ORIGINAL ARTICLE, PHOTOS, AND MORE INFO CAN BE FOUND HERE:
http://muskogeephoenix.com/local/x1037667133/The-missing-are-not-forgotten

Police, family continue to search for those who vanished
By Donna Hales Phoenix Staff Writer

- Two decades have passed since Nathella Williams last spoke with her daughter - and time is running short.

"I want to see my child - I'm getting older," said Williams, 79, a retired school teacher. "Nobody just vanishes off the face of the earth. Somebody knows something."

Three young girls awoke in their home at Silver Leaf Apartments in Haskell around 6 a.m. May 5, 1988. Their mother, Kassaundra Denise Williams Patterson, 33, at the time, was nowhere to be found.

Aside from a Mother's Day phone call one year later - ending almost immediately with an abrupt dial tone - Williams has had no contact with her daughter.

Law enforcement knows finding a missing person such as Patterson is not an easy task. There are at least six missing person cases in the Muskogee Police Department files alone.

Solving a missing persons case - especially those of adults - can be very difficult.

"I'm an adult, and I can go missing right now - because I want to," said Tulsa Police spokesman Leland Ashley. "All adults reported missing are not missing."

Muskogee Police Lt. Bobby Lee agrees.

"If someone doesn't want to be found, it becomes very difficult for us to find them," Lee said. "Often, family or friends will hide them."

But police need to know that an intentionally missing adult is all right, he said. Police here have been contacted more than once by a supposed missing adult from out-of-state, Lee said. The adult might ask police to quit looking for them but not tell the person who reported them missing.

"We've advised that person to go to the police station where they are, show their identification and have them get in touch with us," he said. "Once we've confirmed they're all right, we'll take them off the missing list."

Police don't tell the person who reported the missing person where they are in such cases, Lee said.

It's harder to find missing adults when they don't get a driver's license, apply for benefits or pay bills, Lee said.

"And a runaway child might stay with someone where their name doesn't have to go into any kind of system, including school or a social program," he said. "If the child has to depend on a family member, it's easier to find them."

There is a common misconception that people must be missing for 48 hours before police will initiate a search.

There is no time wait to report a person missing in Tulsa or Muskogee, and it's been that way for more than 20 years, they said.

"If your kid's been missing five minutes - we'll get out there," Lee said.

Lee and Ashley said there are some steps that can be taken if a loved one goes missing:

- Report the person missing immediately.

- Start calling everyone the missing person knows and tell them that person is missing - "make sure no one has seen them," Lee said.

- If you feel that a missing person is in danger or a danger to themselves, or were taken against their will - get a picture to the media.

Police can depend on family members and friends to locate their missing loved ones, Lee said.

"They know their children's habits, where they hang out and what they like to do," he said.

Sometimes relatives feel police are asking too many questions, he said. You can't ask too many questions when someone is missing, because you don't know which answer will lead you in the right direction, Lee said.

Some missing person cases reach deeper into an investigator's psyche.

Jamie Michelle McChurin of Muskogee was 16 when she disappeared without a trace from Muskogee on March 18, 1997.

"Still, to this day, it just turns my stomach," Lee said. "I want to find this girl so bad for her mom."

He talks to McChurin's mother, who has moved from Muskogee, on a regular basis.

Police have followed hundreds of leads, Lee said.

"We've used canines ... drug lakes," he said.

As late as last August, investigators made a trip to Hominy on a tip that led nowhere, Lee said.

Investigator Lynn Hamlin recently inherited the case. Lee said the case will remain open as long as McChurin remains missing.

And that is the case in Patterson's disappearance, too.

More than 20 years later, Patterson's family continues to find ways to bring her home.

The family is offering a $5,000 reward to see if someone will tell what they know about Patterson's disappearance, said Patterson's sister, Seqwendolyn Johnson.

"It's hard on my mom, and before she declares her daughter deceased, I am trying this last time," Johnson said. "You never know what can pop up more than 20 years later."

You can help

Anyone with information about Kassaundra Denise Williams Patterson, first reported missing on May 5, 1988, at the age of 33, is being asked to call Haskell Police Chief Kermit Thomas at 482-5244 or Chief Deputy Terry Freeman at the Muskogee Sheriff's Office, 687-0202.

Child safety program

Every 40 seconds a child is reported missing in the United States, according to A Child is Missing, a first responder organization for law enforcement.

In operation since 1997, ACIM assists law enforcement at no cost. Funding comes from federal funds and grants.

The program operates in all states except Hawaii and responds 24-7, 365 days a year.

ACIM assists in not only in missing children cases but also in elderly, mentally challenged or those with Alzheimer's who have wandered off.

Its technician records an individual alert message, which is phoned out to the area where the child was last seen. It can place up to 1,000 calls in 60 seconds. There is a 98 percent listen rate by residents or businesses answering phones. Call recipients are asked to call police with any information they have about the missing person.

Since 1997, A Child Is Missing has received more than 18,000 calls for assistance from law enforcement and has placed more than 20 million alert calls to resident.

It works in concert with Amber Alert and all child safety programs, but should not be confused with the Amber Alert, which is designed for stranger abductions, geographically removed from their area of disappearance.

Law enforcement needs no special equipment or personnel to activate ACIM.

McIntosh County Sheriff Mike Daniels said last week that his office has recently signed up with ACIM and will be using its services.

Information:
http://www.achildismissing.org

Reach Donna Hales at 684-2923 or dhales@muskogeephoenix.com.

© 2010 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.

Associated Press content © 2010. All rights reserved. AP content may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.