Marcus Farina Child Abduction

[RobinW]

You might remember a segment UM did on Marcus Farina, a 9-month old baby who was abducted by his non-custodial father, Sergio. This was a particularly alarming parental abduction because Marcus had a severe thyroid condition and his mother Patricia feared he might die if Sergio neglected to give their son the proper medical attention while they were on the run. It was believed that Sergio may have fled with Marcus to his native South America.

This one is still listed as unsolved, so I feared it might be a Christophe Day situation where Marcus died and Sergio never bothered to inform his mother. However, I checked out Marcus' profile on The Charley Project and it looks like they've confirmed he's still alive. The profile's actually got a real, non-age-enhanced photo of 21-year old Marcus taken sometime this year!
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/...na_marcus.html

Upon further checking, I found out that Patricia has posted a video of herself on the forbidden site asking her son to contact her (just type in "Marcus Farina" to find it). She apparently found someone who looked like Marcus on Facebook and thought it might be him, so she sent out a public plea to him with her contact info. Patricia also mentioned that the warrants on Sergio have been lifted, so he would not be prosecuted if they found him. I have no idea if Marcus did eventually contact Patricia and that's where this updated picture on Charley Project came from. I did my own Facebook search on Marcus Farina, but came up empty.

So, as far as I can tell, Marcus Farina is still alive, but still officially listed a missing.

[1990 UM fan]

Note that it says "age 21, 10 years after his abduction". Wouldn't it be 20 years and not 10? I couldn't find anything on Facebook of Marcus either.

[RobinW]

Yeah, I'm assuming the "10 years" thing is a typo by the Charley Project. I also looked up Marcus' profile at For the Lost and it has both the photo and the age-progressed image posted, but no explanation about where the photo came from. Bizarre!
http://www.forthelost.org/family/mfarina.html

[Steve W.]

How odd: they have a photo of him (looks like he's at a club or bar or something) but he's still considered missing.

Also, it goes to show how unreliable age-enhancement photos can be: I don't see anything in his most current photo (ie facial features) resembling what he looked like as a baby.

[1990 UM fan]

Originally Posted by Steve W.

How odd: they have a photo of him (looks like he's at a club or bar or something) but he's still considered missing.

Also, it goes to show how unreliable age-enhancement photos can be: I don't see anything in his most current photo (ie facial features) resembling what he looked like as a baby.

At least in this one. I have seen some good age progression photos. Take a look at Jeremy Bright's aged photo for example.

[wiseguy182]

Originally Posted by Steve W.

How odd: they have a photo of him (looks like he's at a club or bar or something) but he's still considered missing.

Also, it goes to show how unreliable age-enhancement photos can be: I don't see anything in his most current photo (ie facial features) resembling what he looked like as a baby.

It would be very difficult for an artist to have predicted what he would look like today, being that he was only 9 months old when he was taken. Age progression photos are guesswork, more specifically, educated guesswork.

I'm not surprised he's still listed as missing being that he has not assumed his old identity and might be held against his will.

[Steve W.]

Originally Posted by 1990 UM fan

At least in this one. I have seen some good age progression photos. Take a look at Jeremy Bright's aged photo for example.

???

What makes it good if there is no way to tell if it resembles the person at a more advanced age? In Jeremy's case, I think he was most likely killed on the day or shortly after he went missing, so I don't know what role his age enhancement photo has, since he has never been found and probably won't be found alive.

[1990 UM fan]

Originally Posted by Steve W.

???

What makes it good if there is no way to tell if it resembles the person at a more advanced age? In Jeremy's case, I think he was most likely killed on the day or shortly after he went missing, so I don't know what role his age enhancement photo has, since he has never been found and probably won't be found alive.

Don't underestimate the work of forensic artists. They put in alot of work to make the composites as accurate as possible. They use facial structure and features from existing family members to make a composite of a missing person or criminal at a later age. Tissue depth is also important.



Jeremy Bright is missing, yes, but him being dead hasn't been proven nor disproven, so an age progression is made in case he is alive somehow and someone could identify him.

[Necco]

I judge it to be a good age progression if you look quickly and don't realize it is an artistic rendering and not a photograph. Jeremy's definitely fits this criteria.

[Judyhymesisalive]

Is there any updates? Did he contact his Mother?

[RobinW]

Originally Posted by Judyhymesisalive

Is there any updates? Did he contact his Mother?

Not that I know of. It looks like the Youtube video Marcus's mother put up years ago is no longer there. Back when I made this thread, I actually contacted Meaghan from the Charley Project to ask about the photo of 21-year old Marcus. Her theory is that Marcus and his father might have had to flee somewhere in a hurry and ended up leaving a photo behind.

[Tap Dancer]

How do they know it's really him? Anyway, I imagine his name was changed a long time ago.