Lynn Smith was going to Peachtree Corners to run errands on Nov. 5. The 64-year-old was driving her burgundy Honda mini-van and then - nothing. No one knows what happened to her.
Her son, Wes, went to gas stations searching surveillance video and talking to private investigators. But he discovered nothing. Where’d she go? What happened to her?
Doing whatever was in his power, Wes uploaded a video to social media.
“Share my mom's photo,” Wes said in the video. “The picture of the van. Any of the posts on my personal page you can share those with people. But she's mobile and she's lost. We gotta find her. The more time that goes by, it's just danger that something's gonna happen to her.
Lynn’s vanished without a word to anyone. And, unfortunately, she is one of nearly 2,000 people missing in Georgia right now - moms, wives, sons, sisters and more. And almost 300 of those cases are over a decade old, unsolved and riddled with mystery. While they all differ in detail, the one thing that remains a constant is the fact their families need your help.
Here’s a look at just a few of the missing person cases 11Alive has investigated.
Carol Evans
Missing Since: Nov. 10, 2017
Age at time of disappearance: 75
Missing From: Lower Lovelace Road home, Troup County
Mental State: Alzheimer’s
Reward: Undisclosed amount
Call: Troup County Sheriff’s Office, 706-883-1616
Bill Evans said his wife of 52 years wandered away from their home. He hasn’t heard from her since and said the second he sees her again, he already knows what he’ll say.
“I would ... hug her and tell her I love her. And I wouldn’t leave her in the house by herself again,” Evans said with a low voice. “I get kind of emotional sometimes. I usually don’t get that way. But this has kind of got me down.”
Investigators reported they have very few leads.
DeCorrius Jones
Missing Since: Oct. 15, 2016
Age at time of disappearance: 20
Missing From: Sugarloaf Crossing Apartments, Lawrenceville
Mental State: Allegedly on acid at time of disappearance.
Reward: $5,000
Call: Private Investigator Jane Holmes, 404-353-4903 or Gwinnett County Police, 770-513-5302
Described as “the sweetest person” by his mother and girlfriend, it came as a shock when the aspiring chef attacked them.
A 911 call features the panic from Shacara Jones, who called the police about her son’s behavior and the attack.
“My son - I think he’s on something. He done jumped on me. I had to run out of the house. I left my cell phone. I left - he was chasing his girlfriend,” Shacara said to the 911 dispatcher.
Decorrius would then run into the woods behind the apartment with no shirt, no shoes, no wallet, no cell phone and no keys.
Shacara later told 11Alive’s Rebecca Lindstrom that “he left without anything. His I.D., his bank card, all his personal information.”
He’s vanished with no contact with his family - and no reported sightings of him again - a shirtless, shoeless man at the time of his disappearance.
Even cadaver dogs searched the woods around where he ran, but nothing has been found.
Tiffany Whitton
Missing Since: September 13, 2013
Age at time of disappearance: 26
Missing From: Walmart Supercenter, Cobb Parkway
Mental State: Allegedly struggling with addiction at time of disappearance
Reward: $5,000
Call: Cobb County Cold Case Unit or Marietta Police, 770-794-2366 or 770-794-6690
Although Tiffany Whitton was known to go off the grid for a few days at a time, she never missed calling her mother on her birthday. So, when she didn’t make that call in 2013, Lisa Daniels knew something was wrong. Whitton vanished from a Walmart after she was caught shoplifting with her boyfriend.
The mother of a 6-year-old at the time was never heard from again after she was detained for the petty crime. Her then-boyfriend never heard from her again, and her friends, coworkers and mom have no idea what happened to her.
Surveillance video captured inside the store contains the last known images of her.
“Sometimes, I’ll see someone on the road who looks like her, or has her hair or built for her age and I will turn back around and drive by slowly to look. I do it all the time,” her mother said.
Eva Allen
Missing Since: July 4, 2017
Age at time of disappearance: 67
Missing From: Snapfinger Road, Lithonia
Mental State: Bipolar Disorder
Reward: Undisclosed amount
Call: DeKalb County Police, 678-406-6792
Debra Monica Allen last talked to her mother a few days before Independence Day in 2017 and could tell she was struggling with her mental illness.
A few days later, Eva “Gwen” Allen walked away from her group home and was never seen again.
Debra called her mother’s phone until it died on July 9. Cell phone records show the phone was being used but no one answered the incoming calls. Someone was dialing 1-2-3 on the phone, indicating possible confusion and making her family believe at the time that her mental state was deteriorating and she was becoming forgetful.
Her daughter told 11Alive at the time of her disappearance that “she has a really big heart and she is a really nice person and she just needs help right now.”
The young woman teared up and softly said “I’m sorry” as tears ran down her cheeks.
For more information on these stories and other people Missing in Georgia, click here.
