Cynthia Haag refused to move out of her Baltimore home for 20 years. She was adamant to stay put just in case her daughter would ever come back. Her daughter, Crystal, had disappeared without a trace when she was only 14 years old.
Unanswered
There were so many questions left unanswered since Crystal’s disappearance. Why did she leave? Where did she go? Was she okay? Would she ever come home? Cynthia had hoped deep down that the day would come and Crystal would reappear. Little did she know that would actually happen in the future…
Unanswered
Single Mom
Back in 1997, Cynthia was a single mom of four working at a store, just trying to ensure her kids had food on the table and clean clothes. She worked around the clock, both at the store and parenting at home. Things were tough, but she pulled through for her family.
Single Mom
Just Another Day
One day, Cynthia was working at the store, as usual, when Crystal came in to grab some milk and cereal before heading back home. Cynthia didn’t think anything of it – it was a common occurrence at the time. All Cynthia said to her daughter was “Stay around the house today”, and Crystal said she would. That was the last time Cynthia saw her 14-year-old daughter.
Just Another Day
Nowhere
When Cynthia came home after work, her daughter was nowhere to be found. The worried mother called friends, relatives, anyone who might know where Crystal could possibly be. She refused to believe her daughter was gone. Finally, she knew she had no choice but to call the police.
Nowhere
The Baseball Cap
Cynthia’s mind was racing through all the grim possibilities. What happened to her daughter? From that moment on, she searched for Crystal in the face of every brown-haired girl. “She always wore a baseball cap,” Cynthia said. But she knew that wasn’t enough to find her.
The Baseball Cap
Years Passing
Twenty years passed, the police have halted their efforts looking for Crystal. The girl was gone. One day, Cynthia got a call from one of her other daughters. She said she had gotten a message on Facebook – From Crystal. What? Her long-lost child suddenly reappeared. What did she do?
Years Passing
News
Cynthia was having a hard time believing the news, but once she saw the Facebook profile, she knew immediately that was her daughter. Within half an hour, Cynthia’s older daughter, Bianca, was in the car driving to New York City, where Crystal was living. Late that night, Crystal finally appeared. The family couldn’t believe their eyes.
News
Reunited
Crystal’s hair was short. She spoke fluent Spanish. She had kids. She was Crystal Sanders 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, hugging her. Despite all the good, the hardest part was only just beginning.
Reunited
What Happened
It turned out that there was a whole lot more to the story than anyone knew. There was a very specific reason Crystal ran away. In fact, she had gotten to the point where she simply couldn’t take it anymore. She knew she had to leave. But why? And where did she end up going?
What Happened
Making The Decision
After Crystal left, she had no money and nowhere she could go, yet she knew she had to go through with it. She was running away from something horrid – someone, in fact, who she couldn’t be near for another second.
Making The Decision
New Beginning
The night she left, Crystal came up with a plan as she went. The first thing she did was get onto a bus to New York. When she got off, she transformed into Crystal Saunders. She became nine years older and got a fake driver’s license to prove it. What would she do next?
New Beginning
Different Life
Once she got a new identity, Crystal got odd jobs cleaning houses. She found a place to live in the Bronx. We still wonder – how did she make her escape at all? How did no one see her leave? It turns out she thought that through.
Different Life
Plan In Action
That fateful night, Crystal was out with her friends just like any other day. They spent time together until midnight when Crystal ran away. She took whatever little she had and made her way to the bus to New York. And so, she began her new life.
Plan In Action
First Child
It wasn’t long before Crystal became pregnant with her first child. With her new identity, Crystal was able to get herself a Medicaid card. She would go on to have three more children. While in New York, she became a part of the Dominican community.
First Child
Community
Crystal became so close to those in her community that she called them “grandma” and “cousin”. She found herself a whole new family. Still, she was struggling with her past. She couldn’t help it that it haunted her.
Community
New Language
As time went on, Crystal was simply living her life. She had four children, she had her new family, and she even learned fluent Spanish. However, she still made sure to keep tabs on her old family through Facebook. Why didn’t she contact them?
New Language
Thirteen Years
In 2010, the search for Crystal was going on for 13 years. The Baltimore police had tried everything within their power to locate the missing woman. By that time, however, they had no choice but to tell her mother, Cynthia, that all efforts to locate her daughter had been “exhausted”. Cynthia stopped celebrating Christmas after that.
