In 2006, 173,903 missing adults were entered into the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database, but many adults who go missing are never reported.

Every year, the media covers a few high-profile stories of adults who suddenly go missing, people like Chandra Levy or Laci Peterson. For each of these women's anguished families, there are untold numbers of other families who are coping with the agony and chaos that comes when a loved one is missing. Most of those families will never gain the closure that Chandra's and Laci's families found. Instead, they may spend years wondering about the fate of their loved one.