Kevin Andrew Collins Missing – Became one of the first missing children to appear on milk cartons and the covers of major journals, such as Newsweek magazine in the year 1984, earning them attention on a global scale. His kidnapping from the streets of San Francisco contributed to raising awareness of the situation of missing and exploited children in the United States.
Collins was one of nine kids born into the working-class Collins family, which was headed by David and Ann Collins. Collins was a San Francisco native. He was in the fourth grade at St. Agnes School, which is situated in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. His home was on Sutter Street, in the center of the city.
He missed the last few minutes of basketball practice on February 10, 1984, which was held at the school’s gymnasium between 6:10 and 6:30 p.m. Gary, the eleven-year-old brother who is Kevin’s other older sibling, usually accompanies him to basketball practice, but Gary was sick on that particular day and stayed at home. Kevin went by himself to practice.
Kevin was last seen waiting for the No. 43 bus near the intersection of Oak Street and Masonic Avenue about 7:55 p.m. Several witnesses reported seeing him conversing with a tall, blond-haired man at the bus stop. Nobody saw or heard from him again after that. Prior to the invention of Amber Alerts, the only means of informing the public that a child had gone missing was through the news on television and in the printed media.
