On it’s website, the New York Police Department maintains a section which is dedicated to missing persons. Mostly, these are old cases, i. e. the missing persons have be unaccounted for 10, 15 or more years.
The first time I checked this website must have been around 1998 or so when I got my first computer with an internet connection. Back then, there was a case which, for some strange reason, I still remember: It was about a young boy, maybe 10 or 12 years old, who went missing in Manhattan in the early 1930s (if I recall correctly). The description of the case included a black and white picture of the boy who was dressed well and who appeared to be from an affluent family. Some day, this child disappeared from the face of the earth in broad daylight and was never seen again.
This case is no longer featured on the NYPD website, but I was wondering: For how long is it actually reasonable to keep looking for a missing person? 15 years ago, the boy in question would already have been in his 80s, if he still had been alive. His parents, other adults who cared for him and especially the perpetrator of the crime (assuming he was the victim of crime) were probably long deceased.
So what was the reason for still investigating such an old case? I can only imagine that this particular case must have had some historical significance.
Judge Crater was a very famous case from that time in New York as well. It appears that they closed the case in 1979. I’m not sure they closed it because of the time elapse or because, by that year, Crater would have been 90. If so, he could plausibly be alive at the time the case was closed. I recall minor stories and references to this case into the 1980s.
They’ll never “find” them per say, because they broke up in 1986. Dale Bozzio and Warren Cuccurullo have made a few attempts at a reunion tour, but without Terry Bozzio they haven’t had much success.
In the case of Joseph Crater, I guess, it can be argued that this was (a) a high-profile case per se and (b) probably the murder of a sitting judge. Keeping this case open for about 50 years seems appropriate.
But this has to be the exception, hasn’t it? I’m still wondering about this child from Manhattan they were still looking for after more than 60 years.
Not only that, their CDs are long out of print. You can still find them on eBay, but expect to pay up to $400 for Rhyme & Reason alone.
Anyway…
The police never “give up” in the sense that they throw up their hands and stop looking. It’s just that, as time goes on, evidence becomes more and more scarce, and the chance of actually finding the person alive greatly decreases. You also have to remember that in most cases, the missing person (1) doesn’t want to be found, or (2) in the case of children, were abducted by a non-custodial parent or other relative (who is also likely to be missing.) All this doesn’t prevent the police from checking up on a new lead that appears several years after the disappearance, however.