Reasons
People disappear for many reasons. Some individuals choose to disappear alone; most of these soon return. Reasons for non-identification may include:
- To escape child abuse, such as child physical abuse, emotional abuse, by a parent(s) / guardian(s) / sibling(s).
- Leaving home to live somewhere else under a new identity.
- Becoming the victim of kidnapping.
- Abduction (of a minor) by a non-custodial parent or other relative.
- Seizure by government officials without due process of law.
- Suicide in a remote location or under an assumed name (to spare their families the suicide at home, or to allow their deaths to be eventually declared in absentia).
- Victim of murder (body disguised, destroyed, or hidden).
- Mental illness or other ailments such as Alzheimer's Disease can cause someone to become lost, or they may not know how to identify themselves due to long term memory loss that causes them to forget where they live, the identity of family members or relatives or even their own names.
- Death by natural causes (disease) or accident far from home without identification.
- Disappearance in order to take advantage of better employment or living conditions elsewhere.
- Sold into slavery, serfdom, sexual servitude, or other unfree labour.
- To avoid discovery of a crime or apprehension by law-enforcement authorities. (See also failure to appear).
- Joining a cult or other religious organization.
- To escape domestic abuse.
- To avoid war or persecution during a genocide.
- To escape famine or natural disaster.
Read more about this topic: Missing Person
Famous quotes containing the word reasons:
“It’s an old trick now, God knows, but it works every time. At the very moment women start to expand their place in the world, scientific studies deliver compelling reasons for them to stay home.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“Happy the man who has been able to know the reasons for things.”
—Virgil [Publius Vergilius Maro] (70–19 B.C.)
“Adolescents, for all their self-involvement, are emerging from the self-centeredness of childhood. Their perception of other people has more depth. They are better equipped at appreciating others’ reasons for action, or the basis of others’ emotions. But this maturity functions in a piecemeal fashion. They show more understanding of their friends, but not of their teachers.”
—Terri Apter (20th century)