In preparation for the annual National Missing Children's Day on May 25, Attorney General Dave Yost released the 2024 Ohio Missing Children’s Clearinghouse Report on Monday.
A total of 16,404 children were reported missing in 2024, with 96.5%, or 15,834, of the children who were reported missing being found safely.
Three of the missing children were found deceased. There were fewer missing people reported in 2024 than the previous year, with a total of 22,374 people reported missing in 2023.
“I am proud of the dedication shown by Ohio law enforcement to keep Ohio’s children safe and pledge that my office will always do everything in its power to support that mission,” Yost said in the report.
The report recognizes the total number of children reported missing in Ohio last year, along with data about missing people in general, the number of AMBER Alerts issued throughout the state and the outcome of the cases.
The Clearinghouse Report works with both the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), an index of crime information statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and local law enforcement throughout Ohio.
Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) assists law enforcement agencies in helping to find missing people with its Missing Persons Unit. The unit issues endangered missing child alerts and endangered missing adult alerts.
The report also gave specific details about the reported missing people, information about age, sex, location and time period.
A total of 14,681 of the missing children were between the ages of 13 and 17. Franklin County had the largest number of missing children, with 2,792 cases.
Click here to read the full report.