In recent years, missing person cases have begun to garner more media attention and bring
to light important issues within our society.
There are multiple reasons that a person may go missing, some of which add a layer of complexity
to an already difficult case.
In some circumstances, there is a happy ending where a missing person is found alive.
5 - Angelica Gaitan In September 2020 a bizarre news story broke
that left the international community scratching their heads, it quickly became one of the
strangest solved missing person cases in recent history and is still talked about to this
day.
On September 26th 2020 fishermen off the coast of Puerto Colombia discovered a woman floating
in the middle of the ocean, video footage shows the woman laid on her back with her
arms to her chest and her eyes closed.
The fishermen brought the woman onboard and immediately contacted the authorities, telling
them that the woman was very weak and had been floating towards them.
After bringing her aboard their ship, the fisherman tried to communicate with the woman
in both English and Spanish but they were unable to get any information from her.
During their attempts to communicate, the fishermen said that the woman became very
upset and began crying and shouting irrationally.
She was quickly transferred to the nearest hospital where she was treated for dehydration
and hypothermia.
It was during this time that the Colombian authorities made a stunning realisation.
The woman found floating in the ocean was in fact missing 46-year-old Angelica Gaitan
who had gone missing in 2018 from Colombia.
Her daughter told Colombian Newspapers that her mother mysteriously cut all contact with
her in 2018 and that she had been looking for her ever since.
Angelica’s family and the public crowdfunded money to help with the costs of getting her
home and the cost of medical and psychiatric treatment.
In an interview for the New York Post, Angelica said that she disappeared in 2018 because
she was running away from an abusive relationship.
For the next two years, she drifted between different shelters and found herself in a
deep depression.
She claims that she jumped into the sea and “blacked out after that.”
Angelica’s family are planning to move her to Bogota where they can help her with her
treatment and recovery.
4 - Stephen Coleman 60-year-old Stephen Coleman was last seen
on December 20th 2020 on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon by a friend.
According to the friend, Stephen left his belongings with him whilst he went on a short
hike, assuring him that he would be back soon.
Stephen never returned to his friend and according to the Missing NPF website, he was reported
missing on December 20th 2020 hours after his friend had last made contact with him.
There are however conflicting reports, with WVLT 8 reporting that the National Parks Service
was only made aware of Stephen’s disappearance in February 2021.
What we do know is that on February 6th 2021 the Grand Canyon Rangers assisted by search
and rescue teams began a missing person investigation and search for Stephen.
The exact details of the search have not yet been released to the public and the NPS commented
that “Stephen may be transient and travelling in the Arizona area from Maine.”
On February 7th 2021 Stephen’s case was officially solved when the Grand Canyon National
Park Service successfully located him alive and well.
In a tweet, they wrote “Missing Person located on February 7th at approximately 12:00 pm.
Stephen Coleman was located outside of Grand Canyon National Park.
Coleman is safe and in good health and is no longer reported as a missing person.”
There have been no other updates on Stephen since his miraculous discovery and the National
Park Service has declined to comment on Stephen’s case.
Regardless of the circumstances of his disappearance, we’re just happy that he is home safe and
well.
3 - Blanca Mabel Otero Álvarez Blanca Mabel Otero Alvarez spent much of her
childhood in Argentina after her family moved there following the Spanish Civil War.
Blanca and her brother, Jose Luis were only young when the move happened, so they had
no trouble fitting into the new customs and lifestyle in Argentina.
For years, the Alvarez family did their best to start their new life in Argentina but always
yearned for their homeland of Spain.
Then in 1973, when Blanca was 21 years old, she and her family returned to Saelices de
Saberotheir former hometown in Spain to pick up where they had left off.
Blanca took no time at all to settle into her new life and according to her brother,
Jose Luis, they always felt more Spanish than Argentine anyway.
After moving back to the small village where their parents had lived, Blanca set about
looking for work but found that it was much harder to find a job in Spain.
After months of searching, Blanca found work with Spain’s rail network which was a far
cry from her previous job as a teacher.
Nevertheless, Blanca was happy to finally have a job and moved to the city of Leon to
kick start her career and begin her adult life.
Blanca made sure to visit her parents every weekend but as the years passed, these visits
became less and less frequent.
For over 20 years, Blanca worked at the rail network, occasionally travelling to see her
family.
That was until one day in 1995 when Blanca mysteriously cut all contact with her family.
Her brother told newspapers “Then one day, she was working and then she just disappeared.
She left her clothes, everything.
She didn’t take anything with her.”
Despite not hearing from Blanca, her family decided not to report her missing in 1995
as it is not “what their father would have wanted”.
Instead, they waited until 1997 to file a report, fearing that something terrible had
happened to her.
The Police tirelessly searched for Blanca and reported back to her family that they
had apparently made contact with her and that she did not wish to speak to her family.
Blanca’s family waited for any sign of her but as the years passed, it appeared that
she had simply vanished into thin air.
In 2005, she sent a letter to her family, asking them for forgiveness and promising
them that she would be in contact with them very soon, but this contact never came, once
again, Blanca mysteriously vanished, leaving her family with hundreds of unanswered questions.
Her brother told Spanish newspapers “The police waited for her to renew her ID card,
her driving licence but she never did.
We assumed the worst and just wanted to find out the truth.”
