For 20 years, Cynthia Haag has not moved out of her Baltimore house. She was determined to stay at the same place in the hope that her daughter might come back. Crystal Haag, her daughter who was 14 years old disappeared without any leads
Unanswered Questions
Unanswered Questions
A lot of questions were left unanswered after her disappearance. If she was alright? Why would she leave? Where did she go? If she is going to come back ever? The mother had a ray of hope that her daughter would reappear but no one was certain about it.
Single Mother
Back in the year 1997, Cynthia was single-handedly bringing up four children while working at a store, making sure that her kids have nice clothes to wear and have food on the table. She worked all the time by being a parent at home and managing the store while at work. Time was difficult but she was able to manage.
Single Mother
Just a Normal Day
On a fine day, Cynthia was working at the store and as usual, Crystal came there to take some cereals and milk while she was going back towards the house. It was just a regular visit that she did and there was nothing special to focus on. Cynthia just normally told her to be around the house that day and her daughter agreed to it. It was the last time when these two met.
Just A Normal Day
Missing Girl
After coming back home from work Cynthia realizes that she was not able to find her daughter. She started contacting every possible place that she would have gone right from friends and family to all other familiar places. She was not allowed to accept that her daughter is missing. After several attempts, she finally decided to get the police involved in the search.
Missing Girl
Baseball Cap
Cynthia was trying to figure out all the possibilities of what could have happened. From that very moment, she would search for her daughter in every brown-hair girl. Cynthia stated that “She always wore a baseball cap”. But that was not enough to find her.
Baseball Cap
The Facebook Message
After twenty years, police have stopped putting effort into finding her. The girl is presumably gone. One day, Cynthia received a call from her other daughter that she got a message on Facebook from Crystal, her daughter. She has reappeared after so many years, now what was she supposed to do.
The Facebook Message
The News
Cynthia was astonished by hearing the news, she then saw the Facebook profile of her and she immediately knew that it was her daughter. Bianca, Cynthia’s oldest daughter, started driving to New York city where Cynthia was residing, as soon as she got a confirmation from her mother. That night, finally Crystal was there in front of them. It was difficult for their family to believe that she is back.
The News
The Reunion
Crystal’s look was completely changed. She had kids and was known as Crystal Sanders now. She was nowhere like 35 she was meant to be, she said she was aged 44. She also spoke fluent Spanish. However, as expected, none of this was a matter to the family. Once she got back home, the mother said “Still my pretty girl,” hugging her. Despite everything turning out to be good, this has been just the beginning.
The Reunion
More Information
What she told was a lot more information than anyone knew. She had her reasons to run away. To be precise she was at a point where she was left with no other option. The only way that she would feel better was by doing so. But what was the reason for doing so? Where did she end up doing this?
More Information
No Money
After leaving, Crystal had no money or any place to go, but she knew that she had to do it. She was running from someone horrible with whom she didn’t even want to spend a second.
No Money
Fresh Beginning
She came up with a big plan once she left home. She first took a bus to New York City. She then changed her name to Crystal Saunders. She then falsely stated her age to be 9 years older and got a fake driving license to prove the same. What was the next step from here?
Fresh Beginning
Different Life
With this new identity, Crystal started different kinds of jobs like cleaning houses. She was also able to find a place to live in the Bronx. But the questions remain yet unanswered as to why did she do so? How was she not caught while running? It seems that she had a well-planned escape.
Different Life
The Escape Plan
On the night while she ran, she was out with her friends just like any other regular day. They would spend time together till midnight like they always did and then she ran away. She took the bus with whatever small amount she could manage and made her way to New York. And from there, she started to enjoy her new life.
The Escape Plan
Being Pregnant
Soon after, she was pregnant with her first child. From her new identity, she was able to manage to get herself a Medicaid card. She went on to have three more kids. When she was in New York, she became part of the Dominican community.
Being Pregnant
Love from Community
Crystal was so active in helping her community that people would name her ‘grandma’ and similar out of love. She made a whole new family for herself there. She still has some struggles from the past. It used to haunt her but there was nothing she could do about it.
Love From Community
New Language
As time changed, Crystal went on simply by living her life. She had her new family, her four children and she even spoke Spanish. However, she chose not to be in touch with her old family. But why? Why did she choose not to contact them?
