MICHIGAN – For families of Michigan’s missing, the pain is constant and the answers are few.
“It’s kind of like a club nobody wants to be invited to,” said retired Michigan State Police Inspector Sarah Krebs, founder of Missing in Michigan. “These families of missing persons have just lost somebody and just have no answers.”
---> These are the names and faces of people missing in Metro Detroit the longest
They keep wrapping gifts for Christmas, celebrating birthdays and waiting -- sometimes for decades -- for their loved ones to come home.
“I know a lot of family members that will not move, they will not change their phone number because of the thought that their missing loved one could come back and try to find them,” Krebs said.
And so many families say they’re exhausted — and desperate.
“Our family needs to be able to rest, and I don’t know what that will look like -- even to rest,” said Sharon Murray, whose brother, Randall Childs, has been missing since 2011.
Alicia Digna
On Aug. 27, 2008, Alicia was last seen driving her 1992 burgundy four-door Pontiac Grand Am. Her car was found abandoned a week later at Mount Elliott and East Vernor in Detroit with someone else’s cell phone inside.
Before Alicia vanished, she was living in Gibraltar and had recently broken up with her fiancé. She had plans to move to Indiana with her sister. And just a month before going missing, Alicia’s car was stolen, so she had been spending time with her mother in Romulus.
“They found her car on the east side of Detroit at a gas station with the door open and a cell phone in it,” her sister, Shiloh Digna told Local 4. “It’s just heartbreaking.”
Since her disappearance, Alicia has not used her medical insurance or disability benefits, according to her family. Alicia, who is classified as endangered missing, has several surgical scars and distinctive tattoos that would clearly identify her. She is approximately 5’4 and weighs 130-170 lbs. She has dark brown hair and blue eyes.
If you have any information about Alicia’s whereabouts, police urge you to come forward. You may call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.
Jamaria Foster
Jamaria was last seen around 8 p.m. on Aug. 30, 2018, leaving his home on Princeton, near Linwood and Puritan on Detroit’s west side, after an argument. He has not been seen since. He was just 15 years old at the time he went missing.
There’s a $2,500 cash reward for information. You can call 1-800-SPEAK-UP and can remain anonymous.
“Just because we’re not on the news talking about who I’m looking for, or telling people where we’re searching in each case, doesn’t mean we’re not looking,” said Sgt. Shannon Jones of the Detroit Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit. “Because there’s constant things that we do when something else comes up that we can go back and look.”
Safaria Steele
Safaria has not been seen or heard from since Dec. 23, 2025. She was reported missing on Jan. 14, 2026. It is unknown what she was wearing when she went missing. According to relatives, she has a mental illness. She was 23 years old when she went missing and is described as 5 feet 8, 150 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information is asked to call Commander Philip Rodriguez at Detroit’s 10th Precinct at 313-596-1040 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAKUP.
James Sanford
Pamela Sanford, James’ wife of 28 years, is desperate for answers. She hopes someone recognizes her husband because she said he may not know who he is. She said he has dementia.
James Sanford, 75 years old at the time, vanished the afternoon of April 8, 2024, from Westland. The two had been preparing to leave for a doctor’s appointment. Pam was helping James zip up his coat.
“He got agitated because he didn’t want me to zip it up and then he’s like, ‘I’m going out the door,’ and I’m like, ‘Go ahead.’”
Pam didn’t think anything of it at the time, but moments later, she couldn’t find him. James disappeared from Westwood Circlenear Joy and Newburgh. James left on foot, alone and without his crucial medication.
Michigan State Police searched from the air. Westland police scoured the area on the ground with thermal imaging. Still, no sign of James.
Some leads turned out to be cruel scams. One person offered Pam money for information, but it turned out that they appeared to be preying on Pam and other grieving families, she said.
Still, every day, Pam keeps looking. Searching hospitals. Nursing homes. Scanning the streets. Praying someone has seen him -- or that James is safe somewhere, not even aware that he’s being searched for.
Avoid scams: Krebs told Local 4 it is important to file an official missing persons report and not to put personal information online, if possible. There have been local families who have fallen victim to scammers, and even ransom requests.
“As you saw in the Guthrie case, scammers are standing by, ready to take advantage of families in this situation,” Krebs said. “We’ve had family members contacted and told they had their loved one with them and asked for ransom.”
She said always work through law enforcement, and do not ask others to reach out to you directly on social media.
If you recognize James Sanford, have seen him, or work in a care facility or hospital where he might be, please call the Westland Police Department at 734-722-9600.
Randall Childs and Karen Young
It’s been almost 15 years since Randall Childs and Karen Young vanished without a trace after an argument in Childs’ Detroit apartment, and the mystery surrounding their disappearance continues to haunt loved ones.
“I’m sick. My soul will not rest, ‘cause that’s a part of me,” Childs’ sister, Sharon Murray said. “I can’t stop looking for him because if it were me, I would want my family to look for me.”
On the night of June 7, 2011, Childs, 50 at the time, and Young, 52, were together at the Robert III Apartments on Grand River Avenue near Rosa Parks Boulevard. The two were there with Childs’ roommate and a few friends when they got into an argument.
“So, my brother went to the elevator to get her down the elevator to wait for her daughter to pick her up,” Murray said.
Neither has been seen since.
Murray has been searching ever since, visiting hospitals, abandoned buildings and even morgues in multiple states.
“I looked at bodies and faces that had been eaten by rodents,” Murray said. “And it wasn’t Randall.”
Murray revealed that she even received a letter from a man in prison, someone she had written to nearly a decade earlier, because she believed he may have witnessed what happened the night Randall and Karen vanished.
The letter came two years ago and began:
“Peace and many blessings Ms. Sharon -- I know I am the last person on earth! You thought you would be hearing from -- but I felt it was only right for me to -- give you the closure you sought from me years ago.”
The letter continued with references to the events of that night, a “theory” the writer had allegedly shared with Murray before and mentions of someone possibly having harmed Randall.
“I told the officers all that I knew at that hour and what took place that night,” the inmate wrote. “Now I can finally speak my peace and pray you really take into consideration and think about what I’m about to tell you with an open heart and mind…”
The letter is about six pages. Murray turned the letter over to Detroit police.
Childs is described as a Black man, 5’9, 140 lbs. He was wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans when he disappeared.
Karen Young is described as an African-American woman with a birthmark on her neck. She stands at 5’3 and weighs 140 lbs. She was last seen wearing black, pinstriped pants, a cream-colored shirt, a black necktie and brown shoes. Little else is publicly known about her.
“Don’t ever stop trying to figure out the answers,” Sgt. Jones said. “And even the smallest thing that might not mean anything to you – it might be something that would help law enforcement to kind of connect some more of the pieces together.”
Anyone with information is urged to contact Detroit police or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP or visit 1800speakup.org .
Ryan Snyder
Ryan Snyder was 32 years old when he went missing from Merritt, Michigan. He was last seen walking eastbound from his residence on Gillow Road on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, at approximately 6 p.m.
Multiple searches of the heavily wooded area involving Michigan State Police canines, detectives, troopers and volunteers from All County Search and Rescue were performed without success. The Michigan State Police aviation unit flew the area with a helicopter with an MSP canine handler and canine on the ground as well.
Snyder is described as 6’1 and 180-200 lbs. He has brown eyes and brown hair with a shaggy medium length male cut. He was last seen wearing a black Under Armour hoodie, blue jeans and black shoes.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Michigan State Police Cadillac Post at 231-779-6040.