Dispatch reporters Danae King and Max Filby will host a Reddit AUA at 2 p.m. today on r/Columbus about their investigation into how missing persons cases are handled in Ohio.
King and Filby spent eight months and spoke to more than 10 families of missing people about their experiences when their loved one went missing. They also spoke to law enforcement officials, advocates for families, experts and more.
Their work can be found in VANISHED, an investigative series from The Columbus Dispatch.
The investigation delves into how missing persons cases touch the lives of tens of thousands of Ohioans every year.
A total of 22,374 Ohioans were reported missing in 2023, and on any given day, roughly 1,000 families are searching for their vanished loved one, a Dispatch analysis of data from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office found.
King and Filby will discuss how they spent months sorting through cases, crunching numbers, requesting documents from police departments and, along with photojournalist Barbara Perenic, crisscrossed the state to interview dozens of families of missing persons and advocates.