missing person

The Kansas City Police Department created an independent missing persons unit in 2023. Two years later, the department reports progress in its effort to solve missing persons cases. But many in the Black community say the numbers mask impatience and frustration over a lack of attention to cases that drag on for decades.

Sharon Kinne, who fled Kansas City in 1964 after being acquitted of two murders, was the subject of one of the longest outstanding murder warrants in the area. She was convicted of another murder in Mexico in 1964, escaped from prison in 1969 and died in 2022 in Canada.

The 29-year-old from Missouri's Ozarks had last been seen in Budapest, Hungary. He said he was detained earlier this year after crossing into Syria on foot from Lebanon and held in prison until the fall of the Assad regime.

A year after the Kansas City Police Department reinstated its missing persons unit, in response to criticism that officers weren't taken cases of missing Black people seriously, community members are still frustrated by a complicated reporting process.

A Missouri investigative team has helped locate 628 foster kids this year who were missing from state custody, lawmakers were informed this week.

Jaynie Crosdale’s family remembers her as charismatic and able to talk to anyone. Her death has brought up questions about how police handle cases of missing Black women.

A third of missing women in the U.S. are Black. In Jackson County, the death of Jaynie Crosdale, who was reported missing in January and found in the Missouri River in June, renews concerns about how cases of missing Black women are handled by Kansas City Police and other local law enforcement.

A Kansas City woman's escape from an Excelsior Springs home where she was being held captive in October sparked outrage, and confirmed fears within the Black community that police weren’t taking reports of missing Black women seriously. More than a month after Kansas City’s chief of police reinstated the department’s Missing Persons Section, community organizations are still wary.

For months, members of the Black community in Kansas City have shared accounts of missing women, and complained about police dismissing their concerns. In response, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker says her office will implement a "race-blind" charging system.

The family of a missing Black woman began searching for her in June, but say that Kansas City Police officers were dismissive of their concerns. Months later, her body was found buried in a backyard, but police have yet to offer any updates to the investigation.

After Black residents criticized how Kansas City Police were not taking their concerns seriously, Bishop Tony Caldwell and his community group, the Justice and Dignity Center, say they've created a new app aimed at finding missing people.

After the Kansas City Police Department denied community claims of women missing along Prospect Avenue, Black community members are creating their own missing-persons databases other resources to find missing individuals.