Tasmania Police is highlighting five missing person cases as part of National Missing Persons Week 2017, which is launched today.
Two recent and three long-term missing person cases are being highlighted this week:
Nazrawi Woldemicheal, aged 20, was last seen in North Hobart on Sunday 9 October 2016. Despite ongoing investigations, there have been no confirmed sightings of him since. Angela Jeffrey, aged 53, was last seen at her home in South Road, Penguin at approximately 2pm on Wednesday 1 June 2016 and her vehicle was located in the State Forest off Browns Creek Road, Bakers Beach, on 3 June. Helen Munnings, aged 20, was last seen in Centrelink, Marine Terrace, Burnie, on 23 July 2008. In 2012, the Coroner declared her to be deceased. The investigation remains open and police are seeking information regarding the circumstances around Helen’s death and the location of her remains. Eve Askew, aged 14, was last seen at her home in Fitzgerald in Southern Tasmania, on Saturday 16 November 1991. Eve left a note indicating her intention to leave home after being grounded by her parents for smoking. Since this time she has not accessed bank accounts nor contacted friends or family. She has not been seen since. There is a reward of up to $100,000 for relevant information which results in the conviction of an offender in relation to the disappearance and/or leads to the whereabouts of her location. Craig Taylor, aged 9, was last seen at his grandparents’ shack at Coningham, in Southern Tasmania on Friday 3 September 1993. In 2014, the Coroner concluded that Craig had most probably drowned but there was still a possibility he had been abducted.
Tasmania Police Missing Persons Coordinator, Sgt Greg Lowe, said:
"Around 125 people are reported missing each year in Tasmania.
"Thankfully nearly all those who are reported missing are located, most of which are found within 48 hours.
"Missing person cases are never closed and any new information is always investigated. There are 156 long term missing people in Tasmania, dating back to 1955. Whilst many of these have been declared deceased by a Coroner, they are still considered missing," Sgt Lowe said, Tasmania Police say.
The key message of National Missing Persons Week 2017 is ‘Still waiting for you to come home’.
The research conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) with data supplied by state and territory police, found three out of five missing persons reports recorded by police related to a young person under the age of 18. Those in the age bracket of 13 to 17 years accounted for 19,000 of the 38,000 or 50% of all missing persons reports recorded by police each year.
There are many terms that relate to ‘missing’, including disappearance, abduction (both stranger and parental), running away, homelessness, squatting, couch surfing, sleeping rough, staying with friends, going walkabout or just heading off. All these terms can be considered as ‘missing’ if there is a concern for a person’s safety and welfare and their whereabouts are unknown. It may be that young people have been reported missing and don’t realise.
When someone goes missing many people are affected: family, friends, colleagues and communities. Not knowing what happened to someone can be devastating for them.
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