It doesn’t happen all that often in our area, but the sad fact is that in 2025, 15,367 children were reported missing in Ohio.

That’s the number Attorney General David Yost reported in his annual Missing Children

Clearinghouse report.

The good news to come out of the report, Yost explained, is that 97.8 percent of those children — 15,024 — were recovered by the end of the year. While that’s an impressive number, the statistics show that six of the children who had been reported missing were found dead.

“My heart weighs heavy over those still unaccounted for,” Yost said in the introduction to the report, which was issued May 15. “Rest assured, they remain a priority for Ohio law enforcement.”

Of the missing children reported last year, the report details, 8,061 were females and 7,306 were males. The vast majority — 13,990 — were between the ages of 13 and 17. There were 1,260 reports involving children between the ages of 6 and 12 and 117 reports involving children between the ages of birth and 5.

May was the month with the greatest number of reports — 1,589 — while January had the lowest number of reports — 1,000.

The Missing Children Clearinghouse is operated by the Ohio Missing Persons Unit, which is a part of the state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Last year’s numbers were lower than the three previous years. In 2014, there were 16,404 children reported missing in the state, in 2023 there were 17,405 children reported missing, in 2022 there were 15,555 children reported missing and in 2021 there were 14,027 children reported missing.

That was the low point during the past decade, with the high mark being reached in 2017, when 20,043 children were reported missing.

Breaking down those numbers a little more, the report said last year the majority of cases involved runaway children at 7,656. There were 22 cases where a child was taken by a noncustodial parent, two cases where a child was abducted by a stranger, and four missing person cases that involved a person older than 18 but younger than 21.

When it comes to attempted child abductions, the report says the clearinghouse was able to document seven investigations into attempted abduction involving eight children, four girls and four boys. The report adds that 57 percent of the children who were involved were able to run or walk away.

Suspects were driving vehicles in 29 percent of the cases, and 57 percent used physical force or a weapon and 43 percent tried to engage the children in conversation by asking for directions or help. Three of the suspects were arrested.

Our region is not immune to these incidents. There were 18 reports in Jefferson County. Columbiana County had the most reports in our area — 49 — while Belmont County logged 26 reports, Carroll County three reports and Harrison County had no reports.

When a child is reported missing, two of the most effective tools for law enforcement are AMBER and Endangered Missing Child alerts. Last year, agencies across the state issued four AMBER alerts involving four children, all of whom were recovered safely.

An Endangered Missing Child alert, the report says. is issued when law enforcement cannot determine whether the child was abducted, but the disappearance otherwise meets AMBER Alert criteria. In 2025, the report shows, there were 18 of these alerts issued involving 18 children, 17 of whom were recovered safely. Sadly, one was recovered dead.

Yost, who on May 7 announced he would be resigning from his post on June 7, said that there are more than 800 children listed as actively missing on the BCI’s Missing Person Unit database, and more than 700 of those were reported missing during the past five years.

“Nearly 40 children in the database have been missing at least 10 years, including six who have been gone more than 50 years,” he explained. Our oldest case involves Melvin Horst, who went missing when he was 4 years old, two days after Christmas in 1928. He would be 102 this year. His case matters. They all do.”

No one ever wants to face the prospect of a missing child, but it is reassuring to know there are systems in place to help keep them safe.

(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is senior writer at the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times)