By: Dennis Richmond, Jr.
As Halloween approaches, teenagers across New York are thinking about costumes, parties and where they will spend October 31. For other families, Halloween may arrive with an empty bedroom, an unanswered phone and the same painful question they have been asking for weeks or months: Where is my child?
Recently, I wrote about dozens of Black teen girls and Black and Hispanic teen boys reported missing across New York. Thousands of people read and shared those stories. But our concern cannot end with one race or one community. There are other teenagers missing across New York whose names and faces also deserve attention.
Gabriella Werner, 14, has been missing from Utica since Aug. 24, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Temperance Porter, 17, disappeared from Tonawanda on Sept. 16, 2025. More than a year later, she remains listed as missing, and NCMEC says she may need medical attention.
Then there is Kara Lorman. Lorman, now 17, has been missing from Poughkeepsie since May 2, 2026, according to NCMEC. It is not the first time her family and authorities have searched for her. CBS6 reported that Lorman disappeared from Fort Edward in July 2025. She was subsequently located. Her current NCMEC poster concerns a separate disappearance in 2026.
Other teenagers remain missing. Adam Wisniewski, 16, has been missing from Albany since March 8. Meghan Bolds, 16, disappeared from Pleasantville on May 18. Chloe Buchanan, 16, has been missing from Albany since May 19.
These cases are part of a much larger problem. New York State officials reported in February 2026 that 10,629 children younger than 18 were reported missing to law enforcement during 2025. Ninety-four percent were classified as runaways, and 1,079 missing-child cases remained active statewide at the end of the year.
Nationally, NCMEC assisted with 32,167 missing-child cases in 2025, and 29,013 were resolved. Teenagers ages 15 through 17 accounted for 22,498 of the children reported to the organization.
There is also a reason to keep sharing these cases. On Oct. 2, 2026, authorities announced that 34 missing children and teenagers had been located during a three-day operation across Long Island and New York City involving more than 100 professionals.
This should never become a competition over which missing children deserve the most attention. Black children matter. Hispanic children matter. White children matter. Every missing child deserves people searching, asking questions and circulating accurate information.
Halloween is coming. For some New York families, bringing their child home would mean more than any celebration ever could. For real.
Dennis Richmond, Jr. (@NewYorkStakz) is a journalist, historian, and educator from Yonkers, NY. He writes to uplift unheard voices, honor history, and inspire change.