Written by Peter Jamin, host of "Desperate Search – When People Disappear"

Occasionally, individual, spectacular missing person cases make headlines almost daily in the media. But after a big hype in the newspapers, on television, and on social media, they eventually disappear again into obscurity. 

They fade back into the endless vastness of our society's disinterest in the missing persons and the problems of their surviving relatives. Like the many thousands of other missing cases, they become the neglected computer corpses in the police's Inpol file.

Subject Long-term Missing

Let us think for a moment about the 15-year-old Rebecca Reusch from Berlin. She disappeared from her sister's house four years ago in the morning. Her brother-in-law was suspected of having murdered the girl. Yesterday a daily news story, today forgotten.

In my podcast "Desperate Search", exclusively on Podimo, I report on some of the forgotten long-term missing persons. In a conversation with journalist Claudia Weingärtner, I share the true stories and depict real, shocking fates. 

Decades Gone

There are thousands of missing persons whose disappearances date back many years, often decades. Many of the relatives of these missing people I know personally through my decades-long engagement with the topic of "Missing Persons" and through my volunteer missing person consultations. For example, there is the disappearance of eight-year-old Deborah "Debbie" Sassen from my favorite city of Düsseldorf. 

She vanished on her way to school in 1996. Large search operations by the police. Many headlines in the media. Silence has reigned over this long-term missing person for a long time. If she is still alive, Debbie is now 34 years old.

The Relatives Suffer

The great suffering of the relatives can hardly be imagined by anyone. Families break apart. Affected individuals withdraw from social life. They become ill. The despair drives relatives to other places where they try to build a new life.

Every year, over 100,000 people are registered as missing with the police in Germany. More than 500,000 close relatives are affected. Father, mother, siblings, grandma, grandpa… And just as many friends, neighbors, acquaintances, and colleagues who are affected by the fate of the missing.

Victims of Crimes

Most of the missing persons return home within a year. But more than three percent, that is more than 3,000 adults, children, and adolescents, are classified as long-term missing persons in the police statistics. Many of them have presumably fallen victim to a crime. Kidnapping. Murder. Manslaughter.

With the uncertainty of whether the loved one is alive or dead, and other health-afflicting consequences, our society leaves the relatives alone. There are only a handful of regional initiatives that help. Provide comfort, advise relatives, answer questions, and show ways out of despair. The German state leaves the relatives of missing persons alone. In my podcast, you will find not only stories about the missing but also numerous tips for relatives in missing persons cases. 

You can hear more about the various missing cases where Peter Jamin has helped in the search every Monday in “Desperate Search – When People Disappear”. A new episode every week, exclusively on Podimo.

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