You can probably make a list of high profile missing child cases that you’ve heard of over the years - Cleo Smith, Elizabeth Smart and even Caylee Anthony.

But there are thousands of missing children that slip through the cracks of the system, every single day. In 2020 in the US, over 30,000 juveniles were reported missing.

In the first episode of the True Crime Society podcast for 2022, we discuss the cases of missing children Michael ‘Monkey’ Vaughan and Dulce Alavez.

Michael is a 5 year old, boisterous little boy who loved monster trucks and playing in the dirt. He was playing Nintendo in July 2021, when his dad left the room to attend to Michael’s baby sister. When his father returned, Michael was gone. Now, six months later, no trace of Michael has been found and police believe he may have been abducted.

In September 2019 in Bridgeton, NJ, Dulce Alavez and her little brother Manuel were treated to an ice cream by their mother, Noema. They then went to the local playground to use the swings. Noema helped a relative with some homework and when she looked up, Manuel’s ice cream was on the ground and he was crying. Dulce was nowhere to be seen. More than two years later, Dulce remains missing. Police have released both a sketch of a possible suspect and an age progressed image of Dulce, to no avail.

We also discuss the current case of missing child Lina Khil. Lina went missing from a playground in San Antonio , TX in December 2021 . Her mother allegedly turned away to get some water and Lina vanished within minutes.

You can listen on Spotify here - https://open.spotify.com/episode/4BWnz4D8XbufW6y9PD6seY?si=eSXGpQARSxO0mI0H18Btxg

And Apple here - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/true-crime-society/id1504300714?i=1000547068268

Thank you as always for listening x