More than 1,000 children have been reported missing in Ohio this year, in what officials have described as an “extraordinary surge.” The majority of the 1,072 children reported missing in the state this year have safely returned home, but officials, parents, and community leaders are concerned about the disturbing rise in reports.
More than 1K kids reported missing in Ohio in ‘extraordinary surge’ https://t.co/cN15eDjfKD pic.twitter.com/3460SDc3jE
— New York Post (@nypost) September 26, 2023
In September alone, more than 45 kids have been reported missing in the Cleveland-Akron area, adding to the 35 missing children reported in August.
Newburgh Heights Police Chief John Majoy, who is also president of Cleveland Missing, a group dedicated to finding missing children, warned in May about the increase in missing children, saying that he worried some of the missing kids have been victimized by human trafficking or gang activity.
“For some reason, in 2023, we’ve seen a lot more than we normally see, which is troubling in part because we don’t know what’s going on with some of these kids — whether they’re being trafficked or whether they’re involved in gang activity or drugs.”
While many of the children reported missing in recent weeks have been found safe, some still have not been seen or heard from. Keshaun Williams, 15, has been missing for more than 90 days as volunteers for Cleveland Missing continue to canvass the area where Williams was last seen.
Camryn Golias, 17; Teonnah Thompkins, 17; Maurice Hamrick, 14; Honesty Howell, 16; Elijah Hill, 16, and 14-year-old Gideon Hefner were all reported missing within days of each other and haven’t been seen for a week or longer.
“There’s just not enough police officers in the streets to do this as law enforcement,” Majoy told 5 News Cleveland. “The public is our greatest asset. We can’t do this without the public.” Last year, Ohio reported more than double the number of missing children as states with similar populations, such as Michigan and North Carolina.
In 2022, 425 children were reported missing in Michigan, 470 minors disappeared in North Carolina, and 1,455 children were reported missing in Ohio. “We have so many missing children, we want to prevent this from happening, so we need to buckle down,” said mother of four Breana Brown, who started an organization to boost support and awareness for missing children.
The surge of missing children cases in Ohio is a haunting reality that compels us all to stand together with unwavering determination to safeguard the future of our children by cracking down on human trafficking and the left’s growing acceptance of pedophilia.
