The Rust Belt city where children keep vanishing… and there’s no one to look for them

Eric Vance’s family has been in turmoil since the 16-year-old went missing in Ohio last month.

His grandmother Roseann Vidovic said she “can’t sleep, can’t eat” as she wonders why Vance disappeared.

He was last seen on Janette Avenue in east Cleveland wearing white socks and black sweatpants.

His family has been handing out flyers in the neighborhood and Vidovic told News 5 Cleveland the desperation was “pure hell” as she tried not to “think the worst” about the fate of a teen with mental health issues.

Yet Vance’s tragic disappearance is far from an anomaly. Since late 2014, at least 43 children — 24 girls and 19 boys — have disappeared from East Cleveland, a once-prosperous community ravaged by decades of urban decay.

With a population of 13,792, that means 3.1 children per 1,000 residents have gone missing in just a decade — a worse rate than Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland and other cities in the Buckeye State.

An investigation by The Columbus Dispatch attributes these shocking figures to rampant crime, poverty and a local police force that is too devious and undermanned to focus on homeless youth.

The missing include children of all ages, such as a nine-year-old girl who disappeared five years ago wearing a denim shirt and purple leggings; and a 17-year-old boy who was last seen wearing a red and black hoodie in 2014.

In most cases, it is difficult to determine whether the youth reported missing ultimately died, became victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation – or indeed returned home and officials never heard of it.

Tracy Jones Jr (above left), 17, disappeared from Dayton, Ohio on November 20: one of many missing children in the Buckeye State

About 30 percent of the 365,000 U.S. children reported missing each year are victims of sex trafficking, according to Saved In America, a California nonprofit focused on the plight of missing children.

East Cleveland is a classic American story of the decline of the Rust Belt. Today it is characterized by abandoned neighborhoods with crumbling properties, boarded up windows, broken glass and graffiti on brickwork.

Art McKoy, a local barbershop owner and campaigner for racial justice, says it’s no surprise that so many young people are disappearing from a predominantly black neighborhood with potholed roads that smell of desperation.

“You can see how many children would go missing in a place like this,” McKoy told the Dispatch.

‘It’s destroyed. People benefit.”

It’s a far cry from the city’s former grandeur, when oil magnate John D. Rockefeller and other powerful and influential leaders lived in the bustling stretch of Euclid Avenue known as “Millionaires’ Row.”

As the area’s iron, steel and other industries dried up, East Cleveland’s population collapsed, shrinking as much as 58 percent of residents from 33,000 in 1990 to 13,792 in 2020, Census Bureau data show.

Those who work in child welfare in East Cleveland say some youths have run away from a local residential care center for boys, while others are likely victims of human trafficking.

Many missing children hang around the intersection of Superior Avenue and Euclid Avenue, where they are vulnerable to human traffickers, which is worse in Ohio than elsewhere, experts told the Dispatch.

There is also a history of underage sex work in several hotels in the city.

The problem is being exacerbated by a local police force dogged by controversy and incompetence, it is claimed.

At least 43 children have disappeared over the past decade from East Cleveland, a once-prosperous community ravaged by urban decay

The Cleveland area has one of the worst rates of missing children in Ohio

Parts of East Cleveland are marred by crumbling properties, boarded up windows and broken glass

More than a dozen East Cleveland police officers have faced about 50 criminal charges over the past two years, ranging from civil rights violations to assault, neglect of duty and tampering with evidence, court records show.

The charges caused the department to lose more than half of its 40 officers.

In June, Mayor Brandon King asked Governor Mike DeWine for help from the Ohio National Guard.

He deployed additional state troops to help patrol the city, which has been in a state of fiscal crisis for 35 years.

Yet the city does not have enough police officers to search for missing children. They’re too busy fighting pressing problems like gun violence and human trafficking, advocates for missing persons say.

The city’s problems don’t just affect low-ranking officers.

Former Police Chief Scott Gardner pleaded guilty to tax violations in March. Mayor King was charged with theft last month after authorizing payments from the city to a company he and his family own.

Race can also play a role. About 37 of the 43 missing children in East Cleveland are black.

Four are white and two have a race listed as “unknown,” the attorney general’s report said.

The attorney general’s office and the East Cleveland Police Department did not return DailyMail.com’s requests for comment.

East Cleveland is ground zero for a broader problem that extends across Ohio, where the number of missing persons has dropped nearly 18 percent in just three years.

Every day, about 1,000 Ohioans are reported missing by the attorney general’s office.

At least 689 Ohioans – including 366 children – remained missing more than a year after their disappearance.

Families with unsolved cases describe living in a painful situation for weeks, months and even years after a loved one goes missing.

They complain that they don’t know if the child is alive or dead, and that detectives are actively trying to find them.

The number of missing children in Ohio has been steadily increasing since 2021

Maria Gomez-Perez went missing from Georgia in May and was found outside Cleveland, Ohio, in July

The 12-year-old communicated online with a Guatemalan man, who came to pick her up

Although they are always tragic stories, some have happier endings than others.

A 12-year-old girl who disappeared from her Georgia community was found in July in Dover, Ohio, about 70 miles south of Cleveland, nearly two months after she vanished from her father’s home.

Maria Gomez-Perez reportedly communicated online with a Guatemalan man in his 30s, who had arranged to drive to Gainesville to pick her up. He was arrested and charged with rape and other crimes.

Gainesville Mayor Sam Couvillon said he was “proud” of the way his Georgia community rallied to find the missing girl, as he urged parents to keep an eye on whether children are communicating with strangers online.

“They are our most vulnerable and valuable citizens, and it is our duty to care for them,” Couvillon said.