Criminologist and University of Regina professor Dr. Lorna Ferguson hopes her new book “Missing Persons: Beyond Serial Killers and Unexplained Disappearances” will break untrue stereotypes about missing persons reports.
“We forget to include different voices and different representations when we talk about missing persons,” said Ferguson. “And as a part of that, there’s a lot of myths out there that affect how missing persons cases are resolved.”
As the leading expert in missing persons in Canada, as well as the founder of the Missing Persons Research Hub, Ferguson has written several publications on the topic. After running away during her youth and having an unsavoury experience with police after she was located, Ferguson has dedicated her life to educating about, and working with the families of those who have gone missing.
Ferguson has written six books prior to this one, and hopes that her upcoming book will educate the public about the reality of going missing by expelling the myths perpetuated by the media.
As an example, she speaks of the myth of having to wait 24 hours before you report a person missing. “That’s fueled by true crime, the true crime community and popular entertainment and the media,” said Ferguson. “And as a result of that, you have children, You have youth, You have older adults with dementia who have been missing for a full day and have not been found. That’s a full day of leads and evidence going missing. That’s a full day of these people being able to possibly travel further or be exposed to the elements or be hurt and harmed and not have help.”
Ferguson has found that there is an innate lack of research and researchers for missing persons in Canada. “The reality is, there’s not much research, but there’s a huge social issue,” she said.
She hopes to encourage the prevention of people going missing across Canada, and aims to give more data informed and evidence informed information to aid in the missing persons problem.
“My passion for…creating change, social change specifically, also drives me,” said Ferguson. She also wants to make sure that families who have experienced the loss of missing persons will not be victimized.
Ferguson’s book also dissects the true crime industry, “It’s looking to challenge the genre’s most persistent myth that missing persons are dark mysteries waiting to be solved by web sleuths and dramatic documentaries and brilliant detectives, and instead that the mundane reality of going missing for most people is going to be shown,” she says. As well as why people are so drawn to learning about true crime, and why most of those interested tend to be women.
Ferguson’s Book is well researched, containing data from over 22,000 different missing persons reports from many different sources.
Missing Persons: Beyond Serial Killers and Unexplained Disappearances will be released in either the Spring or Summer of 2026, and Ferguson hopes that it will intrigue and engage those who wish to learn the true ins and outs of missing cases.