Thirteen Years
Life Must Go On
And so, Cynthia spent twenty years, 10 months, and two weeks wishing and hoping to someday see her precious daughter again. She refused to sell the house – what if Crystal would decide to come back home?
Life Must Go On
Miracle
Little did Cynthia know that this would actually end up happening. Still, she spent all that time waiting. When the day finally came, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing – was it really Crystal? Why did she suddenly decide to get in touch?
Miracle
Adjusting
Despite the fact that Crystal had returned home, things were very different. It had been over twenty years, after all. With all the joy and excitement, there were still issues that arose and questions that needed to be answered.
Adjusting
New Relationship
Cynthia and Crystal soon realized that their relationship would take a lot of work to be rebuilt. For one thing, they had a lot of catching up to do. Aside from that, they were complete strangers. Where would they even begin?
New Relationship
Curiosity
After the initial excitement of Crystal’s return calmed down slightly, Cynthia couldn’t help herself. She had to know. Why did Crystal leave in the first place? Was it something the single mother had done?
Curiosity
Changes
Still, Cynthia couldn’t bring herself to ask that one fateful question just yet. She knew this was a very delicate situation. She didn’t want to scare Crystal away – she had just gotten back, after all. Cynthia wasn’t sure what could scare her off, so she treaded lightly with her daughter.
Changes
Unfortunate Statistics
The fact that Crystal came home is more than just an incredible fact – it’s practically a miracle. Each year, about half a million children are reported missing. The majority of them are soon found or return on their own. But what happens to the rest of them?
Unfortunate Statistics
The Remainder
As for the rest of the missing children, for a small number of them, it can take months before they’re back with their families. For an even smaller number than that, the search can take up to a year, or even two. And what about the rest?
The Remainder
The Rest
The last remaining fraction of missing children typically are never found again. It’s extremely rare that a missing child comes home after being missing for as long as Crystal was. When they return, people expect a “fairy tale ending”. However, that’s not always the case.
The Rest
Rebuilding
As we’ve said, when a missing child comes home after so many years, the situation becomes even more complicated. It’s not easy to simply restart their lives back home as if nothing happened. There are feelings on both sides that will have to be reconciled – this takes a lot of time and patience. So what will happen with the mother-daughter duo?
Rebuilding
Time Period
In fact, the longer a person is away, the more difficult it will be to recreate or rebuild a relationship with them. Still, Cynthia didn’t care. All she cared about was that her daughter was back home and healthy. What would they do next?
Time Period
Missing Children In The U.S.
Let’s take a look at missing children in the United States. There are a few different types of missing children: there are runaways, family abductions, lost or “thrown away”, and non-family abductions. With the technology we have today, there are different ways to alert the authorities when a child goes missing. But how many missing kids can there be in the US?
Missing Children In The U.S.
Current Active Cases
According to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center Missing Person File, aka the NCIC, there are currently 87,438 active missing persons records. In fact, 30,618 of them are children under 18. That’s 35% of them! But how do the authorities try and find these people?
Current Active Cases
AMBER
There is a system in place specifically for missing children: “AMBER (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Alerts are emergency messages broadcast when a law enforcement agency determines that a child has been abducted and is in imminent danger. The broadcasts include information about the child and the abductor, including physical descriptions as well as information about the abductor’s vehicle – which could lead to the child’s recovery.”
AMBER
Alert System
Since 1996, the AMBER alert system was named in honor of Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old who was abducted in Texas and then killed. From that point on, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands have AMBER alert plans in place. The AMBER Alert program has been credited with the safe recovery of an impressive 985 children.
Alert System
Federal Law
When a child is reported as missing to the authorities, federal law requires that the child will be entered into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center. In fact, according to the FBI, in 2019, there were 421,394 entries for missing children. In 2018, the total number of missing children entries was 424,066.
Federal Law
Reports
This number is the number of reports of missing children. Meaning that if a child runs away several times in a year, each time will be entered into the NCIC separately and counted in the yearly total. If an entry is withdrawn or updated, that would affect the total number as well.
Reports
Children Missing
Around 800,000 children are reported missing every year in the U.S. – this amounts to around 2,000 a day. Out of those, there are 115 child “stranger abduction” cases every year. This means that the child was taken by an unknown person.
