali Lowitzer case for years. The 10th grader disappeared in 2010 after getting off a school bus and hasn't been seen since. "That is one that has been unsolved that you don't know what, that we are still trying to find out what happened to her", says Sgt. Ewerling.

Sharon Derrick who is the identification manager for the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science says,  "in my experience even though it's always hard on the families even if someone has been missing for 20 something years it is it is so much better for them to actually have the information about what happened so that they can move forward and try to heal".

For Missing Persons Day in Harris County a community event will be held to help families who have missing loved ones. With more information on that, click the link below:

Month after month, case after case, another child or adult has gone missing. Houston police report nearly 350 kids went missing in January alone. The Harris County Sheriff's Office sees similar numbers. Sgt. Bonnie ewerling with the missing persons unit  says, "we have anywhere from 250 to 350 children reported as runaways every month. Adults probably average about 50 a month some of them come back on their own some of them don't come back and it's where it gets into trying to find out whether or not they left on their own or if there was foul play".

At a conference on missing persons at the training acadmey, experts like former Chicago policeman Brian Killacky are teaching new ways to approach cold caes. "You try to resurrect cases that are contemporary because the instantaneous response and current forensic technology is there but not for the historical cases so we try to show improvements in anthropology all of the various sciences that can be applicable in a case that occurred in a decade that's different from today", says Killacky.

They talked about real-life cases as well. Sgt. Ewerling has worked the Ali Lowitzer case for years. The 10th grader disappeared in 2010 after getting off a school bus and hasn't been seen since. "That is one that has been unsolved that you don't know what, that we are still trying to find out what happened to her", says Sgt. Ewerling.

Sharon Derrick who is the identification manager for the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science says,  "in my experience even though it's always hard on the families even if someone has been missing for 20 something years it is it is so much better for them to actually have the information about what happened so that they can move forward and try to heal".

For Missing Persons Day in Harris County a community event will be held to help families who have missing loved ones. With more information on that, click the link below:

https://online.centerforthemissing.org/missing-in-harris-county-day