Austin woman raises awareness about missing people with Facebook group

AUSTIN, Texas - A local woman wanted to find a way to aggregate missing persons in the Austin area, so she created a Facebook page. Now with more than 3,000 members, they continue to spread awareness about the issue. 

The page is called Austin Missing Persons and Surrounding Areas (A.M.P.S.).

Founder Margolyn Metcalfe says two events drove her to start the page. 

"When I was 15, my first boyfriend, he ended up going missing and was actually murdered," she said. "After that, I have just been kind of propelled into situations where people were missing because people knew I'd experienced that. I just kind of became a moth to a flame in that sense. Then, a dear friend came to me about three years ago with a missing friend, and I ended up having so many resources to be able to help look for her."

Eventually, she got a small team going and had volunteers help out. 

"We really needed to step up and have someone start doing something for people. I wasn't going to wait around to see who else was going to do it," Metcalfe said.

Missing people can be from any background, and Metcalfe says they try to help fill in the gaps, especially with short-staffed law enforcement. 

"On Facebook, I try and make sure that we get as much movement on the actual missing people's cases as possible," Metcalfe said.

When someone's loved one goes missing, she can guide them through what's available. 

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"A lot of people don't have the money or the community to look for their missing people, and they don't even know where to start. It's so traumatic that I don't want people to have to spend hours looking for resources. I want it to be at their fingertips," she said.

She wants to expand the organization, becoming a foundation to help children of the missing make sure their needs are met, whether that be healthcare, transportation, or birthday presents. 

"We just need a much further reach for it to work better," she said.

Some people on the page might be found in a few days, but one of the longest cases, Roxanne Paltauf, has been missing since 2006. 

"I just hope that if you join the page, repost as often as possible. Because the more we do it, even if it's obnoxious to other people, the further it gets. We do find people because of it," Metcalfe said.