New Language
Thirteen Years
In these 13 years, by the year 2010, the Baltimore police had tried the best way possible to locate the missing woman. By that time, they had no choice but to tell the mother that all their efforts have been in vain and they have been exhausted by the search. Cynthia then decided to stop celebrating Christmas.
Thirteen Years
Life Should Go On
Cynthia spent some 20 years, 10 months, and two weeks with the hope to see her daughter once again at some point in time. She also refused to sell her property having the same hope.
Life Should Go On
Beyond Imagination
Cynthia would have not imagined that this would end up like this. She would still end up waiting for her all the time. When the final day arrived, she would not believe what she was seeing- Was it Crystal standing in front of her? What made her get in touch with them again?
Beyond Imagination
Questions
Even though the fact was that Crystal had returned home, things were not the same now. It has been a long time after all. With all the happiness around, there were still questions that were yet unanswered and a lot of them raising in the mind.
Questions
Excitement to meet
Mother and daughter soon realized that it would take a lot for their relationship to be rebuilt. The first thing that they had to do was a lot of catching up. Apart from that, they were strangers. Where they would even begin their conversation from?
Excitement To Meet
Curious Mother
Once the initial excitement was over the mother calmed down slightly as she couldn’t help herself. She was eager to know what had happened. What went wrong that made Crystal leave. Is that something wrong that she had done?
Curious Mother
Changing Relationships
Cynthia was still not able to ask the long-awaited question for which she wanted an answer. She had realized that it was a delicate situation. She wanted to make sure that the situation is handled properly, she has just returned after all. Cynthia didn’t want to make the situation awkward hence she backed out for time being.
Changing Relationships
Some Facts
It’s a fact that every year, about half a million children are reported being missing. Most of these kids are found but what about the rest of them? Unfortunately, no one knows. The fact that Crystal came back home was honestly a miracle.
Some Facts
Unfortunate Children
About the rest of the missing children, some of them would be searched and get back with their families in a few months. Others would be searched and might be found in a year or two. But unfortunately, the rest of them remain missing.
Unfortunate Children
Rest of the Children
The last case of the missing children is never found again. Rarely, they will ever come back after being missing for such a long time, just like Crystal. When they return everyone expects it to be the happy ending but that is not always true.
Rest Of The Children
Tensed Situation
When such children come back home especially after so many years, the situation becomes tenser. It is not very simple to start things from where it was left. Feelings from both of the sides need to be reconciled. This would take lots of patience and courage. So how will this mother-daughter deal with this situation?
Tensed Situation
The Happiness
It is a fact that the longer a person is away, it becomes more difficult to get back into the same relationship that was earlier. But Cynthia did not care about this at all. She just knew one thing: her long lost daughter is back home. What was the next step from here?
The Happiness
Classifications of Missing Children
Missing children are classified into various types in the United States, mainly: Family abductions, thrown away, lost or the runaways. With the advanced technology we have, there are a lot of different ways to raise alarms when a child is missing. But how many such kids are still missing in the US?
Classifications Of Missing Children
Active Missing Cases
According to the FBI’s NCIC (National Crime Information Center), the number of persons currently missing files to 87,438 records. Out of these cases, 30,618 are children under the age of 18. That is almost 35% of the cases. So how do the authorities track these people?
Active Missing Cases
AMBER
All the emergency messages broadcasted by an alert via a system called “AMBER” (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) in the US. It is taken into consideration when law enforcement agencies are informed that a child is missing and might be in a dangerous situation. All information about the child and the abductor including the information of the vehicle and description of both of them are broadcasted, which would help them find the child.
AMBER
Safe Recovery
The AMBER alert system is named after a 9-year-old boy Amber Hagerman who was kidnapped in Texas and then killed in the year 1996. Since then all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands got the AMBER system implemented to create alerts. AMBER system is known to help in the safe recovery of some 985 children till now.
Safe Recovery
Facts about Missing Children
When a child is missing, the information of the child is required to be entered in the FBI’s National Crime Information Center by federal law. On the other side, according to data shared by the FBI, in the year 2019, 421,394 children were marked missing in the system, while in the year 2018 the numbers have been 424,066.
Facts About Missing Children
Reports
These numbers defined the cases of children who are missing. This means that if a child has been missing or has run away several times, it will be counted in a year as a different case when entered in NCIC and would increase the number of cases accordingly. Meanwhile, if a case is closed, updated or withdrawn then the total number of cases would vary accordingly.
