Welcome to the Missing Persons Uncovered Podcast.

This series of episodes gets beneath the surface of an emergency nations are facing across the world. Every year 155,000 people go missing in the UK alone. What does it mean to go missing? Why do some people make the choice to disappear? And how can we protect our vulnerable loved ones better?

Caroline Humer and Karen Shalev set out to hear first-hand experiences of those who have experienced missing persons cases, seeking the people behind the statistics. Listen in on revealing conversations with professionals and practitioners who are working to challenge myths and raise awareness around this much misunderstood social and personal issue.

Combining Caroline’s 20 years of experience working as a child protection expert with Karen’s 14-year academic mission to understand the world of missing persons and their protection, the team invites you to join them in sharing knowledge on how we can protect society’s most vulnerable people. 

Season 2 – Episodes

Season 1 is availabe here.

A new episode will be released bi-weekly

1. How abductions are treated in South America ft. Leticia Risco

2. How do missing persons cases become homicides? ft. Lt. Paul Belli

In this episode, Lt. Paul Belli, President of the International Homicide Investigation Association (IHIA) explains the complexity of homicides investigation and in particular those which start as a missing person case. Caroline and Paul explore what makes these cases so complex and unique, how law enforcement investigate these incidents and what resources are needed.

3. How is mental health and missing linked? ft. Galit Draizin-Itzhaki

In this episode Karen discusses with Galit Draizin-Itzhaki, psychotherapist, profiler for high-risk populations, the variety of mental health issues that often are related and lead to people going missing, whether it is children or adults. Karen and Galit address the difference between being bi-polar or schizophrenia and the importance of removing stigma from talking about it. We also discuss the warning signs and prevention strategies which professionals and friends and relatives should be mindful of. 

4. How Dementia affects people going missing ft. Lili Liu

How many people with dementia go missing? Karen talks to Professor Lili Liu about how people with dementia go missing and the risk they may face without even realizing it. Professor Lili Liu provides mechanisms on how a coomunity and family can prepare and help a person with demtia lead a relative regular life.

5. How do people go missing during war? ft Frank Ledwidge

Senior Lecturer Frank Ledwidge shares his experience about people going missing during war. Karen and Frank discuss what is the definition of war and how many people around the world are affected. They explore the various ways people go missing during wars and some of the key challenges in finding or identifying them.

6. Missing on a Night Out ft. Geoff Newiss

Geoff Newiss shares his findings from his research on “Missing on a Night Out”. He reviewed missing persons cases going missing while on a night out and discussed that many encounter water which may result in fatalities.

7. The use of geneology to identify missing persons ft. Kelly Kincaid

Kelly Hawkins Kincaid from Astrea Forensic shares with us how DNA markers are used to bring closure to long term missing person cases.

8. Missing Persons and OSINT ft. Kevin Metcalf

We all use open source intelligence when online but do we understand how easy it is to find people? Kevin Metcalf explains to us the amount of information is available online and how he uses it to help law enforcement finding missing persons.

8. Sexual Exploitation and Missing

Karen and Caroline discuss how sexual exploitation can be a factor for a person to go missing. They talk about the pull and push factors and the need for collaboration between stakeholders.

If you like this podcast support us by buying us a coffee.