I want to thank Milton for posting this.
On any given day, hundreds of people are considered missing in Texas.
A sizable chunk of them – more than 40 – have been reported missing from either Montgomery County, Liberty County or neighboring areas.
That’s a lot, according to Jerrie Dean, who is retired from federal law enforcement and coordinates the website Missing Persons of America.
It seems so unusual, in fact, that Dean, with some local assistance, has set up a Facebook page, The Missing Texas Forty.
Dean, who lives in San Diego, said she got interested in missing persons because her older half-brother and half-sister were abducted before she was born and weren’t located until they were teenagers.
She started writing a blog and a few years ago was contacted by a Pennsylvania man, Jerry Kinner, whose brother, Larry Baker, had disappeared in 2010 from Cleveland in Liberty County.
As Dean looked into the case, she came across more and more reports of missing people and eventually came up with The Missing Texas Forty, which she posted in March 2012. Since then, the number reported missing has fluctuated, with some people added to the list and a few who have been found.
Capt. Ronnie Silvio, spokesman for the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, noted that six of those listed were described as missing from Harris County, with the qualifier “just south of Montgomery County,” two were from Humble in Harris County and one was from Houston.
Given that two cases were added by mistake and some of those initially reported missing have been found, that leaves 16 actual missing persons cases from Montgomery County, Silvio said. Those include Toby Ray Coleman, Michelle Prasek, Jane McDonald Crone, Darrell Calhoun and Michael Beaudoin.
The cold-case division in Montgomery County handles not only murders but also missing person cases, Silvio said. The combined list of cases can be found here.
Last year, the sheriff’s office requested funding for three detectives and a sergeant to create a missing-persons squad but didn’t get it, due to other pressing needs, he said.
Capt. Ken DeFoor of the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that “five or six” people have been reported missing in the past four years in Liberty County. He said he didn’t believe there was any connection with those missing from Montgomery County.
When someone goes missing, DeFoor said, the Sheriff’s Office does mount a search.
“We do ask for support and backup from local fire departments and Texas Equusearch,” he said.
One of those still on the Missing Texas Forty list is Ali Lowitzer, who disappeared from Spring in Harris County after getting off the school bus on April 26, 2010, at age 16.
Her younger brother was at home but didn’t see her arrive, so presumably she didn’t make it home, said her mother, JoAnn Lowitzer. Ali had planned to walk to her nearby workplace to pick up her check but never made it there, either, her mother said.
It would be another year, Lowitzer said, before she connected with Dean in her efforts to find her daughter.
Lowitzer now helps Dean maintain the Facebook page devoted to the Missing Texas 40.
On Thursday, she added another name: Clint Miller, 27, who was last seen about 5 p.m. May 25. His Liberty County home in Moss Bluff burned down later that night.
joe r
what a coincidence, i went on the BFRO website to check where most of the sightings occurred and i will give you one guess which 2 counties have the most sightings, Montgomery and Liberty. I have done this many times over many states and every single time without fail the results are just like this one, once or twice i would consider a coincidence but not 20 to 25 times.
Damon M
Good work…
JOHN E
HEY JOE …YOU HIT IT RIGHT OUT OF THE BALL PARK…….WES……JUST BIG FOOT …AND PLEASE WHEN DO YOU OR CAN YOU HAVE A SHOPPING STORE FOR TEES SHIRTS HATS COFFEE MUGS GOOD ADVERTISEMENT ..KEEP THE LOVE..MAN ALL THE WAIT TILL WE GET ONE ….SOON WE WILL ..N… YOU WILL BE ON THE NET WORKS .
Steven B
wow, Joe, that is quite significant! What is sad is that we need officers in the department who would consider that and not put us in the “nut jar” category.
Robert W
WOW that is unreal….
Would be nice to have David Paulides on soon. I know Wes you sent me a note saying he got delayed with his new book. How is that going?. I hope he can come on the show soon.
