Mental illness is a much bigger problem than many people realize. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in four adults experiences mental illness in a given year. This equates to approximately 61.5 million Americans.
Here’s how the other numbers break down:
2.4 million people live with Schizophrenia
14.8 million people live with major depression
42 million people live with anxiety disorders
6.1 million people live with bipolar disorder
9.2 million people live with co-occurring mental health and addiction disorders
One Women’s Personal Encounter with Mental Illness
Those statistics hit very close to home for Diana Kim, a Hawaii-based photographer who documented her homeless dad’s life through a series of special photos several years ago.
Growing up, her own father’s mental health dramatically declined. Diagnosed with Schizophrenia, overtime he refused to bathe, eat, or take his medication. He would also see things that did not really exist.
At 5-years-old, her dad left her and her mom. He walked away from his family and opted for a=a nomadic life of living on the streets.
Years later, fate would reunite Kim with her father once again. While shooting a photography project on the streets of Honolulu in 2012, Kim surprisingly located her father among the homeless she was documenting.
In an interview with NBC news, Kim stated, “Some days I would literally just stand there and stare downwards because I couldn’t get myself to see him in the condition he was in. My own flesh and blood, but still such a stranger to me…Many of the photographs were shot haphazardly. The photographer in me knew that these images needed to be created, that I needed to have them as a record for myself — a reminder that this was real even after I walked away.”
As she documented her father’s life as a homeless man, their relationship began to blossom. He eventually got the help he needed in order to begin leading a normal life.
Unfortunately, for many people with mental illnesses — it often goes unnoticed by loved ones. For some people, it can be triggered by a job loss, death of a family member, a bad relationship, imbalance in the brain, etc.
Mental Illness and the Missing: The Connection
Has someone close to you with a mental illness gone missing? If so, you are not alone.
On average, 90,000 people are missing in the USA at any given time, according to Todd Matthews from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs, a national database for missing people.
It’s thought that many have a mental illness. Mental illness can affect someone’s ability to cope with life, which may lead them to decide to go away without telling anyone.
They may vanish to a life of homelessness, as was the case of Kim’s father–or something far, far worse.
Most people believe that mental disorders are rare and “happen to someone else.” In fact, mental disorders are common and widespread. In adults, young adults and adolescents–it’s important to know the signs:
Confused thinking
Prolonged depression (sadness or irritability)
Feelings of extreme highs and lows
Excessive fears, worries and anxieties
Social withdrawal
Dramatic changes in eating or sleeping habits
Strong feelings of anger
Strange thoughts (delusions)
Seeing or hearing things that aren’t there (hallucinations)
Growing inability to cope with daily problems and activities
Suicidal thoughts
Numerous unexplained physical ailments
Substance abuse
If you or someone you know is in crisis now, seek help immediately. Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to reach a 24 hour crisis center or dial 911 for immediate assistance.
Need Help?
Lauth Investigations and Thomas Lauth are experts in helping families locate missing loved ones.
While each missing persons case is different and results will vary, Lauth has been helping families for more than 20 years and boasts nearly an 85% success rate.
If you or someone you know need assistance, call them today at 1.800.889.FIND or 317.951.1100.
More than three months after Peggy McGuire, a nurse, vanished, investigators still don’t know what happened to the young mother. However, family members are not keeping silent. They’ve been very active on the Bring Peggy Home!!! Facebook page–including the missing woman’s own mother who, based on her recent post, believes something bad has happened to her daughter:
The person(s) responsible are not coming forward! I don’t know how you can live with yourself knowing you got rid of my daughter! Pray nothing like this ever happens to one of your loved ones! It’s a feeling of hurt and emptiness wondering if you will ever see her again and not knowing where she’s at! I pray everyday all day someone will come forward! I don’t know why you just didn’t let her go on with her life! You took everything and what do you got nothing! cause you let it control you! God will forgive you but you will live with this thru eternity!!–Betty Davis, Peggy’s mother
Via McIntosh County Sheriff’s Office
The Details
McGuire was last seen dropping her young son off at school outside Eufaula, Oklahoma.
A grainy image captured the next morning around 5:00 a.m. shows Peggy’s Toyota truck being parked at T&J’s Ice House, a rural bar along Highway 9. A dark, unidentified figure can be seen walking away from the vehicle through an early morning storm.
That’s when the trail appears to go cold, leaving family, friends and thousands of complete strangers painfully anxious.
“The Sheriff’s Department is continuing this investigation and have spoke to numerous people as information is discovered. At this point we unfortunately do not have any further information to disclose. Anyone with information regarding this case needs to contact the Sheriff’s Department day or night,” duties wrote on the official McIntosh County Sheriff’s Office official Facebook Page.
The Investigation
Witnesses reported seeing a man leaving Peggy’s vehicle and walking away from it before it was discovered during the search for her.
Forensic evidence has been retrieved from the vehicle and sent for analysis, but no reports have indicated whether or not any of the evidence was relevant to the disappearance of the Oklahoma woman.
The last person to reportedly speak with Peggy was her stepfather, whom she phoned that morning on her way to the home she shares with her son and the boy’s father. She was going to call him back shortly with the measurements for a new deck, her mother said.