Children Missing
Missing Persons
Over 600,000 people go missing in the United States each year, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. Thankfully, a lot of missing kids and adults are found quickly – alive and well. However, there are still tens of thousands of individuals who stay missing for over a year. Those cases are what agencies call “cold cases”.
Missing Persons
Unidentified
Approximately 4,400 unidentified bodies are found each year. One thousand of them tend to remain unidentified even a year later. Here are some examples of a few kids and young adults who’ve been missing for years – the FBI and local authorities are still actively looking for them. It turns out that Crystal was one of the lucky ones…
Unidentified
Lisa Irwin
Lisa Irwin was a 10-month-old baby who disappeared from her crib in the middle of the night in Kansas City. The baby was last seen asleep in her crib when her mother, Deborah Bradley, said she checked on her at 10:30 p.m. on October 3rd, 2011. What happened then?
Lisa Irwin
Overnight Shift
The baby’s father, Jeremy Irwin, discovered Lisa missing when he got home at 4 a.m. the next morning after working an overnight shift. The parents immediately called the police to report their baby missing. Would the baby be found?
Overnight Shift
Suspicions Arose
After initial questioning, the police were suspicious of the parents’ story. Bradley said the police accused her of doing something to her child as well as failing a polygraph test. However, no arrests have been made. Lisa would have turned 2 years old in 2012. Sadly, she isn’t the only one who wasn’t found.
Suspicions Arose
Taken From The Crib
Ayla Reynolds was 20 months old when she disappeared from Waterville, Maine. This case is still the largest police investigation in the state’s history. On December 16, 2011, Ayla was taken from her crib at night, according to her father, Justin DiPietro.
Taken From The Crib
Bedtime
The father said to the police that he put his daughter to bed that night. The next day, he woke up only to find her missing. A few other adults were in DiPietro’s house that night according to the police. This included one non-relative. Ayla was living with her father while her mother, Trista Reynolds, was in rehab for substance abuse.
Bedtime
Open Case
While police have said they think Ayla wasn’t abducted and that she is no longer alive, there have been no arrests or charges as of yet. Still, the investigation remains “open and active” according to the Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland. Who knows, maybe she’ll miraculously turn up. Still, she isn’t the only one, unfortunately.
Open Case
Spring Break
While on a spring break trip, the New York teenager, Drexel, disappeared on April 25, 2009. At the time, she was 17 years old and was last seen on Myrtle Beach, S.C. She had traveled there from her home in Rochester, NY against her mother’s wishes.
Spring Break
No Arrests
Since the time of her disappearance, there have been no arrests in connection to the case. Drexel was last seen leaving the BlueWater Resort – there she was captured on surveillance video visiting a group of Rochester men. This was after she had a falling out with the friends she’d taken the getaway with. Maybe she was like Crystal and had chosen to leave willingly? It turns out that Crystal planned on helping her friend babysit the day she disappeared.
No Arrests
Talking
Finally, Cynthia and Crystal sat down to talk about all that happened. Cynthia remembered her fourth child, the sweet girl who won an award in the fifth grade for always complimenting others. She liked school and got along with everyone. What did Crystal think about this?
Talking
Different Memories
While her mother looked back on her memories fondly, Crystal was remembering it all very differently. She remembered not getting along with any of her siblings. She thought about how she used to sneak out on a regular basis. She was not the happy kid her mother saw at the time.
Different Memories
Final Decision
That fateful night, Crystal knew she had to plan her escape. When she was out with her friends, she knew. “And then it was 12 [a.m.], and I wasn’t going back,” she said. There had to be a way out of her situation.
Final Decision
Waiting Outside
She left her home, got to her friend’s house, and “decided to wait outside” while her friend gathered the kids. This was the last her friends and relatives knew about her whereabouts. When the friend came back out, Crystal was already gone. Despite the fact that Crystal was nowhere to be found, her friend assumed that “she just decided to leave”. They didn’t realize Crystal was missing yet. A few hours later, This friend got a call from Crystal’s mother, who was looking for her daughter.
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. She normally 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 is the information that was known about Crystal and her disappearance.
Disappearance
Common Occurrence
Quickly, the local authorities came to the conclusion that Crystal left the home willingly and they officially called her a runaway. This was rather convenient for the police as these cases were very common at the time. Around one million young people ran away from home each year.
