For nearly 20 years, Cynthia Haag was adamant that she was not going to move out of her Baltimore home. Of course, there was the reasoning behind her determination. It was simply because she did not want to go anywhere in case her young daughter would return. Crystal was just 14 years old when she vanished and was never seen again. Cynthia refused to give up hope no matter how much time went by…
Unanswered
Since the day Crystal disappeared, people were left puzzled as to why or how she suddenly vanished without a trace. No one had an idea if she was safe or whether she would ever be seen again. Cynthia prayed every day for her daughter to return so she could see her precious child. However, little did she know that this would indeed happen in the near future.
Unanswered
Single Mom
During 1997, Cynthia was a single mom of four young children. She has been working so hard trying to make a living to support her family. She only wanted to give her children the best she could. But her main priority was to put food on the table and clothes on their backs. It wasn’t easy to raise her kids alone but she had no other choice when it came to making ends meet.
Single Mom
Just Another Day
It was an ordinary day, just like any other. Cynthia was working at the store, it was around the afternoon when Crystal came by to see her mom and buy a carton of milk before going back home. This happened quite often so nothing was bizarre. As Crystal left the store her mother turned to her and said “Stay around the house today”, and Crystal said she would just that. Her mother had no idea that that was in fact the very last time she would actually see her 14-year-old daughter.
Just Another Day
Nowhere
Once Cynthia’s shift at the store had finished, she arrived home but could not find her daughter, Crystal. She searched everywhere, called her friends and family but no one had seen her teenage daughter. She was nowhere to be found. Where could she possibly be? Cynthia refused to accept that her daughter was gone, she knew she was somewhere nearby. Her last option was to call the police which is what she did…
Nowhere
The Baseball Cap
Cynthia naturally felt worried and extremely anxious as she had no idea where her daughter was. What could have happened to Crystal? She had no idea where to even start looking. Any girl that would pass Cynthia, she would if it was her. “She always wore a baseball cap,” Cynthia said. However, this was just not enough.
The Baseball Cap
Years Passing
Two decades after the dreadful evening that Crystal disappeared, the police had already given up and had basically closed the case. There were no clues that could help them and they were not able to find anything even somewhat related. Crystal was truly gone! One evening, everything was about to change, Cynthia received a call from one of her other daughters. She went on to explain to her mom that she had just seen a message on Facebook…from Crystal.
Years Passing
News
Cynthia was completely shocked to hear what her daughter had just said. It had been so many years, but as soon as she saw the profile picture she knew it was all true- it was indeed her long-lost daughter, Crystal. It only took 1 hour before Cynthia’s eldest daughter, Bianca rushed into her car and drove all the way to New York City. This was where Crystal was living at the time. After all this time, Crystal finally emerged – her family was flabbergasted and could not beloved their eyes.
News
Reunited
Of course, things were not the same. It had been so long for everyone, Crystal now had short hair and even spoke Spanish. She claimed that she was 44 years old instead of 35 and was now known as Crystal Sanders. She also had 4 children of her own. However weird this seemed, the only the that mattered was that they were all finally reunited. now. She wasn’t 35 like she was meant to be, she said she was 44 years old. However, none of these changes mattered to her family. Crystal was finally home. “Still my pretty girl,” Cynthia said whilst give her a huge hug.
Reunited
What Happened
Everyone was so elated to be together again, but naturally, there were still so many questions that needed to be answered. It turned out there was so much more to the story than anyone could ever imagine. The truth was that Crystal actually ran away for a specific reason, but what was it? When she decided she was going to run away, she was also determined not to tell anyone about her plans. She felt that she was forced to flee simply because she could no longer take what was going on. Where did she eventually go?
What Happened
Making The Decision
At the time of Crystal’s escape, she had no money nor a place she could call home. Regardless, she knew she needed to continue with her initial plan. At the time she was running away from something awful but to be specific it was actually someone. She could not go on any longer or handle what this person was doing to her.
Making The Decision
New Beginning
Crystal really had a well-thought-of plan that she came up with right before she left. She first took the bus and headed straight for New York. As soon as she stepped off the bus she automatically took on a new persona, it was from this moment that she adopted the name, Crystal Sanders. She managed to obtain a fake driver’s license which stated that she was 9 years older than her real age.
New Beginning
Different Life
After she created her new identity, she needed a plan to earn some money. Crystal then started cleaning houses which helped her pay for rent in the Bronx. The big question still remained- how did she even manage to run away without anyone knowing or finding her? However young she was, her plan worked out well.
