Nearly 600 kids go missing in TN each month; How the public plays a role in their safe recovery

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — An average of 500 to 600 kids under the age of 18 go missing each month in Tennessee, many due to parental abductions or runaways, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Their smiling faces circulate across social media and on television screens as their parents wait for answers. The wait can be agonizing, but with today’s technology, it’s often not long before the child is found, said Shelly Smitherman, TBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge.

“A lot of times historically, it’s the public that has led to the safe resolve of a case,” Smitherman said. “It just takes that one person to see that story or see that face and remember something or realize that they were present or in the area on the day that child disappeared.” 

As the coordinator of the state’s AMBER Alert program, Smitherman said social media and other advancements in technology have vastly increased the number of resolved missing child cases, as well as the speed in which they are found. When a child is missing, those seconds matter.

“It’s sad, but true. The longer it takes for a case to be resolved, or a child to be found, your chances increase that they may be found deceased or harmed,” Smitherman said. “So, with technology, we’re able to push it out and get them back immediately.”

The TBI works with local and state law enforcement, as well as national organizations like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), to share information, offer investigative support and issue alerts in some of the most serious cases.

“I work with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on a pretty much daily basis,” Smitherman said. “They also are notified on their level. On some of our older (cases), they do some of the age progression photos for us.”

Anytime a child goes missing their information is entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), which serves as a central database for tracking crime-related information. Law enforcement also notifies the TBI, especially when a case meets criteria for an alert.

The TBI is the only agency in the state that can issue an AMBER Alert. While each state has different criteria for alerts for missing individuals, an AMBER Alert, is normally reserved for cases in which law enforcement believes the child is in imminent danger.

Often, it just takes one person in the right place at the right time. In November last year, it was a mother who recognized two children from a social media post. The woman helped reunite Noah and Amber Clare, who were missing from Kentucky and Middle Tennessee, with their parents.

According to police, Noah’s father is believed to have left Kentucky with the two children around Nov. 5, 2021. He was supposed to drop his son off in Gallatin, but never arrived. The trio was found nearly two weeks later just outside of San Clemente, California.

“It was a mother taking her child to school that morning that saw the alert that had been posted by the local law enforcement agency,” Smitherman said. “That’s what led to the safe recovery. That’s a big one from recent that is still talked about today.”