Missing

[monapyleung]

1. Betty Ross's case

Betty Ross’s disappearance was a mystery. First of all, she’s supposed to have several appointments with the assessor, her best friend and the lawyer. She didn’t meet any of the appointments, nor did she inform of any postponement or cancellation of these seemingly important appointments. Secondly, she left her passport and her glasses at her home when she disappeared. She still had her hairdryer plugged in and breakfast things on the table. Her clothes were still in the wardrobe. No money had been withdrawn from her bank accounts. None of these pointed to a pre-planned exodus. There was no sign of violence or struggle, therefore no signs of a break-in.

If Betty Ross was kidnapped, there must be a good reason behind it. For instance, a ransom, a revenge, etc. There was no asking for ransom from anyone during the one year of Betty’s disappearance. In the passage there was no mentioning of Betty having grudges with anyone, except her estranged husband Jack. However, Jack had iron-cast alibi at the time of Betty’s disappearance.

I concur with Detective Chief Inspector James Marshall’s view that although it’s sure that there were criminal elements in this case, no concrete clues could be obtained, nor a suspect could be identified. The police should well have a second look at the car burning tragedy which just happened a week before Betty’s disappearance to see if two incidents were linked. If possible, check for fingerprints and do extensive questionnaires to see if there was any independent witness who could give clues to the mysteries. On the other hand, check Betty’s telephone record to see if she had any closed contacts who might be suspects of this case. Check also Jack’s telephone records and see if he could possibly engage someone else to take Betty away. On the basis of the passage, it is hard to draw a conclusion of what happened to Betty, and if she was kidnapped, who did it.

2. TV programmes for the missing persons

WE have the 30-minutes programme called "Police Magazine" in Cantonese and the five-minutes "Police Report" in English to keep the public abreast of prevalent crime rends, and to appeal for information that will help officers in investigations. The programmes also introduce the work and latest news of various Police units with a view to enhancing the public's understanding and knowledge about the Police Force. The RTHK and the HK Police Force jointly produce it. It’s a very popular programme, which started in 1973. I have been watching it as part of my life and I find it informative. It helped me to understand the trends of crimes and the tactics that conmen used so that I would also raise my alarm to prevent being conned. The very memorable case was the gangster Yip KF who led a gang to rob several jeweler stores and remained at large for a long while. There was a time when his photo was everywhere in the news, on the tv, etc and of course he was one of the themes in the Police Magazine programme. One police ex-superintendent even told me that it’s the nastiest experience he encountered in his career when one of his boys was shot at one of the the real-life gunplays with the gang while a nurse was killed on that day.

The other interesting case was that of the ‘Taxi killer’ Lam GW, who killed several women in the 80’s. There was a time when several women went missing one by one. That time Police Magazine had made calls for locating those missing women and to send alerts to the female citizens to refrain from going out at nighttime. In the end the taxi killer was arrested and jailed for life. It’s one of the most memorable cases in Hong kong’s criminal history and it was my ex-senior who handled the body parts of the victims and he spent days in the mortuary to process the specimens with the forensic pathologists. It was the most memorable experience in his career too.

3. Imagine to disappear

It is not my style to disappear without informing anyone. If it should happen, I would probably start with getting enough funds for my own living. I would probably rent a place within the territory, maybe in an outlying island, and certainly use a bus and a ferry. But I see no point in disappearing because in the end one runs out of resource and has to re-appear one day. It doesn't pay.

[monapyleung]

I have gone through some websites and find a few good ones concerning
Missing persons (all begin with www except the last one.)
police.gov.hk/hkp-home/english/missing/index.htm
missingpersons.gov.au/home/
npia.police.uk/missingpersons
albertamissingpersons.ca
and some others.

In one of the websites, a case similar to Betty Ross was reported that a family, who were of Korean origin, and who were living in Cambridge Road in the city were missing.
The mother of the family, 34, was heavily pregnant before she was reported missing and had diabetes.
Her husband, 36 and their daughter, five, and son, four, were also missing.

I like the website by the Australian government for it’s a very informative site with a map which one may click into the map and locate the missing persons according to geographical areas. The website is also informative in providing details of the missing persons. I am impressed by the colourful layout and the graphic design which greatly enhance people clicking into and therefore there’s a greater chance of providing information. I am also impressed by the electronic questionnaire of giving information which is very user-friendly.

This is a story I come across with a happy ending, a real case in Hong Kong few years ago:
A 10-year-old girl reported missing yesterday was located in Shenzhen. She was brought to a Yau Ma Tei tutorial centre by her grandfather about 3.20pm one day. He left after he saw her approaching the building's main entrance. About 3.45pm, the girl's family was informed that she had not turned up at the centre and made a report to Police.
Investigators found that the girl went to the Mainland through Lowu Terminal at about 5pm. A request was made through the Liaison Bureau to the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau to help find the girl. Her father also went to Shenzhen to file a report with the PSB this morning.
Three Hong Kong residents found the girl wandering in a Shenzhen shopping mall about 11.45am today. They got her family's contact number and called her mother. Her father then went to the place and identified his daughter.
It was a very lucky case indeed. But not every case of missing person had a happy ending. A female tourist who disappeared in Hong Kong cannot be found up to now though her boyfriend took a flight to Hong Kong and made a public appeal via the media.