Different Life
Plan In Action
What happened was that the night Crystal left she was hanging out with a few friends after she had left her mom’s store. Once everyone went home, around midnight it was then that she fled. She only took what she had with her as well as the money she had managed to save up. This was the start of her new life….a brand new chapter.
Plan In Action
First Child
It didn’t take a lot of time before Crystal became pregnant with her first child, Using her new name and identity she was also able to get Medicaid card which was a massive help for her. As the years went on, she went on to have another three children. As she spent most of her time in New York, she found a new family within the Dominican community.
First Child
Community
It just so happened that Crystal became so close to the people in the community that she would actually refer to them as “grandma” and “cousin”. Although she had left her biological family behind, she had now found a new one. Regardless of this being the situation, she was still evidently struggling with her past and was not able to put it behind her.
Community
New Language
As the years went on Crystal happily lived her new life. She had a beautiful family of her own which included four children. She also took it upon herself to learn Spanish fluently. Despite being happy with how things were at the moment, she couldn’t help but feel the need to want to look up her biological family on Facebook. But why did it take so long for her to get in contact with them?
New Language
Thirteen Years
By the time the year 2010 rolled around, the search for Crystal had already been going on for 13 years. The Baltimore police had done their best to trace her or at least find some answers for her family. But they were so far unsuccessful. The time had come to inform Cynthia that they had exhausted all their options and could not find their daughter and sister. Cynthia was devastated and it was from this moment that she stopped celebrating Christmas.
Thirteen Years
Life Must Go On
Regardless of everything that went on for all the years, Cynthia still never gave up hope and truly believed that she would one day see her beautiful girl. For years and years, she remained positive but one thing she refused to do was sell the house…just in case Crystal decided to come back. Her decision was a great choice…
Life Must Go On
Miracle
Cynthia did not expert that any of this would really happen no matter how much she always prayed for it. But finally, the waiting game was over, and she could not believe what was right in front of her. With so many emotions, she kept asking if it was really Crytal. Why was this all of a sudden happening right now? How come she had contacted her other daughter?
Miracle
Adjusting
Regardless of the family enjoying this very happy moment, things were not easy and many problems remained on the surface. After all, it had been twenty years and so much had changed in Crystal’s life. Cynthia was desperate to know the truth and wanted answers to so many of her questions.
Adjusting
New Relationship
Cynthia and Crystal had been separated for 20 years which is quite some time for a mother and daughter to be a part. But they obviously understood that their relationship needed a lot of work and time to be rebuilt. First, all the misunderstandings needed to be cleared up and they were both practically strangers to each other. A lot had changed so what were they going to do?
New Relationship
Curiosity
Everyone in the family was ecstatic about Crystal’s return. It had finally happened that their long-lost child and sister was with them and alive. But Cynthia couldn’t help and think about all those years she was searching, she wanted the truth behind her daughter’s disappearance. Why did she leave? Was it something Cynthia had done that forced her away?
Curiosity
Changes
Now that Crustyal home and Cynthia’s prayers had finally been answered she really needed to know why her daughter ran away from home at such a young age. It was still a sensitive time in their lives and the last thing she wanted to do was scare Crystal away again. She tried to put it behind her but she really couldn’t, she needed to find the right time to get it off her chest.
Changes
Unfortunate Statistics
Crystal Haag is seen as one of the lucky few that are fortunate enough to see their biological family again. However much she may have lived a happy, new life she still was away from her family for many, many years. Every year, there are millions of children that are reported missing and sadly the majority of them are never found or see their families again. Despite this, there is a small percentage of children who are found but doesn’t take as long as Crystal’s case.
Unfortunate Statistics
The Remainder
The number of children that go missing can sometimes exceed half a million in a span of just one year. Many cases take months or even up to years to be solved and is never an easy task for the police and investigators as unfortunately there are far too many cases. The most difficult cases are the ones with little to no evidence which help trace the kids.
The Remainder
The Rest
It’s so sad to know that many of the young missing children are never found. Back in 2010, this was what Crystal’s case was thought to be, as no one could find her anywhere. Normally, children, go missing for as long as Crystal is either never found or don’t return back home. The ones that do make it home really think they have a fairytale ending, but this is not always the situation.