Reports
Missing Children
In the United States of America, every year the number of missing children that are reported are 800,000 which would be 2,000 children in a day. Out of these cases, 115 children every year are marked as “stranger abduction” which means that an unknown person took the child.
Missing Children
Cold Cases
According to the National Missing (NM) and Unidentified Persons System (UPS), the number of people who go missing in the USA every year is over 600,000. Gladly, many of them are easily found in a good state. But there in America are still so many people who are still missing for years now. Agency will mark such cases as the “cold case”.
Cold Cases
Unidentified Bodies
Every year approximately 4,400 unidentified dead bodies are found. Even after a year of them being found, they tend to be unidentifiable. Below are a few of those such people who have been missing for years and the authorities or the FBI are still not able to trace them. It seems like Crystal was the lucky person.
Unidentified Bodies
Lisa Irwin
This 10 months old baby Lisa Irwin went missing from her crib in Kansas City in the middle of the night. She was last seen at 22:30 on October 3rd, 2011 by her mother, Deborah Bradley. But what went wrong?
Lisa Irwin
Overnight Shift
Jeremy Irwin, Lisa’s father, discovered that she was missing when he got back home at 4 a.m, the next morning after doing an overnight shift. They both immediately called the police when they found her missing. But did they find her?
Overnight Shift
Polygraph Test
The police after having the initial conversation with parents found that something was suspicious. Mother even failed a polygraph test and was accused by police for doing something to her daughter. However, there were no arrests made. Lisa would have been grown up by now but sadly, she is not the only child who was never found.
Polygraph Test
20 Month Old Missing
From Waterville, Maine a 20 months old child, Ayla Reynolds went missing. This case is said to be the largest police investigation in the history of this state. According to Justin DiPietro, her father, Ayla was taken from her crib during the night on December 16, 2011.
20 Month Old Missing
Rehabilitation Centre
Justin stated that he did put his daughter to sleep in the bad that night. The next day when he woke up, she was missing. There were few people in their house that night according to the reports. They also had 1 non-relative there that night. Alyne used to live with her father and her mother Trista Reynolds was living in a rehabilitation center for substance abuse.
Rehabilitation Centre
Open and Active Cases
While the police have mentioned that Alya wasn’t abducted and that she would be presumed dead, there were no arrests made. According to Stephen McCausland spokesman of the Department of Public Safety, the investigation remains “open and active”. Who would imagine but she might turn up magically. She is unfortunately not the only one.
Open And Active Cases
Missing Drexel
On April 25, 2009, Drexel, a New York teenager disappeared while on spring break trip. Last seen on Myrtle Beach, S.C, this 17-year-old girl traveled against her mother’s wish from her home in Rochester, NY.
Missing Drexel
Arrests
There have been no arrests for this case since the time of her disappearance. BlueWater Resort was the place where Drexel was last seen- she was spotted last on CCTV camera where she was seen with a group of Rochester men. Maybe just like Crystal she chose to leave in a planned way? It turned out that she was helping her friend in babysitting that day when she disappeared.
Arrests
The IceBreaker
Finally, it was the time when the mother-daughter duo Crystal and Cynthia sat together to discuss what went wrong. Crystal mentioned her youngest sister, the one who won an award for always complimenting others in the fifth grade. She was that child who used to love going to school and would easily get along with others. What was wrong here?
The IceBreaker
Same Memories, Different experience
While the same memory was beautiful for the mother, Crystal had the same memory in her mind but not in a good way. She remembered how she would not get along with any of her siblings. She was not a happy kid but her mother never saw that.
Same Memories Different Experience
The Fateful Night
Crystal knew that fateful night that she had to plan her escape. She said that “And then it was 12 [a.m.], and I wasn’t going back,” she was at that time roaming around with her friends. She was eager to find out a solution to her situation.
The Fateful Night
How Did She Run?
She went to her friend’s house that day and then she “decided to wait outside” while her friend was with her kids. This was the last time she was seen by any of her friends or family. When the friend finally came out of the house to go along with her, Crystal was already gone. Her friend thought that she must have just left for home, hence she did not attempt making a call. She didn’t realize that Crystal went missing. It was only some hours later that she realized that Crystal was missing when she got a call from her house.
How Did She Run
Description
Crystal, as described during her disappearance, was: “At the time of her disappearance, Crystal was 5’4″-5’6″ tall and weighed 63 KG. She had brown eyes with light brown hair and she normally wore her hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing a Tommy Hilfiger shirt with red and grey striped, blue denim jeans, white footie socks, grey New Balance sneakers, and a gold C-shaped ring.”
