Laura Mackenzie, an 18-year-old woman missing for five months, was located yesterday in St. Augustine Beach, Fla. after she was seen by a man who said he recognized her from a Public Service Announcement featuring Mackenzie during the June 1 broadcast of the CBS Thursday night drama WITHOUT A TRACE.Mackenzie, who is from Goffstown, N.H., disappeared on March 8, the day she was scheduled to face shoplifting charges in Manchester, N.H. District Court. Based on the tip that came into the Hillsborough County N.H. Sheriff’s Office on Monday, Aug. 7, which was forwarded to authorities in Florida, police were sent to an apartment building in St. Augustine Beach, Fla. where they found Mackenzie, who was arrested without incident. This marks the fourth time a missing person has been found (five people total) following a WITHOUT A TRACE PSA. In May, 2006, Kristy Ormsby, a 26-year-old woman missing for two years, was located in Jackson County, North Carolina after she was featured in a PSA during the May 4th episode of WITHOUT A TRACE and on a news segment on CBS’s "The Early Show" on May 5th; in April 2006, an 18-month-old girl was recovered in Tarrant, Ala. following profiles of the child in WITHOUT A TRACE and "The Early Show"; and in July 2005, 8-year-old Nicholas Antonio Candela and his 7-year-old sister Gio’ Annah were located in Tuckahoe, N.Y., after a WITHOUT A TRACE viewer provided information to the FBI. Prior to the September 2002 premiere of WITHOUT A TRACE, a fictional drama about the missing persons unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, CBS joined forces with the FBI to profile a new missing person in a PSA each week, even during rebroadcasts. Each broadcast since the series’ premiere has featured a PSA asking for the public’s help to find a real-life missing person. The PSA includes a picture and descriptive information about a missing person with a message asking viewers to call their nearest FBI office if they have seen the person or have any information relevant to the case. Starting this past season, CBS’s "The Early Show" features a story on each week’s missing person the day after their PSA runs.