Then in August 2020, Blanca’s family received some shocking news, their missing loved one
who had evaded authorities had finally been discovered alive in Pola de Siero, Asturias.
The mystery only deepened when Spanish authorities revealed that they had located the missing
woman following another missing person report about a woman named Eva.
It turns out that Blanca had been living under the assumed name of Eva for the last few years.
The Spanish authorities reported that Blanca’s neighbours had called them to perform a wellness
check after they hadn’t seen her for a few days.
In the call, one resident said “We haven’t seen our neighbour, Eva for days.
She lives alone and we’re worried that something might have happened to her.”
Upon entering the apartment, they found Blanca in a state of confusion and in a bad condition.
After searching through databases and contacting Blanca’s family, they were able to make
a positive identification and close her missing person's case.
Blanca was transferred to the HUCA Hospital where she was treated for her condition.
There have been few updates in Blanca’s case and we are still unsure why she mysteriously
disappeared and lived under a new identity.
2 - Reatha May Finkbonner 30-year-old Reatha May Finkbonner and a small
group of friends made the trip from their home in Bellingham, Washington to Las Vegas,
Nevada in September 2021.
The trip was supposed to be a happy one and a chance for everyone to let their hair down
for a short while before returning to their normal lives.
However, on September 3rd 2021, Reatha’s family received a call that turned their world
upside down.
On the other end of the line were Reatha’s friends who said that they had been separated
and that they couldn’t find her anywhere.
Her family sprung into action and immediately reported her missing, prompting a search of
the Las Vegas area but to no avail.
According to Reatha’s friend, Siva Jacobs, Reatha was last seen on the evening of September
3rd 2021 outside of the Bridger Inn Hotel talking to an unknown person and asking them
to use their phone to call her fiance.
Call logs show that Reatha had attempted to call her fiance 4 times but was unable to
reach him and her movements after that are unclear.
Reatha’s family along with members of the Lummi Nation, the Lhaq’temish a charity
Foundation and MMIW USA made the 1,196-mile trip to conduct their own search for her and
highlighted the disparity in reporting when it comes to missing Indigenous women in the
USA.
Each year, thousands of Indigenous women go missing but their stories rarely see the mainstream
attention that other cases garner.
When Reatha’s friends embarked on the trip to Las Vegas, they had no idea that their
friend would become the centre of a creepy missing person case and held out hope that
she would be found safe and sound.
Amazingly on September 23rd 2021, 20 days after she was reported missing, Reatha was
found at the Fremont Street Experience casino mall in downtown Las Vegas.
Reatha’s family along with the friends that accompanied her on the trip were informed
shortly after and were elated to hear that their loved one had been found safe and sound.
Siva Jacobs told the Seattle Times that so far she hasn’t had the chance to catch up
with Reatha and ask her what happened but she is glad that she has been located safely.
Lummi Nation Chairman Lawrence Solomon made a statement on behalf of Reatha’s family
and the community saying “We raise our hands to Reatha’s family, who have been tireless
in trying to locate her.
We raise our hands to the entire Lummi community, our relatives throughout Indian Country and
all those who brought attention to her case in an effort to ensure her safety.”
1 - Harry Burleigh 69-year-old Harry Burleigh kissed his wife,
Stacy goodbye and headed out of the front door of their home in Roseburg, Oregon.
Harry was headed for Toketee Lake in Umpqua National Forest for an overnight fishing trip,
something that he had done hundreds of times before.
He spent the day of May 5th 2021 fishing for German brown trout on his kayak, telling The
News-Review “I caught a couple of nice ones, kissed them on the snout and let them go.”
As the afternoon progressed, the weather began to change and as the wind speeds picked up,
it became too hard for Harry to control his kayak.
Not wanting to waste the afternoon, Harry decided to pack up his stuff and move over
to Twin Lakes hoping that the weather would be calmer over there.
According to Harry, he made his way up a steep road in his car before arriving at the trailhead.
Harry told The News Report “The trail was only a mile and a quarter and I thought, I
can dash that.”
but Harry was wrong.
At some point along the trail, Harry took a wrong turn and found himself lost deep in
the woods.
He tried to turn back but became disorientated by his vast surroundings.
Hours quickly turned into days and back home, his wife Stacy began to panic but was under
the belief that she needed to wait 48 hours in order to file a missing person report.
Finally, on May 7th, Stacy called the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and reported her
husband as missing.
The search and rescue team responded almost immediately and began their search and rescue
efforts.
It wasn’t until 17 days later on May 23rd 2021 that search and rescue teams came across
a makeshift shelter deep in the woods of the Umpqua National Forest.
Searchers began calling Harry’s name once they discovered the shelter and were shocked
to hear a voice replying back to them.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement “He was found to be walking
and complaining of minor pain but was in stable condition.
A Brim Aviation helicopter was utilized to hoist Burleigh from his location and transport
him to a waiting Lifeflight helicopter.”
Harry is still in recovery from the numerous injuries he sustained during his 17 days in
the forest, he lost 28lbs along with suffering from dehydration, hypothermia and gastrointestinal
problems.
Despite his ordeal, Harry maintains a positive outlook saying “I left that mountaintop
with something I didn’t have before.
My body was beaten beyond what it could give.
My mind was stretched beyond what I thought I could do.
But my life spark, that loving energy that we have inside of us, was filled.”