Authorities in Oklahoma have not yet addressed whether or not they suspect foul play in Peggy’s disappearance. However, it’s been confirmed that search warrants are being issued in the search for her this week, indicating that detectives are working in at least one specific direction.
Can You Help?
The family of Peggy McGuire is offering a $25,000.00 reward for anyone with information that leads to the location of Peggy or arrest and conviction of the person responsible for her disappearance. PEGGY WAS LAST SEEN AT HER HOME. You may call in ANONYMOUSLY to the McIntosh county Sheriff 918-689-2526 or the OSBI Hotline at 1- 800-522-8017.
Detra Duncan, nicknamed DD, has been missing since before Christmas. Photo from: KSAT 12 News
16-year-old Detra Yvonne Duncan was last seen on Dec. 23 at about 10:30pm near the 200 block of Nacogdoches Road in San Antonio. The area where Duncan disappeared is just blocks away from her school—Alamo Heights High School.
According to the San Antonio Police Department, several facts lead investigators to believe that the Texas teen may have been a victim of human trafficking.
Duncan’s father, Juan Armenta, told reporters from San Antonio’s KSAT 12 News that sheriff’s deputies had found his daughter, on multiple occasions, at the home of an individual that Armenta says has been rumored to participate in human trafficking.
“The second time, they found her with two other little girls there. They said he was involved in trafficking,” Armenta said.
According to a report from KSAT 12, police officials said that they have seen numerous indicators and red flags that point to human trafficking. Officials also said that Detra could be with an adult, Hispanic, male.
Armenta said that he believes his daughter left with this man, in part, because of the fact that she left him a note asking him not to contact police. Armenta also told reporters that his daughter has emotional problems and described her as a recurrent runaway.
Anyone with information about Detra Duncan’s disappearance, or her whereabouts, is being asked to contact either the Heidi Search Center at 210-650-0428 or the San Antonio Police Department at 210-207-7662.
UPDATE: Black and Missing, Inc. posted a statement on their Facebook Page, on February 6, saying that Detra Duncan has been located. No details have been released, but we will report the latest when details have been made public.
Thelma Thomas (second from right) of Merrillville, mother of the missing Rochelle Thomas Stubblefield, listens to investigators Friday (December 12) during a news conference seeking the public’s help in the case. -Damian Rico/Photo (The Times)
Rochelle Thomas Stubblefield of Merrillville, In. was supposed to celebrate her 21st birthday on December 25 with friends and family. She was also supposed deliver her first child on Dec. 15—a boy, who she had already decided to name “Amir”.
However, the 21-year-old went missing on Nov. 10 after attending classes early in the day and going a girls basketball game later on. Her family reported her missing on Nov. 12. Almost three months later, investigators are still unable to locate Stubblefield.
The Calumet College student was attending school on a track scholarship. Calumet College of St. Joseph is a private college that is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. Stubblefield was a criminal justice student who had hopes of becoming a police officer upon graduation.
Stubblefield was proud of her school, and she was last seen wearing a maroon Calumet College sweatshirt, black jeans, and glasses.
Stubblefield’s friends and family are still desperate for answers.
“We need to find her. Help us,” Stubblefield’s cousin, Lajuaina Riley, told the Chicago Tribune in late December, “If anyone has any information, don’t be afraid.”
Police Detective George Dickerson from the Gary Police Department told reporters that investigators do have a person of interest in the case, but declined to comment further. Dickerson did say that this person is someone that Rochelle Stubblefield knows, and that the individual is not cooperating with police.
Investigators have also recovered some personal items belonging to Stubblefield, but would not comment on the location that these items were found.
“We don’t want to compromise the integrity of the investigation,” Detective Dickerson told the Chicago Tribune.
Police did say that they suspect foul play, but were unable to comment any further.
Police are asking anyone with information about the case to call (219) 755-3855 or the anonymous tip line at 866-CRIME-GP.
Jim Will, the father of a missing man from Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, offered a $10,000 reward earlier this month (Jan 5) for any information leading to the arrest or conviction of persons involved in the disappearance of his son, Judge Will.
Jim told reporters at Oklahoma’s KFSM-TV that he does not believe his son is still alive, but is still desperately looking for answers. Will was 39-years-old when he went missing in March of 2014.
“He was at his residence with two individuals and during the interview with those individuals, they say he went outside on the back porch to use his phone and never returned,” Sequoyah County Sheriff Ron Lockhart told KFSM reporters.
The area where Judge Will went missing is a densely wooded area that extends more than 500 acres behind his property.
“Me and some close friends have been out here on four wheelers searching all the hills back behind here, and all the ravines, and roads multiple times in the past two or three days,” Judge’s father, Will, told 5News reporters shortly after his son’s disappearance.
Sheriff Ron Lockhart says that investigators do have persons of interest in the case, but declined to release any names. It’s possible that the individuals who last saw Judge Will are still persons of interest in Will’s disappearance.
Curiously, Lockhart also said that several months ago a woman at a local convenience store told someone that she might know where Judge Will is buried. The area was thoroughly searched and nothing was found, however, Lockhart did say that the woman’s statements led investigators to additional information in the case.
According to Lockhart it is still not clear if there is any foul play in the disappearance. However, he did tell reporters that its possible that the last two people to see Judge Will know something.
“Those two individuals could be lying to us; we don’t really know, but we feel like there is more information that is being withheld,” Lockhart said.
