Helping Someone Else's Search

If you think you've seen the person

1. Call the number on the flyer — usually the police department — or 911 if it's happening right now. Do not only comment on a post. Comments get lost; calls get logged.
2. Give the exact time, place, direction of travel, and what they were wearing. "Maybe Tuesday near the mall" is hard to use; "Tuesday about 4:15 pm, west side of the Target lot on Coors, walking north, gray hoodie" is gold.
3. If it's safe, note anything else — a vehicle, a companion — and don't approach or follow someone you think may be with them.
4. If you have a doorbell, dashcam, or store camera that may have caught something, say so. Preserve the footage and offer it to police.

Sharing well

• Share the original post from the family or police rather than screenshotting it. The original gets updated; your screenshot never will.
• Check the date before you share. Old posts circulate for years and can hurt a family long after their person is home.
• Share to groups in the right area — the city where they were last seen and places they might travel. A flyer for Albuquerque posted in Maine is noise.
• Keep the police number on it. Don't edit the flyer to add your own commentary.

Please don't

• Speculate publicly about what happened, who did it, or the person's lifestyle, mental health, or family. The family reads every comment. So do investigators, and public theories can poison a case.
• Contact the family with theories, psychic visions, or "I have a feeling." Call the police tip line instead; that's what it is for.
• Start a fundraiser in the family's name without their explicit permission. Scammers do this; don't look like one.
• Post photos of a person you think matches — you could expose an uninvolved stranger. Send it to police privately.
• Confront anyone you suspect. Ever.

Things that really help

• Print ten flyers and put them up along your commute. Ask your workplace to post one.
• Check your own cameras for the date in question, even if you're a few blocks away.
• If you know the family: bring food, walk the dog, drive someone to the police station, run their social media so they can sleep. Ask "what can I take off your plate?" not "let me know if you need anything."
• Keep sharing after the first week. Attention fades fast; most cases don't resolve in seven days.
• Learn what to do in the first hours now, so you can help the next person calmly.