The Rest
Rebuilding
More often than not the missing children that are fortunate enough to get reunited with their families then have many more issues when trying to reintegrate with their biological families. Their situations are never easy or simple in any shape or form. Going back to their normal lives after so many years is often extremely difficult. Its practically restarting a new part of life once again. Could you imagine?
Rebuilding
Time Period
There’s no doubt that being away from your family and having limited to no contact definitely creates a barrier and friction in the relationship. The longer the time the more difficult it will be to reconcile the relationship. Cynthia knew this was not going to happen overnight but was determined to make everything right again. The most important thing for her was that her precious daughter was finally back where she belonged.
Time Period
Missing Children In The U.S.
Have you ever thought about how many children across the United States actually go missing? Or even how many cases are genuinely reported to the police? There are in fact four different types of missing children, they are classified according to – family abductions lost or “thrown away”, family abductions, and non-family abductions. As the technology is miraculously advancing at a rapid rate, it has now become easier to alert and report such cases to the police.
Missing Children In The U.S.
Current Active Cases
According to reports made by the FBI’s National Crime Information Center Missing Person File, or more commonly known as the NCIC, there is currently an enormous amount of active missing persons – the number stands at approximately 87,438. This is a scary figure and sadly the numbers are increasing as each year rolls around. The information was further detailed that 30,618 of the missing children are under the age of 18 years. How is it even possible for authorities to track down all these missing children?
Current Active Cases
AMBER
The way technology has evolved along with all the incredible things people have been able to invent, truly helps people in these scenarios do their jobs more efficiently. During 1996, a system called AMBER was created specifically for missing children. AMBER (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) was put into place to alert law authorities that a child has been abducted and is in danger. Derails include physical descriptions of both the abductor and the person who was abducted. Further information about the abductor’s vehicle can also be provided. This is a huge help when it comes to finding kidnapped children.
AMBER
Alert System
The reason why this amazing system was invented was to honor a 9-year old girl, Amber Hagerman. She was abducted in Texas and was then later killed by the person who had kidnapped her. Since then, all 50 states across the USA have the AMBER alert system in place. This system has helped locate and safely recover over 985 children that were abducted. And still today they continue to be a huge asset to law authorities.
Alert System
Federal Law
In the USA, it is mandatory by law that a missing person report is filed into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center. This is to purely monitor the number of missing children each year. By the end of 2018, the FBI reported a total number of 424,066 missing children. And the following year in 2019, they had confirmed another huge number of 421,394 missing children. These numbers are nothing more than very scary and we can only hope that these numbers heavily decrease as the years go by.
Federal Law
Reports
The unbelievable numbers that were mentioned earlier were the cases of missing children that had not to be resolved or cases that were still in process. However, if the same child goes missing several times a year, he/she will be entered into the NCIC as a new case each time. It will be also be counted into the yearly total of cases. Meaning that their names can possibly be entered into the system with different details and information specific to each incident.
Reports
Children Missing
In the United States alone, approximately 800,000 children are reported missing every year. This means that about 2000 children go missing every day. Within those cases, it has been reported that 115 children went missing because of “stranger abduction” cases. This is when a child was kidnapped or abducted by an unknown or unidentified person every year. These types of abductions are said to be one of the more difficult to solve. Why? Because authorities have very limited information regarding the abductor’s identity or any necessary details. Obviously the more information authorities have the easier it is to solve the case.
Children Missing
Missing Persons
According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons Systems,, more than 600,000 people go missing in the United States yearly. This number includes both adults and children and fortunately, many of them are actually found relatively quickly. However there is still a massive number of individuals who remain missing for some time or unfortunately are never found. The former is commonly known by the authorities as “cold cases”.
Missing Persons
Unidentified
It was exclaimed that each year, nearly 4,400 unidentified bodies are discovered each year. Of these, around about one thousand of them usually remain unidentified even a year later. Read on to see a few of the children that have been missing for years and get to know more about their life story. Both the FBI and local authorities are actively searching for them along with all the news cases that are reported on a daily basis. As it happens, Crystal was one of the lucky few.
Unidentified
Lisa Irwin
Lisa Irwin was a 10-month-old baby who was reported missing on October 4th, 2011 in Kansas City. She was asleep in her crib and apparently disappeared in the middle of the night. Her mother, Deborah Bradley made a statement claiming that she checked on her daughter at 10:30 pm on October 3rd. This was the last time she saw her daughter, Lisa. What could have happened to her baby?
