20 Missing People Who Were Eventually Found

These kidnapping / missing persons stories will send a chill down your spine. For this list, we’ll be looking at the most dramatic reports of individuals who disappeared but were eventually found safe. Our countdown includes Robert McDonough, Julian Hernandez, Michele Whitaker, Jaycee Dugard, and more. Which of these stories do you find the most amazing? Let us know in the comments below!

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[WatchMojo]

Which of these stories do you find the most amazing? Let us know in the comments below!

[donlawrencessongs]

I feel that if you were tortured while missing, you were not "found safe". You were "found alive".

[MicaAnneArts]

I’m surprised they didn’t put Elizabeth Fritzl on the list. Her own father held her captive in the basement of their home for 24 years. Bearing him seven children during this time.

[mgsxwrld]

Natascha Kampush should have made this list, she was held captive for 8 years, from age 10 to 18, was starved, beaten, SA, and kept in a small room, underground, but managed to escape .

[kristopherlewis]

I remember a news article on a guy who got drunk and passed in the woods. Woke up and volunteered with a search party looking for himself lol

[Raven-dccw]

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knights story always touch my heart. I read their books "Hope" and "Finding Me A Decade of Darkness" a few times and even though I know what the ending is going to be I still cry by the time I get to the end of the book. They were all brave and went through so much sadness in that house.

[shaynegablespkr]

I had a cousin that disappeared after visiting a bar in Cedartown Ga. She was even highlighted on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. Some 20 years later she reappeared to apologize to family members. She had started a new life only 2 hours away escaping an abusive relationship. She fled with a man she met that night at a bar and had lived happily and safely with him all those years. We don't know if she knew she was in bad health and that's why she reunited but she passed around a year later.

[maryault]

#4 imagine losing your child for years just to finally get him back and then lose him again a few years later to a motorcycle accident 😔 that's heartbreaking 💔 😢

[themirrorsofmymind]

When Elizabeth Smart was found at first the local TV news bulletins just said, _"There are preliminary reports that missing teen Elizabeth Smart has been found..."_ My heart sank because I thought they meant she'd been found dead! Then, when the police held a press conference and said that the girl they found would not admit to being Smart, but it appears to be her, I was stunned! I was glad she was alive too.

[giggle_snort]

I live in Salt Lake City, so I remember the case of Elizabeth Smart VERY well. I was 11 years old when her story hit the news. It was everywhere, and I remember several assemblies and special lessons at school teaching us how to stay safe. When she was finally found, safe and well, it was an even bigger story, and much happier obviously.

[Sar]

I’m glad that those who were actually missing were eventually found and returned home safely. The rest were not so much missing they just left. I wish they would have at least called within days of leaving just to let their family know they were safe, it would have saved their families years of worry and pain.

[ScottNapolitan]

I think the Jaycee Dugard story deserves #1 because she was taken at age 11 and it was 18 years before she was found.

[michelleallred]

I have both of Jaycee Dugard's books, A Stolen Life & Freedom. What this young lady went thru is beyond belief, even having 2 babies at 13 & 14 in the backyard w no medical care. I watched her 2020 interview & its incredible how together, intelligent & articulate she is.

[kriscynical]

My heart always breaks for Elizabeth Smart. She's spoken out since, saying that part of the reason she didn't fight harder and sooner to get away from her captors was because she had been SA'd several times, and she had had "purity culture" drilled into her head SO MUCH before her abduction that she legitimately thought she wasn't worth saving anymore because she was a "chewed up piece of gum" and nobody would ever want her because of it.

Stories likes hers are why the purity culture bullshit needs to be squashed and never taught again. Girls aren't wilted flowers, used tape, chewed up gum, torn paper, or any of the ridiculous analogies that are taught under that heinous umbrella. They're human beings, and their worth isn't determined by their body count.

[msnewsenior]

Wildest thing about Steven Stayer is that his brother ended up becoming a serial killer.

[unabellavita]

The smile on the victims faces warms my heart. It shows they overcame these terrible situations and it didn’t steal their hope.

[DaddyOfTheSugarVariety]

I can't imagine having my childhood taken away from by a stranger.

[jeffplourde]

As strange missing person found live case would be that of Paul Joseph Fronczak. He was kidnaped from the hospital when he was just two days old in 1964. In 1965, an abandoned baby was found in New Jersey that was thought to be Paul. The Fronczak family took him home and raised then as their son. Paul grew up and as an adult found out he was not Paul Fronczak and eventually found his birth parents. In 2019, he helped found the real Paul Joseph Fronczak, a main named Kevin Baty.

[JulieS]

Australian girl, Natasha Ryan disappeared in 1998 and was believed to have been murdered. Nearly five years later police found Natasha hiding in a closet in a home less than 5km away from where her parents lived.

[madelinealicea]

I was taken away from my mother at the age of 4 by my dad. My mother told everyone that she looked everywhere for me but was unable to locate me. As an adult, come to find out she always knew where I was. She never bothered to reach out. No she wants a relationship with me. I can't care about a stranger cause at the end of the day, that's what she is to me. BTW, I like where I grew up.