National Center for Missing and Exploited Children uses forensic artists to help save lives
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — As the 30th anniversary of the disappearance of Morgan Nick approaches, one organization dedicates themselves to helping law enforcement bring home missing children.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is the largest child protection service in the country. In 2024, they aided in over twenty-seven thousand reports of missing children. That number is good for a 91% overall recovery rate in cases involving missing children.
According to NCMEC, the organization does this in a variety of ways. Including issuing AMBER Alerts, protecting children from sexual exploitation, and using age progression imaging to assist in finding missing children, among other things.
Senior forensic artist at NCMEC, Christi Andrews, said that the opportunity to help save the lives of children is her main goal.
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'It's a fascinating job. To use art to help find missing children and identify deceased children was never on my radar,' Andrews said. 'I don't think most artists would anticipate that they would be doing something like that. To use my skills in that way is so rewarding.'
When a child is missing for over two years, their picture may not be an accurate depiction of what they currently look like. In those long-term cases of missing children, forensic artists create age progression and facial reconstruction images to help identify the individuals.
This past year, one hundred and forty-one children were recovered from the use of age progression images. Andrews said, getting the images out consistently helps in the recovery process.
'The more eyes we have on these images, the better. That's a higher chance. It's just odds, you know, it's a higher chance of somebody seeing the image and recognizing that child,' Andrews said. 'That's what we want at the end of the day, to get these children home and give a child their name back.'
For more information on NCMEC and the work they do, visit their website at www.missingkids.org.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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