Arguably, Michelle Knight was already off the radar when she vanished in 2002. She was older -- in her 20s -- and reportedly estranged from her family. Cleveland police say they were unable to confirm with anyone that Knight was still missing…so in 2003, her case was deleted from the FBI’s case files.
While debate continues over whether or not an active FBI file would’ve helped Knight, Cuyahoga County is beefing up its local missing persons response effort. It’s rolling out a new missing persons website that’ll be maintained by three staffers, and allow immediate reporting of missing people in the region.
And that’s not all, says County Executive Ed Fitzgerald.
“We’re also going to hiring a missing persons liaison, whose specific mission it is to make sure that these cases don’t fall through the cracks," says Fitzgerald. "And that we’re continuing to make sure that we’re refreshing the information that we have on these cases.” And we’re talking about adding two additional deputies who would specifically focus on missing person cases.”
County officials say they expect to hire the missing persons liaison within 30 days. That position, the website, and additional deputies are expected to cost $250,000 a year.