statistics

These stats are about children who have been abducted AND murdered.
There are about 100 cases per year where this happens. That is still
one every three days.

My name is Chris McElroy. I run the Kidsearch Network at
http://www.kidsearchnetwork.org and my blog at
http://www.missingchildrenblog.com

1) there is typically over a two hour delay in making the initial
missing child report (60%), and 2) the vast majority (74%) of the
abducted children who are murdered are dead within three hours of the
abduction. (Source: Attorney General of the State of Washington, who
did a study of cases reported to law enforcement in 1997)

There are estimated to be about 100 cases per year in the US where a
child is abducted and murdered. The victims of these cases are
"average" children, leading normal lives, and living with normal
families, typical low-risk victims. The vast majority of them are girls
(76%), with the average age being slightly over 11 years of age. In 80%
of cases, the initial contact between the victim and killer is within
1/4 mile of the victim's residence.

Over half (57%) of these child abduction murders are committed by a
killer who is a stranger to the victim. Family involvement in this type
of case is infrequent (9%). However, the relationship between the
victim and the killer varies with the gender and age of the victim. The
youngest females, 1-5 years old, tend to be killed by friends or
acquaintances (64%), while the oldest females, 16-17 years old, tend to
be killed by strangers (also 64%). The relationship between the killer
and victim is different for the male victims. The youngest male victims
(1-5 years old) are most likely to be killed by strangers (also 64%),
as are the teenage males (13-15 years old, 60% and 16-17 years old,
58%).

The average age of killers of abducted children is around 27 years old.
They are predominantly unmarried (85%) and half of them (51%) either
live alone (17%) or with their parents (34%). Half of them are
unemployed, and those that are employed work in unskilled or
semi-skilled labor occupations. Therefore, the killers can generally be
characterized as "social marginals."

Almost two-thirds of the killers (61%) had prior arrests for violent
crimes, with slightly more than half of the killers' prior crimes (53%)
committed against children. The most frequent prior crimes against
children were rape (31% of killers) and other sexual assault (45% of
killers). Sixty-seven percent of the child abduction murderers' prior
crimes were similar in M.O. to the murder that was committed by the
same killer.

Commonly, the killers are at the initial victim-killer contact site for
a legitimate reason (66%). They either lived in the area (29%) or were
engaging in some normal activity. Most of the victims of child
abduction murder are victims of opportunity (57%). Only in 14 percent
of cases did the killer choose his victim because of some physical
characteristic of the victim. The primary motivation for the child
abduction murder is sexual assault.

After the victim has been killed, 52 percent of the bodies are
concealed to prevent discovery. In only 9% of cases is the body openly
placed to insure its discovery.

A unique pattern of distance relationships exists in child abduction
murders. The initial contact site is within 1/4 mile of the victim's
last known location in 80% of cases. Conversely, the distance between
the initial contact site and the murder site increases to distances
greater than 1/4 mile (54%). The distance from the murder site to the
body recovery site again decreases, to less than 200 feet in 72 percent
of cases.

It was discovered that once the murder investigation has begun, the
name of the killer is known to the police within the first week in 74%
of cases.

While at times the media seems to "get in the way," in the end they are
much more likely to have a positive effect on the investigation (31% of
cases) than a negative one (6% of cases). In short, the media are more
likely to bring witnesses forward than to aid the killer in his escape.
The media had no effect at all in 63% of the investigations.

more here http://kidsearchnetwork.org/ksn/rese...tatistics.html or
if the new site is finished here
http://kidsearchnetwork.org/research-statistics.html