Is Missing: Dead or Alive Real? The Truth Behind Netflix’s True Crime Series

Netflix has released a new true crime series called Missing: Dead or Alive, which follows the investigations of a missing persons unit in South Carolina. The series features four cases that happened between 2019 and 2021, and shows how the officers try to find the missing individuals before it is too late. But is the series based on real events, or is it a dramatized version of the truth? Here is what you need to know about Missing: Dead or Alive.

The Missing Persons Unit

The series focuses on the Richland County Sheriff’s Department Missing Persons Unit, which is located in Columbia, South Carolina. The unit is led by Captain Heidi Jackson, who oversees five other departments in the sheriff’s office. The main investigators featured in the series are Vicki Rains and JP Smith, who have been in law enforcement for 22 and 40 years respectively. Rains transferred to the missing persons unit after working in major crimes, while Smith specializes in juvenile cases.

The series gives an inside look at how the unit operates, and how they use various tools and techniques to track down the missing persons. Some of the methods they use include interviewing witnesses and suspects, searching for clues and evidence, following phone pings and GPS data, conducting search and rescue operations, and collaborating with other agencies and experts. The series also shows the emotional toll that the cases take on the officers, who often work long hours and face stressful situations.

The Missing Persons Cases

Each episode of the series focuses on a different missing person case, and reveals the outcome in the following episode, except for the last one. The cases are:

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• Episode 1: The disappearance of 18-year-old Mariah Carter, who went missing after leaving her home with a friend. She was last seen getting into a car with an unknown man, and her phone was later found in a dumpster.
• Episode 2: The disappearance of 15-year-old Gabbie Swainson, who vanished from her bedroom in the middle of the night. Her mother suspected that her ex-boyfriend, who had a history of stalking and harassing her, was involved.
• Episode 3: The disappearance of 23-year-old Jerell Ketron Eugene White, who went missing after attending a party at a friend’s house. He was last seen walking away from the house, and his car was later found abandoned on a dirt road.
• Episode 4: The disappearance of 19-year-old Samantha Josephson, who was kidnapped and killed by a fake Uber driver after leaving a bar with her friends. Her body was found in a wooded area, and the suspect was arrested after a police chase.

👉 Discover more in this in-depth guide.