NASHPORT, Ohio — Currently, on the Ohio Attorney General’s website, there are more than 1,100 people listed as missing.

Each name is a son, daughter, brother, or sister, but they're also names you've probably never heard of. 

Lori Davis is one woman trying to change that.

 


What You Need To Know

  • More than 1,100 people listed as missing in Ohio

  • Lori Davis created “Missing Person from Ohio” Facebook page

  • She became passionate about missing persons after the Brian Shaffer case

  • Shaffer has been missing for nearly 15 years


Brian Shaffer is one of the names on the list you may have heard of. He was 27 years old when he disappeared after going to a Columbus bar in 2006.

That case still haunts central Ohio, including Davis.

She never met Brian, but little did she know his story would change her life.

“I ended up reaching out and offering to help the family with their website because they were saying, you know, they were having problems keeping it up to date,” Davis said. “And that is how I became entrenched in this world of missing persons.”

She launched her Facebook page called “Missing Person from Ohio” which now has a following of more than 41,000 people.

“Because of Brian's high-profile case being, you know, an OSU medical student, he received a lot of publicity and I started to realize that he was one of the lucky ones, to be very honest because there were so many that do not receive any publicity,” Davis explained.

With each post, with each flier she creates, Davis prays it reaches someone with answers.

“We are giving so much hope to a family that has very little hope, so it's very positive when I can go back to that family and say, ‘Your person's face reached 60,000 people’ and it's like a gift that you can't describe giving,” she said.

It’s that gift that makes it all worth while — worth the time, worth the emotional toll as she finds herself invested in every story, whether the person is young or old, battling mental illness, drug abuse, or sex trafficking, and the many cases where that person never makes it home.

Carla Losey's case missing from Columbus,” Davis recalled. “She was a dancer. Tyler Davis went missing from Easton, never to be seen again. He’s got a little boy at home.”

Thousands of cases, stories, and names shared by a woman who has never met them, but pledges to be their victim advocate.

“What keeps me going is that mother that says to me, ‘Oh my gosh, I didn't think anybody at all cared about my son's case or my daughter's case or my father or aunt,’ or whatever it is, and to know that you can be that beacon of hope for anybody in this world right now in this day and age,” Davis said. “I think sometimes God leads us to where we're supposed to be even if we don’t understand where that is and why.”

While Lori typically is not made aware if her posts helped lead to someone’s location, a post from a mother of a young boy says it all.

She wrote, “I’m convinced your quick response to us and creating a flier for him lead to his recovery. You’re an amazing person, can’t thank you enough.”