Chan Williams
Loyola University Chicago student Chan Williams has been missing since Friday of last week.
Williams, 20, was last seen going into the Chicago Board of Trade building in the downtown district, police and school officials said on Thursday.
The freshman seeking a bachelor of arts degree was reported missing by his father. According to Chicago police, Williams is an African-American male, 6-feet tall, 210 pounds and wearing a black fleece jacket, dark gray athletic pants or shorts and gray Puma-brand athletic shoes.
Cases like these have been steadily rising in recent decades, as there has a sixfold increase missing person reports in the past 25 years, from roughly 150,000 in 1980 to about 900,000 this year. The increase was driven in part by the country’s growing population, according to the website crimelab.com, “but the numbers also indicate that law enforcement treats the cases more seriously now, including those of marginalized citizens.”
The National Center for Missing Adults consistently tracks about 48,000 “active cases,” says president Kym Pasqualini.
Around 2,300 Americans are reported missing every day, including both adults and children. Surprisingly only a small portion of those are abductions or kidnappings by a stranger.
Among the 48,000, slightly more than half—about 25,500—of the missing are men. About four out of 10 missing adults are white, three of 10 are Black and two of 10 Latino.
Only about 100 missing-child reports each year actually fit the mold of a stereotypical stranger abduction.
About two-thirds of those victims are ages 12 to 17, and among those eight out of 10 are white females, according to a Justice Department study. Almost 90 percent of the abductors are men, and the victims are sexually assaulted in half of those cases.
If you have any information on the whereabouts of Williams, please contact the Chicago police Department.
