Hi, this is my first post. I am working with a premise that involves a disappearance of a student on a small college campus in the mountains of western NC, in the late 90s. He is a foreign exchange, a freshman and he disappears just before classes start, so he would barely be known by anyone other than his roommate (the protagonist) and a few team members. I am curious where I would look to learn what procedures would be involved.. how long until they decide he is officially 'missing', how long people would search, and how long before everyone gives up. The question of campus security vs. police jurisdiction.. The protagonist 'chris' would be the person who reported him, but the disappearance involves mysterious paranormal circumstances, so Chris would not be entirely honest. I'm not sure how much of this exactly will play into my narrative but I need to know what is going on in the background as this would be a very small campus where everyone is aware of what's going on. Thoughts? Suggestions on where to look?
Go to Google and type 'missing persons procedure'. You'll get loads of links full of relevant information. Then repeat for any other related search term. Research takes a long time, but Google is your best free resource.
I can't answer all your questions, but I think adults have to be gone for 48 hours before they're officially declared missing.
Since this happens at a college, you can check official procedures at a few colleges. They are required by law to have such procedures. Here's one. Here's another. And another. And one more for good measure.
Since the character is an adult the police probably would want to wait 24 hours to file a missing persons report (I have no idea if it varies state by state). They would question his roommate first. Then they'd probably question his professors to see when he was in class. He'd question the parents and his other friends/family. Any enemies he might have had etc.
