How to File a Missing Person Report in Massachusetts

To file a missing person report in Massachusetts, contact any local police department as soon as you believe someone is missing. There is no 24-hour or 48-hour waiting period, despite the common myth. For a child, an older adult with dementia, or anyone who depends on medication or supervision, treat the person as missing the moment their whereabouts become unknown and tell the officer so.¹

Where to Go and When

Call or walk into the local police department covering the area where the person was last seen or where they live. Any Massachusetts law enforcement agency can take the report. Don’t wait for a specific number of hours to pass. The first hours matter, especially for children, people with cognitive impairments, and anyone with a serious medical condition.²

If you believe the person is in immediate danger, say that plainly at the start of the call. Officers triage by risk, and a clear statement of medical needs, limited safety awareness, or evidence of foul play changes how the case is handled from the first minute.

What to Bring to the Report

Come prepared with as much detail as you can gather. Officers will ask for:

A current physical description, including height, weight, hair and eye color, and any distinguishing marks
Recent photographs
The last known location, time, and who saw the person last
What the person was wearing and whether they had a phone, wallet, keys, or a vehicle
Any medical conditions, cognitive impairments, mental health concerns, or medications
Names and contact information for close friends, family, coworkers, and anyone they may have gone to see

Under Chapter 22A, officers will also ask a family member or next of kin to authorize release of the missing person’s medical and dental records. Those records are entered into the state’s central register so they can be compared against records from unidentified persons.³

Keep a copy of the police report number, your photograph of the missing person, and notes on every contact with law enforcement. If the case continues for weeks or months, that paper trail becomes important for everything from media outreach to later court petitions.

Cases That Get Priority

Children, adults with Alzheimer’s or dementia, people on the autism spectrum, and anyone whose safety depends on supervision or medication are treated as higher-risk from the start.² Make sure the responding officer knows about any such condition before you leave the station or hang up the phone.

What Police Do After You File

Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 22A assigns the Department of State Police specific duties in missing person cases. The State Police maintain a central register of missing persons that includes identifying information, dental records, and data shared across agencies.⁴ Dental records from unidentified deceased persons are compared against records on file for missing individuals, and any match goes to both the medical examiner and the local agency that took the original report.³

Federal law adds a second layer when the missing person is under 21. Under 34 U.S.C. § 41307, known as Suzanne’s Law, every law enforcement agency must report missing persons under 21 to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and to NamUs without delay.⁵ Once the person is in NCIC, the record is instantly available to law enforcement in every state, which matters if the missing person crossed state lines.⁶ NamUs adds forensic support, including DNA typing, fingerprint examination, and forensic odontology, and connects law enforcement with families and forensic professionals.⁷

If the missing person is a child, Chapter 22A also requires that the child’s school records be flagged. If anyone tries to transfer those records to another school, the original district is alerted and can notify law enforcement, which helps catch cases where an abducted child is enrolled elsewhere under a different name.

AMBER and Silver Alerts

Massachusetts has two public alert systems that go beyond the regular investigation. You don’t request them directly; law enforcement decides whether the circumstances fit.

AMBER Alerts

Under Chapter 22C, Section 71, an AMBER Alert activates when police determine that a child under 18 has been abducted and faces serious danger of bodily harm or death, and when there is enough descriptive information about the child, the suspect, or the suspect’s vehicle for a public broadcast to help. AMBER Alerts are not issued for runaways or for custody disputes unless the child was actually abducted during the dispute. Once activated, the State Police notify broadcast media, MassDOT, the MBTA, the Massachusetts Port Authority, and other agencies, and the child’s information is entered into NCIC. The alert remains active until the State Police colonel directs its termination.⁸

Silver Alerts

The Silver Alert system, created under Chapter 6A, Section 18L, covers adults with serious memory impairments such as Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia. It directs law enforcement and response resources within a geographic area around the person’s last known location, drawing on research into wandering behavior patterns for people with dementia.⁹

Don’t File a False Report

Filing a false missing person report is a criminal offense in Massachusetts. Under Chapter 269, Section 13A, anyone who intentionally and knowingly makes a false report of a crime to police faces a fine of $100 to $500, up to one year in jail, or both.¹⁰ A person who fabricates a disappearance can also face civil liability for the costs of the resulting search.

If the Person Stays Missing

When someone is gone for weeks or longer, their bills, mortgage, and other obligations keep running. Under Chapter 200 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the probate court can appoint a receiver to manage an absentee’s property. Anyone who would be entitled to administer the person’s estate if they were deceased can petition for the appointment. The receiver takes care of assets, pays debts, and manages financial obligations until the situation resolves.¹¹

If a missing person has been absent continuously for five years without being heard from, and a diligent search has failed to explain the absence, Massachusetts law presumes the person dead. The death is presumed to have occurred at the end of the five-year period unless evidence supports an earlier date. The five-year clock starts from the date of disappearance, not from when the report was filed, which is one more reason to file promptly. A certified copy of a government record showing the person is missing, detained, dead, or alive is prima facie evidence of that status in court, and circumstantial evidence can establish death before five years run in appropriate cases.¹²

Where a trust holds property whose distribution depends on whether the missing person is alive or dead, any interested party can petition the court after five years for an order distributing that property as if the person had died. The court may require the petitioner to conduct a diligent search first, including publishing notices, contacting law enforcement and welfare agencies, and potentially hiring an investigator, with search costs paid from the trust.¹³

1
Mass.gov. Missing Persons
2
Mass.gov. Missing Person Protocol
3
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Part I Title II Chapter 22A Section 6
4
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Part I Title II Chapter 22A – Missing Persons
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 34 USC 41307 – Reporting Requirement for Missing Children
6
Federal Bureau of Investigation. National Crime Information Center (NCIC)
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 34 USC Chapter 405 – Reporting of Unidentified and Missing Persons
8
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Part I Title II Chapter 22C Section 71
9
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Part I Title II Chapter 6A Section 18L
10
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 269 Section 13A – False Reports to Police Officers
11
Justia Law. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 200 Section 1 – Estates of Absentees; Receiver; Petition for Appointment
12
Mass.gov. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 190B Section 1-107 – Evidence of Death or Status
13
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Part II Title II Chapter 203E Article 2 Section 205