JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Project: Cold Case and the families of two missing Jacksonville men are hosting their annual Missing Adults Day event at city hall on Friday.
John Rowan Jr. has been missing since 2001 and Mark Degner has been missing since 2005.
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The event is dedicated to raising awareness for missing adults and their families who continue to search for answers.
“Families of missing adults live in a space of ongoing ambiguity,” Ryan Backmann said, Founder and Executive Director of Project: Cold Case said. “There is no clear timeline. No predictable path. Just the daily weight of not knowing. Missing Adult Day exists to acknowledge that reality and ensure these missing individuals and their families are not forgotten.”
The event aims to honor missing adults whose cases remain unsolved, provide trauma-informed support and peer connection, educate the public about the long-term impact of ambiguous loss, and encourage responsible media coverage and public awareness.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System website houses 41,670 open cases across the United States. Those numbers include 2,405missing persons and 880 unidentified persons in Florida.