Not home for the holiday

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people are reported missing in the United States, and Southeast Texas is not exempt from ongoing missing person cases.

“Settled” missing persons cases are rarely easy, either. Recently, an area mother jumped in her vehicle and drove 19 hours straight to South Dakota to pick up her 17-year-old daughter, who was reported missing last month. A missing 16-year-old from Beaumont was found dead in a local waterway.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), more than 546,500 missing persons were entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) in 2022. The Texas Department of Public Safety’s Missing Persons Clearinghouse reported 47,670 missing persons reports filed in 2022, more than 34,800 were children.

Of children missing, the Texas Center for the Missing (TCM) reported 80-85% as runaways, 10-15% as family abductions, 3-4% as non-family abductions, and less than 1% as stranger abductions.

According to the Clearinghouse, in 2022, there were 431 juveniles and 165 adults in Jefferson County entered into the FBI National Crime Information Center for missing persons. There were 75 juveniles and 41 adults from Orange County, and 32 juveniles and 21 adults from Hardin County.

Chambers County reported missing 18 juveniles and 12 adults; Jasper County, 18 and 15, respectively; and two each from Newton County.

 

Gone missing

The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) is continuing their investigation into the case of the Kirbyville teenage girl who reported missing on Nov. 27 and located Dec. 2 in South Dakota.

“This is an open investigation,” said Deputy Karli Cherry, JCSO spokesperson.

The 17-year-old was reported missing at about 6:30 p.m. at a residence located on County Road 459 in Kirbyville. She was last seen leaving to go to a friend’s house.

JCSO reported the teen was suspected of being with a male subject, possibly named “Brandon,” age 25-28, known to be from the Crosby/Huffman area.

The girl’s mother, Amber Thomas, said investigators located video surveillance of a the suspected “Brandon” taking the minor to and from Jasper. Police then tracked the suspect’s vehicle through multiple states to a residence in South Dakota, where federal agents and human trafficking agents recovered the missing girl.

Multiple federal and state charges are reportedly pending against the suspect, who has not been publicly identified by officials.

Finding a missing teen from Beaumont led investigators not far from the victim’s home.

Nov. 28, the Beaumont Police Department posted that Donovan Michael Hall, 16, was reported as a runaway by his family on Dec. 1. Unfortunately, he was found dead Dec. 8 in a Beaumont canal on Major Drive.

 

Still missing in SETX

According to TCM, 12,842 of the 47,670 missing adults were age 18 or older. Two missing adult cases that have received media attention over the past two years remain active despite the public’s support in finding the lost women.

Kay-Alana Turner has been missing for eight months. The 28-year-old left a friend’s Hardin County home, experiencing what her family calls a mental health crisis, leaving behind her personal effects.

Turner had been staying with a friend in Silsbee on March 9. She was last seen March 10 near the 18000 block of County Hills Drive in Tomball. According to her family, a homeowner found her asleep in her vehicle in his driveway and later contacted police.

Turner’s mother, Rosa Calhoun, reported that her daughter was driving into the woods around 7 a.m. March 10 with Harris County law enforcement following her the last time she was seen. Detectives reported Turner didn’t follow lawful commands when police approached her at the stranger’s home in Tomball. Instead of driving away from officers, she allegedly struck an officer with her vehicle in the process.

Calhoun stated Turner drove about half a mile into the woods before her car was bogged down and stopped, and she began running on foot, leaving behind all belongings, including her phone. In the aftermath, Harris County Crime Stoppers placed Turner on the agency’s Top 20 Most Wanted list, charged with aggravated assault against a public servant and evading arrest with a vehicle.

Cristi Lynn Ruso, 32, of Buna, was reported missing Oct. 21, 2021, and her location is still a mystery as 2023 comes to a close. Ruso was last seen in Buna and reportedly disappeared after her aunt dropped her off about 4 p.m. at a friend’s home located in the 1800 block of County Road 777. A day earlier, Ruso was released from the Jasper County Jail.

Oct. 23, 2021, Ruso was captured on surveillance camera with a group of people at a Dollar Tree store in Evadale, and Oct. 25 was seen being dropped off about 200 feet away from the residence she previously visited on County Road 777.

On Feb. 23 of this year, JCSO deputies and FBI agents executed a search warrant at a home on County Road 777 in Buna. March 1, law enforcement searched a nearby property based on what was found during February’s search.

“There are no updates at this time, but the case is still active and we are working diligently to bring it to a close,” JCSO’s Cherry divulged.

Many more cases like Ruso and Turner exist but have received less media coverage. Nov. 14, the Port Arthur Police Department posted on social media that it still needs the public’s help locating a teenager, Ecxandy Espinosa, 15, reported as a runaway in June and still not home.

PAPD reported the girl has not communicated with family members and has not attended school since June.

 

Old cases

One of the oldest active missing person cases in Southeast Texas is from 1985. David Eugene Seelke, 39, was reported missing Nov. 1 in Vidor. According to Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) data, Seelke may had suffered from amnesia. He had welding burn scars on both arms and a deep round scar from a boil on one of his legs. There are few details available in his case.

Another cold case involves a 34-yearold woman, who went missing from a parking lot in Beaumont’s west end on July 9, 1999.

About 5:30 p.m., MobilOil refinery employee Kimberly Ann Langwell called her daughter and said she would be home about 6:30 p.m. No one has seen Langwell since and foul play is suspected.

Langwell’s silver 1994 Nissan Altima was found abandoned in the parking lot of the now-defunct Eckerd’s Drug Store at a shopping center on Dowlen Road and Phelan Boulevard the day of her disappearance with her purse and car keys missing; her cellular phone, cosmetics and other personal items were still inside the car.

Roda Renee Ermel Bosquez, 34 when she was reported missing from Beaumont in August 1993, was dropped off by a friend at the corner of Calder Avenue and 9th Street in Beaumont, and has not been seen since, according to the Clearinghouse. Foul play is possible in her disappearance.

According to NamUs website, NamUs, a program is funded by the National Institute of Justice, reports that, by early 2023, there were 2,294 open Texas cases of missing persons. Since the system’s launch in 2008, 2,149 Texas cases have been resolved.