Time Clock in Missing Person Cases

Last week Devin Ivey, 22, disappeared while with her husband from a budget motel in South Carolina on June 9, 2011. Her family immediately contacted law enforcement when they suspected something was wrong.

In many cases, when a person goes missing and they are married or in a relationship, friends and family can be hesitant to alert the authorities. The reason is the person is an adult and if they had little to no contact with the loved one they may wait it out for a few days, or sometimes weeks. In this case thank goodness the family acted immediately. Devin Ivey was a victim of intimate partner abuse that resulted in homicide.

Law enforcement wasted not one second looking for the young woman. The Cue Center for Missing Persons and their tireless volunteers were also called in for the search. The organization, headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, assists thousands of families each year with support on what to do, how to get the word out for their loved one, and a 24-hour access to volunteers who are there for the families of the missing.

Locating Devin Ivey, in my opinion, was because of trained law enforcement working in cooperation, certified and skilled searchers and dogs trained, and also certified, to recover bones and bodies.

Recovery of Devin Ivey was from the Cue's Center for Missing Persons own "Oscar" a certified live scent dog, and certified volunteer searchers, Bernie Thornton and Connie Braddock.

The CUE Center is now in Valliant, Oklahoma where they will search for Hope Meek over the weekend. In part because one hell of a detective with OSBI continued to work this case. The leads and tips provided is why the CUE Center will be searching for her.

Hope Meek resided on Section Line Road in Valliant, Oklahoma with her husband and their three young children. Her husband told authorities that he saw Meek inside their home during the day on February 21, 2002. She has never been heard from again. She not reported missing for five days.

Time on a clock, especially in cases of intimate partner violence, means everything the moment someone goes missing. The success of finding Devin Ivey was because searchers and trained volunteers were brought in immediately.Most importantly, the case was registered with a missing persons organization.

Each day we hear or see missing persons cases involving wives, girlfriends and mothers, husbands, boyfriends and fathers. The families are frozen with trauma and the fear of not knowing what steps to take; especially as it relates to a spouse or significant other. They are often afraid to rock the boat with that person. A family does not want to believe the person with whom their loved one is in a relationship with could be capable of harm.

If you want to find a missing person, allowing the trail to go cold without trained searchers is, in my opinion, a crime. That is your loved one. Aside from making a missing persons report, if you are a family member, either register with a missing persons agency or request that law enforcement contact an organization immediately so you, as a family member, know what direction and steps you need to take. They will work with you and law enforcement to combine efforts on your behalf.  CUE Center for Missing Persons can be reached online at http://ncmissingpersons.org or by phone for assistance with registering your case.

The CUE Center is the "red cross" to search and recovery and depends on the public for support. The next time you apply for a Visa Card or when your current card is about to expire click the link below and know that each time you use the special Visa charge card it's a charge in searching for the missing:

http://www.ncmissingpersons.org/apply-for-a-visa-platinum-card-and-help-the-missing/

Monica Caison is the founder of the CUE Center for Missing Persons an organization dedicated to bringing home the missing, and giving resolution to families with a missing loved one. Monica and CUE do this through advocacy and physical ground searches all over the country without cost to the family. 


Monica works 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year to help over 9000 familes since CUE’s inception in 1994. Even more remarkable, Monica never takes a paycheck!

Caravan "Catching a Killer" and DNA

Brutally raped and murdered, Brittany Phillips will never get the chance to experience her mother's warm embrace again. While away at Tulsa Community College, Brittany and her mother, Margaret Zingman, regularly talked every Monday and Thursday. These weekly phone calls would soon end the night a police officer knocked onDr. Margaret Zingman's door, to inform her that her daughter had been raped and murdered.

For Brittany's mother, such violence against her daughter is all too familiar. "All my work did not prepare me for the events of Sept. 30, 2004"
As a psychologist at Mabel Basset Correctional Center, and a trauma therapist for 17 years, Dr.Margaret Zingman could never imagine her personal experiences and work with other victims would run parallel with the death of her daughter. The stories she hears on a daily basis from the women she works with is now a harsh reality for her. With a donated van, Dr. Maggie Zingman prepared for her first road trip in 2007. Since then she has driven to countless states and cities in hopes of catching a killer. Now, thousands of miles, caravan trips, and over 2,000 ruled out DNA possible suspects later, she continues visiting homicide units, college campuses, and sporting events like the PGA tour, passing out the killer's information in hopes someone may provide a tip or a lead.

Her daughter, Brittany Phillips, was found raped and suffocated inside her Tulsa apartment in 2004. Britty, as she's called, was buried on her 19th birthday.

When she has saved up enough vacation days at work, using her own money she carefully plans the road trips driving in towns across America in her SUV, a moving billboard that literally tells the tragic details of a young woman's life abruptly taken away.

Dr. Zingman understands the new technologies that allow tiny bits of DNA found at crime scenes to be scooped up and tested. While on the road she spreads the word of new federal and state laws requiring law enforcement to collect DNA samples from people convicted of-- or simply arrested for -- nonviolent crimes, including shoplifting. She is advocating for every State to do a DNA test upon arrest.

Police have Brittany Phillip's murderer's DNA and because of this "Teflon mom" thousands of men have been tested, but no killer has been found, leaving Brittany's mother motivated to continue to ride in search of the man who brutally took her child's life. Some would argue that Maggie is looking for a needle in a haystack and the killer may be never be found. "Once chance in a million, is better than no chance at all."

Dr. Maggie Zingman plans to do another road in a few weeks. She will not stop until Brittany's killer is found.

You can hear her remarkable journey to "catch a killer" at 9:00 PM Eastern Time Tonight on Crime Wire.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/crimewire

http://www.brittanyphillipsmurder.net/

Susan Murphy Milano is with the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education. She is an expert on intimate partner violence and homicide crimes. For more information visithttp://www.saferelationshipsmagazine.com/ She is also in partnership with Pamela Chapman and iAscend Programs. http://pamelachapmanl.biz

Susan is the author of "Time's Up A Guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships," available for purchase at the Institute, Amazon.com and wherever books are sold. Susan is the host of The Susan Murphy Milano Show, "Time's Up!" on Here Women Talkhttp://www.herewomentalk.com/and is a regular contributor to the nationally syndicated The Roth Show with Dr Laurie Roth. Susan is a survivor- the daughter of a police officer family intimate partner homicide by her father who murdered her mother before committing suicide.