The Search Continues: Idaho's Ongoing Efforts To Locate Missing Children

We have probably all experienced the moment when you are in a public space and all the phones suddenly start making an alarm sound that indicates a child is missing or has been abducted. AMBER Alerts are the way the government lets the community know who is missing and what to look for, but they don’t always work.

Sometimes an alert goes out and the missing or endangered person is found and other times months and years go by with no answer about the location of the child. 2023 ended with 28 kids, who were reported earlier in the year, still missing.

Credit ISP

28 Idaho Kids Reported in 2023 are Still Missing

Some missing Idaho kids have been lost for years. On the Idaho Missing Persons list, the oldest cases are a boy named Chris who went missing in 1980, and a baby girl named Rose who disappeared in 1996. Of the 39 children on the list, 28 are on the list from just last year.

Idaho Missing Children

Missing posters for the kids that went missing in 2023 and are still missing according to the Idaho State Police website. Some kids don't have photos on their posters. You can see the full list on the Idaho Missing Persons page.

Gallery Credit: Credit N8

Some missing children cases in Idaho have made national news and even turned into TV specials. Deorr Kunz Jr. might be the most famous in recent years. Other cases in Idaho have luckily ended with the child being found safe, but that doesn’t mean they came out unscathed physically or mentally. The story of Jan Broberg and the insanity of EVERYTHING that happened with her family and ‘friends’ is covered extremely well in the Netflix show Abducted in Plain Sight.

By The Numbers: The Most Violent Cities in Idaho Based on FBI Statistics

23 of Idaho’s largest cities with a population of 5,000 or more submitted figures to the FBI for their Crime in the United States report in 2020 and this is how they ranked when you look at the number of violent crimes per 1,000 residents. Note: Burley, Caldwell, Eagle, Hayden, Kuna, Post Falls, Rathdrum, Star and Weiser did NOT submit figures.

Gallery Credit: Michelle Heart