Gone without a trace

Sunday, February 4, 2007

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New technology is helping Clearwater Police pursue finding people that have been missing for years. (slideshow)

Real life mysteries are nothing new for the Clearwater Police Department, and even more for families of people that have been missing for years..

"Did something happen to them that caused them not to be able to contact their family? Or did they run away and change their name and move to another country and want no contact?" Sergeant John Scacca of the Clearwater Police said.

That's the big question for everyone of the faces who've been missing for years. The most recent is Mark Allen Thompson.

"One of those rocky relationships with mom," Scacca said. "And this is even coming from dad. He was having a difficult relationship with her and he might have just wanted to leave."

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Thompson was last seen on Halloween night 2001. He was leaving a local gay bar, the Pro Shop Pub. He has not been seen or heard from since.

"We started looking around Tampa." Scacca said. "Then his truck showed up and it was locked up. There was nothing there to indicate there was any foul play."

Last seen in March 1995 at the age of 32, John C. Podniestrzanski is also known as Johnny Pod, according to relatives. He was very close to his mother and would not have voluntarily gone missing for this long.

"He was staying with a girlfriend on South Fort Harrison, on Clearwater-Largo Road," Scacca said. "And I believe she might have been one of the last ones to see him."

Patricia E. Action was only 25-years-old in May 1978 when she was last seen leaving the Ramada Inn Lounge. Her Chevy Chevelle was found abandoned in Tarpon Springs several years later.

Scacca said DNA samples now can help find people who have been missing for many years.

"She was at a lounge that doesn't even exist anymore," Scacca said.

One of the older cases is Margaret Dash. She was reported missing by her husband in June 1974. The 38-year-old's car was found in St. Petersburg two months later.

"Cheating on her husband and having an affair with her drug-dealing boyfriend," Scacca said.

Much has changed since some of the individuals vanished, making possible what was impossible before.

"We're going back and meeting with family members to get their DNA and put it into a data bank," Scacca said. "The National Data Bank. Just in case they show up somewhere."

Detectives said even the slightest bit of information can be crucial. If you have information that may help solve these cases, call the Clearwater Police hotline at (727) 562-4080.

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