Missing and Unidentified Persons Awareness Month is observed in May. According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, there are over 600,000 people who go missing in the United States every year. Although a large amount of these individuals are found, there are still thousands who stay missing for over a year.

Missing and Unidentified Persons Awareness Month also stresses that cases with individuals who are missing for over a year are considered “cold cases.” A cold case is defined as “an unsolved criminal investigation which remains open pending the discovery of new evidence.” Thousands of families and friends of missing persons wait years to have these cold cases solved.