Description
Common Occurrence
Quickly, the authorities were able to conclude that she left the house at her wish and marked her in the “runway” case. It is known that around one million people have run away from home every year and hence it was convenient for officers to mark her in that group.
Common Occurrence
“Endangered Missing”
Classifying Crystal as a runaway case was the biggest mistake. It made it difficult for her family to find her in the 48 hours from when she went missing. After several months, her case status was changed to “Endangered Missing”. Finally, after a few more attempts, it was marked cold.
Endangered Missing
Case Category Change
What meant with this status change was that the police were expecting to search a body rather than a missing person. By changing this case category, everyone lost hope and calmed down
Case Category Change
Unbelievable Story
Crystal Story is far from a normal story. There were a lot of twists and turns that made the users online call it doubtful. After 20 years of missing, she has returned in a fine condition.
Unbelievable Story
Post Disappearance
In 1998, a year after her disappearance Crystal admitted into a College of New York. While the police were searching for her everywhere, day and night, she was getting her bachelor’s degree in business management.
Post Disappearance
Graduation
In 2003, A year later when she graduated, Detective Terrence Parker was assigned to her case. According to a 2011 ABC2 News article, the case was referred to as “one of 48 cases actively being investigated by the Police of Baltimore City Missing Person’s Unit,”
Graduation
Fresh Start in the Case
The detective said that “Usually in cases like that we would get something,” “Somebody would say, ‘You know she was with so and so’ or ‘Oh yeah we saw her here,’. Without any past information in the case, he decided to start the case from scratch.
Fresh Start In The Case
Brand-New
The detective said, “You have to start from the beginning like it’s a brand-new case,”.He also took the help of the NamUs and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington, D.C, and also interviewed Crystal’s family and friends again. He also spoke to neighbors.
Brand New
An Important Statement
“Up until about 1982, law enforcement wasn’t even required to enter a missing child into the database, although we were tracking stolen cars aggressively or stolen property through serial numbers or the NCIC database. We didn’t put children on the same wavelength as we did property,” said Robert Lowery, The Executive Director of the Missing Children’s Division.
An Important Statement
Unrecognizable
Stephen Loftin, NCMEC’s forensic artist, would sketch every case and so he did the same for what Crystal will look now. “she probably wouldn’t even recognize her if she saw her.” the detective said in the year 2011 who always talked to Crystal’s mother often “about her hopes and fears”.
Unrecognizable
Sisterly Bond
The detective promised that year that “they will continue to fight and look, doing whatever they possibly can to bring Crystal home to her family.” During all of these discussions, Crystal’s sister, Bianca Davis was going through her issues with media. Every year Bianca would post her sister’s photo on Facebook in the hope to see her back someday. She had no idea that she was just 4 hours away from her sister.
Sisterly Bond
New Identity
New Identity
Crystal’s new identity was easy for her, once she had perfectly run away. She just not had just her last name changed but also all other small details like her age. She had to make sure that she needs to keep things light to make her plan work.
Pulling It Off
Crystal who was 14 years old made sure that she looks 23 overnight looking older. But how was she able to do so. She was pulling it out the way she wanted. She also soon got pregnant with her first child.
Pulling It Off
Some Unanswered Questions
People would often ask her about her family and other questions. Crystal skipped it by telling that she didn’t have one. People would a lot of time tell her that “It’s not a rare thing to not have a family,” she answered them. She was happy in her new community.
Some Unanswered Questions
Getting Married
While she was in New York, She lived in a Dominican community. She became so close to them that she had learned Spanish and now have a family of her own. She was completely sold to her new identity but she had no idea why she left.
Getting Married
Explanation
Finally, the moment was here when Crystal told what exactly happened. She mentioned that from the time she was 9, she was sexually assaulted by one of her neighbors. It happened for so long that she started to believe that this is a normal thing.
Explanation
Finally the Truth Spoken
Cynthia was surprised to know about this. She had no clue about what her little girl was going through. How did this go on for such a long time? Crystal always thought that her mother knew about this, but instead, it turns out that she had no idea about it.
Finally The Truth Spoken
Only Solution
Crystal honestly had suffered a lot, that she had only one way to stop this, which was running away. Nothing else would have worked in her case. Cynthia was shocked to know the truth having all tears in her eyes, listening to her daughter. Was she a nice mother?
Only Solution