Following a week-long, multi-agency investigation, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced on Friday, Aug. 7 that it successfully located 30 missing children across the Southeastern region during the first week of August.
Most of the kids, ages 10-17, were found in Tennessee, but two were found in Georgia and one in Mississippi. All children involved are now safe, TBI officials said.
“Many people don’t realize this, but hundreds of children go missing in our state every month,” TBI Director David Rausch said in a statement. “From runaways that may leave their home out of desperation or despair, to those entangled in a custody battle, every single one of them deserves a fighting chance, and that’s why they also deserve our best work to help
them.”
The operation was based out of Memphis, in partnership with the United States Marshals Service, the Memphis Safe Task Force, the Memphis Police Department, and the Department of Children’s Services.
In the days leading up to the investigation, intelligence analysts and detectives identified dozens of minors who had gone missing in the Memphis area, many of whom were suspected of running away from their homes. TBI said it publicizes missing children reports for reasons ranging from parental abductions and children considered at-risk to those who left home on their own accord.
Once the operation began on July 29, officers physically checked a list of 109 addresses of interest and effectively recovered 30 individuals.
“The U.S. Marshals Service is incredibly thankful for the collaborative efforts that led to the safe recovery of dozens of missing children in just six days," U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Tennessee Tyreece Miller said in a statement. “This operation underscores the critical importance of swift action in protecting our most vulnerable. Every child deserves to know that someone cared enough to find them.”
The TBI maintains a list of Tennessee's missing children on its website. Currently, that list includes four children missing from Nashville, ages 14-16 at the time they disappeared. One child, now 16-year-old Tony Metcalf, has been missing since May of 2024, while others like 16-year-old Belle Zerbe were reported missing as recently as July 10.
To view a list of some of Tennessee's missing children, visit TBI's website. If anyone has information about any of the individuals listed, please call 1-800-TBI-FIND to share it with investigators.
Hadley Hitson covers business news for The Tennessean. She can be reached at hhitson@tennessean.com. To support her work,subscribe to The Tennessean.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee investigators find 30 missing kids across southeastern region