Hope everyone is having a nice weekend!
Daniel E
I lived in a development south of Conroe by the San Jacinto river in the 70’s. We would here what sounded like a women’s screams and my mom and dad said it was probably a bobcat we were hearing. One night my mom came and asked if I had a real tall friend with a beard because she saw someone walk by her bedroom window and look down in at her. The bottom of the window was 6 feet off the ground. There were many other weird things happening and sighted around there. We had a few pets disappear while we lived there and that was way back when Conroe not developed as it is today. I had a friend named Joe that disappeared and his parents thought he ran away. After reading this report I now wonder.
Kim S
Hmmmm I wonder if David Pauline’s has figured out this pattern…even if he doesn’t deal with all missing persons.
Jack33
Very interesting indeed.
The Texas Rangers are the oldest state law enforcement agency in North America. I’d love to to find out what they know about Sasquatch in Texas…
Kay S
Crickey! 100 people missing a day in Texas. If that happened in New Zealand they’d be no one left in the country in 6 months. Lol.
Seriously though, if we can put 2 and 2 together, surely the powers that be can too. They must see the pattern. There must be someone in a position of power that doesn’t think money’s more important than lives.
Robert W
Not sure if anyone has seen some of the info on the internet about the torn up camp. Apparently folks have called the sheriff office who have no idea what they are saying, and are not aware of a torn up camp; and they are also not aware of people missing and that one survivor made It out. Does anyone have any links to any more information?. Obviously this is old news but I have been wanting to ask the group. Maybe I should look on the forum. Many thanks!
Paul M
JUST SAYIN. IS IT A SMALL THING THAT US KNUCKELHEADS ON S.C. CAN SAY THAT THIS IS VERY SIGNIFICANT FACTOR…. AND THE POLICE AND OR FBI JUST CAN’T OR WON’T ADMIT IT. YES THEY WILL PUT MONEY OVER EVERYTHING ELSE. INCLUDING SOMEONE’S LIFE. Or THE HELL FAMILIES AND FRIENDS ARE NEEDLESS GO THRU. A VERY DIFFICULT AND DISTURBING FACT is YOU CAN’T TRUST ANY OF THEM. INCLUDING THE D.N.R. B.L.M. D.O.I. AND MOST OTHERS. THEY KNOW AT MOST PAY GRADE LEVELS JUST ABOVE ENTRY. SO IF THERE LIPS ARE MOVING THERE LIEING.
Justin B
So my question would be what about missing people in Nor Cal? Is there a correlation with hunters and hikers to the north or are Texas Sasquatch more aggressive and tend to possibly take them.
Reid D
That is right in the Sam Houston National Forest area!! Im not surprised, there isnt more missing! Its crazy down there! Ive heard it with my own ears!! Jurrasic Park alive and well in south Texas..
DonRay
People in these hotspots need to be made aware,,,,,,, however possible…..Too many missing,,,,
curtis v
I live around both humble and liberty county.5 miles in either direction and and I’m there.im actually hunting in liberty county as I’m typing this.anyways,where my farther and I go riding our atvs just outside the city limits and just inside beltway 8.there is an area on greens bayou that has lots of woods on both side of it.it’s probably a 15 to 20 square mile radius of woods.in these woods we have had a number of stuff happened to us while out there that’s Bigfoot related.including my wife and i first account with the big guy.pretty scary!anyway, probably about 6 months or so ago.there was a kid that came up missing in that area.he was a little slow “mentally” and walked with a limp.
curtis v
He was out there in the woods that im talking about with his dog walking the atv trials when he came up missing.texas equusearch was out there looking for him and only found his shirt which was ripped and his dog and wallet.that was it.as soon as my wife and i found out we both knew what could have possibly happened to him.I’ve always heard that Bigfoots go after the weak,young,and the old.
It’s sad to think what happened to the little fella but it’s a good possibility that a bigfoot got him.