Searches, locations continue for Delaware's missing persons

Missing persons in Delaware range widely in age and hometown, involving males and females alike.

Most are located quickly, but not all.

Delaware State Police issued multiple missing persons alerts on them from Aug. 14 to Aug. 23.

Females age 14 and 17 from Newark and New Castle, respectively, couldn’t be found. The whereabouts of a 42-year-old Newark male were also unknown.

One female was located while the other remained missing Monday. The male was located Monday, according to authorities.

Two men age 29 and 61 left Bayhealth Kent Campus this month, Dover Police alerted the public.

One was reported found the day of the disappearance, the other three days after. They were from Wilmington and Dover.

A 28-year-old Dover male was reported located one day following an alert.

That same day an 18-year-old Dover male was located after a notification three days earlier.

On Monday, Delaware State Police issued separate alerts for a 36-year-old Hartly female, 12-year-old Smyrna male and 17-year-old Felton male.

The Hartly woman was reported located on Tuesday and there was no update on the others through Wednesday.

The state police alerts came with photos of the missing, along with physical descriptions and note of concerns for their safety.

According to Delaware State Police spokesperson Master Cpl. Lewis Briggs:

• An Amber Alert is part of a national program for the most serious child abduction cases.

• Gold Alerts are for missing persons with a disability, psychiatric emergency, a citizen over the age of 60 years, and children whose disappearance does not meet the criteria for an amber alert but poses a credible threat to the health and safety of the child.

• Green Alerts are to aid in the location of missing members of the armed forces, including veterans.

• Blue Alerts are disseminated to assist in the apprehension of violent criminals who kill or seriously injure local, state or federal law enforcement officers.

On Wednesday, Cpl. Briggs said Delaware State Police Briggs had issued 90 Gold Alerts in 2024. Five remain active, he said.

When it comes to timing, Cpl. Briggs explained, “The outcome of the investigations varies. Some are located within hours, days or sometimes longer.

“The missing person investigation has already begun before the alert has been issued.”

There is no time frame that a person is missing for a report to be made, Cpl. Briggs said.

“We do not disseminate an alert to the public for every missing person case, as outlined by state regulations,” he said.

“If the missing person meets the criteria for one of our alerts, whether that’s Amber, Gold, Green or Blue, we will disseminate to all law enforcement agencies in Delaware, publish a news release and share that to our social media platforms.”

New Castle County Police spokesman Senior Cpl. Richard Chambers said that from Aug. 1 to Monday, the department received 53 calls regarding missing persons.

According to Cpl. Chambers, “It’s important to note that not all these cases involve actual disappearances.

“The number of missing person reports can sometimes be higher than the exact number of actual instances because some reports may come from misunderstandings or increased worry.

“For example, adults go hiking, to the beach, or to a friend’s house (this includes juveniles) without telling their families, leading to worry and missing person reports.”

The New Castle County Police Department posts all missing persons on its nccpdnews.com website and on Facebook.

“We also notify the Delaware State Police, who then inform all police agencies across the state. Additionally, the National Crime Information Center enters every missing person report,” Cpl. Chambers said.

Regarding the results of alerts, Cpl. Chambers said, “Typically, we locate the person within a few hours to a few days. Each missing person case is unique, and the reasons for someone being missing can vary widely.”

Once an alert is activated, Cpl. Chambers said, “Officers will use all available resources to locate the person as efficiently as possible once a report is filed.”

At some point, he said, “If leads run out, detectives will take over and continue the investigation.

“Some cases involve people who have been missing for a long time and are still being handled by detectives.”

Missing persons can be reported by calling 911 or in New Castle County, they can call the non-emergency number at 302-573-2800.

Cpl. Briggs said a reporting person can also respond to a troop or local police department.

In Dover, for an alert to be issued, “There is no time frame for how long they have been missing,” spokesman Master Cpl. Ryan Schmid said.

Cpl. Schmid explained that every circumstance/scenario is different. So it really depends on when we get the information and if we can locate the person before the alert goes out.

“Sometimes, the person may not meet every criteria required but we still feel the need to issue some type of alert, and we’ll do a social media post or news release requesting assistance in locating the person.”

To report a missing person, Cpl. Schmid said, “Call or visit the police department that services the area where the person went missing from. Sometimes this can be confusing, as we don’t service every area with a Dover address.”

Cpl. Schmid encourages anyone wishing to report a missing person in Dover to call 302-736-7111 “and if we determine that another agency should be handling the complaint, we can assist them in contacting the appropriate agency.”

While the number of reports from the public is “really hard to quantify” Cpl. Schmid said Tuesday that Dover Police have already issued at least 24 Gold Alerts.

“That means we confirmed these individuals met the criteria,” he said.

“There have been other times when officers call with concerns but the individual does not meet every criteria. We can issue our own social media post or news release (though) if we can’t get the Gold Alert.”

Cpl. Schmid said every agency issuing an alert is responsible for pushing it out to the public.

“However, the alerts go through the Delaware State Police and are disseminated to law enforcement,” he said.

While the general time for resolutions are hard to pinpoint, Cpl. Schmid said “I would say ours are usually resolved in days, sometimes weeks.”

The transition from issuing an alert to becoming a police investigation is fluid, Cpl. Schmid said.

“There is no hard point where it gets turned from a missing person to a criminal complaint,” he said. “Every situation is different and the circumstances surrounding each case are going to determine what resources are utilized to resolve the case.

“Many of our missing persons are voluntary”

When it comes to active searches by officers, Cpl. Schmid said they “make every attempt to locate the missing person immediately and then the alert goes out, or they are entered into our database as missing.

“However, if there are no leads on where the person may be, the alerts go out and officers are on the lookout for the individual,” Cpl. Schmid said.

“While there may not be a dedicated officer or team actively assigned 24 hours a day, with these alerts, we’re able to get the information out to officers so all officers can look out while they are on patrol.”