My Loved One is Missing started as a Facebook page in 2018, created by Ashley Young with assistance from Tara Wrysec. The primary focus of My Loved One is Missing is to raise awareness for missing persons, unidentified persons, and unclaimed persons cases. The creation of this Facebook page led us to being introduced to a wide variety of professionals in this field. We focus on amplifying the voices of existing organizations that bring awareness to cases involving underrepresented groups of people. 

My Loved One is Missing offers consulting services, assists with creating flyers and social media posts, & provides resources for family and friends of missing persons. 

I have a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice & Law Enforcement Administration and a certification in Criminal Forensics. However, due to health issues that worsened after graduation in 2019, I became unable to work a typical full-time position. While obtaining my degree, I worked for various companies as a skip tracer (locating people). As a hobby, I help family and friends solve their own mysteries utilizing genealogical research and Ancestry DNA tests. I started independently advocating for unidentified persons and missing persons in 2014.  

The first "Jane Doe" that I advocated for was Rainbow Falls Jane Doe, found deceased in Colorado in 1993. For years, I searched missing persons cases for a possible match, submitting many comparisons to the potential match coordinator at Doe Network. I eventually found a Facebook page dedicated to identifying her that was created by Alyssa Hillman, and I later became the co-admin of her page due to my strong familiarity with her case. She was identified as Becky Redeker in 2020, but her murder remains unsolved. Her case was further complicated when isotope testing showed she had likely spent much of her life in Alaska or Canada, but it turned out her family lived near where her body was found at that time, and later moved away. Local police departments had received missing persons reports for her, but they never made it into electronic databases so no one knew to compare Becky's information to the body that was found. During this time, I also provided consulting services to an internationally-known psychic detective. 

The first missing persons case that I actively participated in was a case involving a missing local trans boy in May 2018. He was found several days later at the hospital, and has since recovered. The 2nd case I actively participated in with both active search and investigation efforts was a case in which a woman from out of state had been missing for 3 months, but was eventually found safe.  

These experiences opened my eyes to the fact that many missing persons cases are solvable, but police departments often do not have resources to investigate these cases due to the high number of missing persons, and other regular police duties. It is often assumed that teens who run away will come back eventually, and it is assumed that adults may go missing voluntarily. In some cases that is true, but it doesn't make it any less on the hard on the families of the missing. I have run into cases where the family wants to have their loved one's case aired on the news, but police tell the news not to run the story for whatever reason they have at the time for that case.