Arkansas
Missing Arkansas siblings spark police search
Arkansas State Police (ASP) are searching for two missing siblings, last seen on Saturday.
A missing/endangered children advisory was shared by ASP late Sunday on social media for Marcus Epps Jr. and Armonii Epps. Marcus is described as an 11-year-old Black male with brown eyes and black hair. Armoni is a seven-year-old Black female, with black hair and brown eyes also.
The pair were reportedly last seen at their grandfather’s residence in Camden, Ouachita County at around midnight on Saturday, when their mother, Keibreana Mitchell, removed them from the home.
Police said Mitchell does not have custodial rights to the siblings, and her whereabouts are unknown.
Marcus Epps Jr. and Armonii Epps. The siblings were last seen on Saturday and a warrant has been issued for their mother’s arrest.
Arkansas State Police
A warrant was issued for the mother’s arrest on two counts of kidnapping.
ASP has urged anyone who sees the children or has knowledge of their whereabouts to contact the Camden Polic Department at (870) 836-5755.
Newsweek has contacted Arkansas State Police for comment and additional information via email.
Last month, an AMBER Alert in Arkansas was cancelled after a missing teen was safely located following reports she had travelled to Texas with a 30-year-old man whom police said she met online.
16-year-old Autumn Nicole Lyon was believed to have been travelling with Adrian Garces, 30. He was taken into custody in Texas and charged with Interference with Custody.
A separate AMBER Alert in Arkansas for a missing three-year-old boy was also cancelled last month. Believed to have wandered off alone, the infant was safely located.
Approximately 664,776 people went missing on average in the U.S. between 2007 and 2020, according to the federally funded National Missing and Unidentified Persons (NamUS) database. That translates to around 6.5 missing persons for every 100,000.
According to NamUS, there are currently 25,127 missing cases open across America. NamUS say this in not reflective of the true number – only those that have been voluntarily reported.
Each day, around 2,300 Americans are reported missing.
“In general, there is no federal requirement for reporting missing persons cases to NamUS. So, without mandatory reporting by law enforcement, the number of actual missing persons in each state is actually much higher than reported,” Jesse Goliath, a Mississippi professor who launched a missing persons repository separate from NamUS previously told Newsweek.
Newsweek has previously mapped missing persons cases by state.
NamUS data at the time showed that Oklahoma had the largest percentage of missing persons cases, with 16 missing per 100,000. Arizona was next, with 14.2. Arkansas had 11.6.
The state with the lowest percentage was Massachusetts, with just 2.7 per 100,000.
Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about this case? Do you have any questions about missing persons statistics? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com