Lisa Irwin
Overnight Shift
Jeremy Irwin, the father of Lisa Irwin, arrived home at around 4:00 AM after finished his late-night shift. He was the one that discovered that their daughter went missing. He and his wife immediately called the police and reported the situation. Authorities also discovered that cellphones belonging to the parents had gone missing too. What were the criminal’s intentions? Would they ever find Lisa again?
Overnight Shift
Suspicions Arose
Once the police had begun investigating the Irwin’s house, authorities became very suspicious of the parent’s alibi with regards to their daughter’s disappearance. Jeremy also claimed that the police had actually accused him and his wife of harming their daughter as they failed the polygraph test. Even though the police had their doubts, no arrests have yet been made. This is just one example of all the missing children cases in America, and there are still tons more.
Suspicions Arose
Taken From The Crib
Another frightening story of a missing child is about a young girl named, Ayla Reynolds. She was just 20 months old at the time of her disappearance which happened in Waterville, Maine. This investigation has been considered as one of the largest police investigations in the state’s history. Ayla was taken from her crib on the night of December 16, 2011.
Taken From The Crib
Bedtime
Ayla’s father, Justin DiPietro reported to the police that he had put his daughter to bed earlier on in the evening, but when he woke up the next day she was not there and couldn’t find her anywhere. According to authorities, there were a few other adults in DiPietro’s home at the time of her disappearance. One of them included a non-relative. Ayal was living and being taken care of by her father as her mother, Trista Reynolds, was in rehab for substance abuse.
Bedtime
Open Case
Even though police have said that they believe Ayla was not kidnapped they do think the young toddler is no longer alive. To date, no arrests or charges have been made yet and the investigation still remains “open and active” according to the Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland. Whether or not Ayla will miraculously return one day -no one really knows and sadly she is not the only one. Thousands of other children are just like her.
Open Case
Spring Break
Spring break is one of the most anticipated times of the year for all students. Usually, students travel out of town to explore the beaches and parties with their friends. This was exactly the case for young teenagers from New York. Drexel ventured to Myrtle Beach even though her mother did not approve. At the time, Drexel was 17 years and went missing on April 25, 2009. She was last seen on Myrtle Beach, South California.
Spring Break
No Arrests
From the time she vanished off the beach back in 2009, there have since been no arrests or any further details about the case. According to surveillance cameras, Brittanee Drexel was seen leaving the BlueWater Resort, where she is seen speaking to a group of Rochester men. This was apparently straight after she had an argument with one of her friends she was traveling with. Perhaps her case was very similar to Crystal and she willingly chose to leave? We may never know!
No Arrests
Talking
At long last, Cynthia and Crystal were able to sit down and have a conversation about what exactly happened. Cynthia only remembers her darling fourteen-year-old daughter who was so good in school and was so well-liked by everyone. Crystal had even won an award for always complimenting others when she was in 5th grade. Cynthia only remembered her daughter as a good child. But did Crystal see herself in the same light?
Talking
Different Memories
While Cynthis remembered all the good, happy moments, Crustal could only think of things very differently. She recalled how she would always try to sneak out of the house and that she did not get along very well with her siblings. She knew she was in fact not a happy child and it was very clear that she and her mother had totally different memories.
Different Memories
Final Decision
Going back to the night of her disappearance, Crystal had it all planned out. She knew that once she had escaped, there was no turning back. The fateful night, she was out with her friends. Crystal explained, “And then it was 12 a.m.] and I wasn’t going back,” she said. She needed to find a way out of the situation she was in. She could not go on living her life the way it was. She was the only one who could change how things were. No one else but herself.
Final Decision
Waiting Outside
After getting home from her mom’s store, she immediately left and went straight to her friends’ house. She waited outside for her friends as they got ready to go out, as they came outside to Crytal she was not there. This was the last time her relatives and friends knew anything about her whereabouts. Her friends were not alarmed and did not even think she was missing at all. It was only a few hours later when her friends received a call from Crystal’s mother asking for Crystals’ whereabouts – she could not find her daughter anywhere.
Waiting Outside
Disappearance
“At the time of her disappearance, Crystal was 5’4”-5’6” tall and weighed 140 pounds. She had light brown hair and brown eyes. Most of the time she wore her hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing a gray and red striped Tommy Hilfiger shirt, blue denim jeans, white footie socks, gray New Balance sneakers, and a gold C-shaped ring.” This was the report that was made when authorities began searching for Crystal after the disappearance”. It was all the information they had.
Disappearance