Common Occurrence
Runaway
Writing off Crystal as a runaway turned out to be a big mistake. This took away her family’s best chance of finding her – especially in the 48 hours. Several months later, Crystal’s status was changed to “Endangered Missing”. Then, the case went cold.
Runaway
Search Change
What this status change meant in normal English was that the police were looking for a body rather than a missing person. Having turned Crystal’s story into a regular case, everyone calmed down.
Search Change
Extra Ordinary
However, Crystal’s story was far from ordinary. There was a surprising twist in the case that made some skeptical online users call it “unbelievable”. Over 20 years after her disappearance, Crystal resurfaced safe and sound.
Extra Ordinary
After The Disappearance
Just a year after her disappearance, in 1998, Crystal got into The City College of New York. While she was getting her bachelor’s degree in business management, the police were searching for her every second of the day and night.
After The Disappearance
College Graduate
A year after Crystal graduated from college, in 2003, Detective Terrence Parker was assigned Crystal’s case. At that moment, the case was “one of 48 cold cases actively being investigated by the Baltimore City Police Missing Person’s Unit,” according to a 2011 ABC2 News article.
College Graduate
Information
“Usually in cases like that we would get something,” said Detective Parker. “Somebody would say, ‘Oh yeah we saw her here,’ or ‘You know she was with so and so.’ But, we really didn’t get anything.” Without the necessary information about the case, Detective Parker decided to start from the beginning.
Information
Brand-New
“You have to start from the beginning like it’s a brand-new case,” the detective said. After interviewing Crystal’s family and friends again, the detective spoke to neighbors as well and recruited the help of the NamUs and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington, D.C.
Brand New
Missing Children’s Division
The Executive Director of the Missing Children’s Division, Robert Lowery, said about the organization’s work: “Up until about 1982, law enforcement wasn’t even required to enter a missing child into the database, although we were tracking stolen cars aggressively or stolen property through serial numbers or the NCIC database. We didn’t put children on the same wavelength as we did property.”
Missing Children’s Division
Unrecognizable
In any case, NCMEC’s forensic artist, Stephen Loftin, drew a sketch of what Crystal would look like at age 26. Detective Parker, who spoke to Crystal’s mother often “about her hopes and fears”, said in 2011 that “she probably wouldn’t even recognize her if she saw her.”
Unrecognizable
Sisterly Bond
That year, the detective promised, “they will continue to look and fight, doing whatever they can to bring Crystal home to her family.” While all this was going on, Crystal’s sister, Bianca Davis was leading her own fight against the media who was silent about her sister. Almost every year she put Crystal’s photo on her Facebook wall on the missing teen’s birthday. Little did Bianca know she was only 4 hours away from her missing sister…
Sisterly Bond
New Identity
Once everything was set in motion, Crystal’s new identity was easy for her to remember. She only changed her last name. All she changed were small details – her age, her last name. She needed to keep things subtle in order for the plan to really work.
New Identity
Pulling It Off
Crystal was able to get away with adding 9 years to her age – but how? Well, she looked so much older than she actually was. Instead of 14, she became 23 overnight. She got pregnant not long after with her first child as well.
Pulling It Off
Family
As for her family, wouldn’t people ask her about that? Crystal told people that she didn’t have one. Oftentimes, people wouldn’t press on. “It’s not a rare thing to not have a family,” she said. She fully immersed herself in her new community.
Family
Learning
During her time in New York, Crystal lived in a tight-knit Dominican community. She became so close with them that she learned fluent Spanish and had a whole family of her own. Her new identity was completely taking over the old. Still – Cynthia didn’t know why she left at all.
Learning
Explaining
Finally, Crystal gave in. She told her mother the truth behind the reason for her disappearance. From the time she was 9 years old, a neighbor had started sexually assaulting her. This continued for the next few years. In fact, it happened so much that the little girl started thinking it was normal.
Explaining
Unbelievable
Cynthia sat there, shocked. She couldn’t believe that she wasn’t aware of such a horrific thing happening to her little girl. How did it go on for so long? Crystal was sure that her mother had known about the entire thing, but it turned out that she had no clue.
Unbelievable
Only Plan
It turned out that Crystal was suffering so much back then that the only way out she could think of was running away and simply disappearing. Nothing else made sense in her mind. Cynthia was sitting there, listening to her daughter, crying silently. What kind of mother was she?
Only Plan