If you could solve one missing person's case, what would it be?

A lot come to my mind (Amelia Earhart, Roanoke colony, Judge Crater, Bremuda Triangle pilots, etc) but the one that has always fascinated me is the crew of the Mary Celeste (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Celeste). Every time there is a story about it on TV, I have to watch it.

I do wonder what would happen if something like Harold Holt happened to our president. Imagine all the conspiracies.

D.B. Cooper. Always fascinated me!

Shortly after we moved to California's North Coast in 1997, signs went up all over town about a missing high school girl. This was really big news, the first time anything like that had happened in this semi-rural community. Her story was in the newspaper for a year. It was kind of a sad time for the town, "Welcome to the modern world."

A lot of kids did everything they could to leave because it's no place for the young. The old timber-based economy is waning and the new industry is elder care as a new generation of retiriees would rather live in year-round mild weather than swelter in Florida and duck hurricanes. Not the kind of job kids are looking for.

Privately a lot of us assumed that this girl had just taken off, but unlike all the other kids she didn't tell anyone where she was going and just hitched a ride out of town in the middle of the night.

Not having children, I can't imagine what it's like to have one disappear. I know that you spend the rest of your life waiting for a knock on the door, hoping it's your kid, still recognizable, and not a cop with bad news. Your life just stalls. It's worse than having a child die, which is the worst thing that's ever happened to anyone I know. At least you have closure and you can start healing. The worst things that have ever happened to me were a broken heart and being fired from a job. I consider myself lucky!

Also, even though I was a kid who hated my parents, I can't imagine how much you have to hate them to do this to them. Make them suffer inconsolably, every day for the rest of their lives. You kind of almost hope the kid is really dead instead of being that big a jerk.

So, if I could solve one case, it would be this one missing girl in my tiny little town. I'm sure no one anywhere else ever heard of her because there are so many like her. But I'd be happy to give that poor family--and our whole town--closure.

A small dream but a very personal one, something that comes with small town life.

Georges Guynemer

Oscar Zeta Acosta

Jesus? I mean, did he go up to heaven or is he walking around the place?