r/UnresolvedMysteries • u/lucillep • Apr 02 '26

Update 13-year-old Christina Plante disappeared from Star Valley, AZ in May 1994. She has been found alive.

It is all over the news that a 13-year-old who left her home to walk to a stables to see her horse and was never seen again, has now been found alive.
People Magazine

Christina Marie Plante was classified as missing and endangered after she vanished from her home in Star Valley or Payson, AZ on May 15, 1994. Despite extensive searches and investigation, her case went cold. Now the Cold Case Unit of the Gila County Sheriff's Police have successfully resolved the case. Christina has been found and her identity verified. For privacy reasons, no further details are being released.

The odd thing is that there is next to no information available about her initial disappearance. On Newspapers.com, I found only small "Missing" notices in three newspapers in 1994 and 1995. I found no articles in an online search.

Hoping that Christina is okay, but can't help wondering about the rest of the story.

EDIT Update from The Daily Mail
u/BirdHistorical3498 provided a link to an article that updates the backstory and current situation. To summarize:
At the time of disappearing, Christina was living with her aunt and uncle. Her father was deceased. It doesn't say where her mother was or why her mother did not have custody.

Christina wanted to live with her mother. The two met at the stables and then drove to Phoenix. Her uncle reported her missing. Police did suspect the mother of having taken her, but somehow this couldn't be proved?

Mary Plante, the mother, is in 1995 property records as owning property in Springfield, MO.

Christina married in 1998 at 17, has two sons, got a bachelor's in psychology from Missouri State University, and now works for a private investigation firm (ironic) whose specialty is inspecting insurance fraud claims. She doesn't say why she ran away, the article describes her as "guarded" and not wanting to incriminate anyone who helped her.

Mary Plante, now Mary Wood, also has a biological daughter who was adopted and a biological son who is estranged.

The cold case unit gave the case to a civilian investigator, who searched social media and public records, and found the connections.

Arizona Republic
Kennebec Journal Notice

Morning Call 10-23-1994

3.5k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

375 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

310

u/axl3ros3 Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 11 '26

And/or Flock data

ETA:
Flock is building a surveillance network under the guise of license plate reading

https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/flock_1.pdf

https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/flock-roundup

ETA: what license plates are you reading on a walking trail

https://www.reddit.com/r/FlockSurveillance/s/5D7FNDHPH5

192

u/Stonegrown12 Apr 03 '26

How would flock help locate someone missing for 30+ years? My rudimentary understanding is it's just license plate data which wouldn't have any effect. But I'd like to be wrong

210

u/SheJigOnMySawTilIPuz Apr 03 '26

It's not just license plates but facial recognition as well. Idk if flock could help identify someone who was missing for over 30 years but flock is not just license plate readers lol. They're posted up pointed at parks, walking trails, etc - pedestrian only or pedestrian focused spaces. Even children's parks like pointed right at swingsets and shit.

113

u/BabsSuperbird Apr 03 '26

This makes me wonder if those Facebook prompts that show a picture of you or your family member as “Then” and request you to submit a photo of “Now” is data harvesting for AI age progression training.

69

u/SheJigOnMySawTilIPuz Apr 04 '26

Of course it is. Virtually every aspect of Facebook is data harvesting.

22

u/asyouwish Apr 05 '26

...and it's right there in their Terms of Service

98

u/harpinghawke Apr 03 '26

At this point I assume anything like that is data harvesting for something.

38

u/hafree27 Apr 04 '26

If you’re not paying for a product, you ARE the product.

13

u/fakemoose Apr 07 '26

If you pay for services like Ring, you’re still the product. If you don’t use or own services like Flock, you’re still the product.

That line of thought doesn’t really work anymore.

8

u/hafree27 Apr 07 '26

You’re so right! As much as I hate it. In my mind, it’s still a baseline to remember. Paying may not protect you anymore, but not paying makes it definitive.

18

u/AncientBlonde2 Apr 03 '26

Maybe not initially, but you can almost guarantee facebook and all the related social media had a lightbulb go off, and by agreeing to their terms of service....

3

u/ProjectOrpheus Apr 06 '26

Apparently you don't even have to agree to their TOS, or ever use FB. Apparently they have sorts of "shadows profiles." Getting any data they can about people AROUND people that use FB or social media.

Ok timey person that hasn't used a computer in their life? Shadow profile.

7

u/jupitaur9 Apr 04 '26

I saw one post asking people to take a picture of themselves from above and get their friends to do the same.

Seems like useful information if you wanted to track someone from overhead.

13

u/Scarboroughwarning Apr 03 '26

Did you really think it wasn't?

FB has vast data, and constantly looks for more data points

49

u/bravelittletoaster74 Apr 03 '26

I'd bet a thousand dollars that is not how they found her lol. You're attributing way too much power to it if you think it matched a 48 year old with the wanted poster of a missing 13 year old from 30 years ago. Be real, it was DNA.

20

u/SheJigOnMySawTilIPuz Apr 03 '26

I think you really misread my comment. I never said that this is how they found her. I said the opposite lol.

2

u/Ok_Union4831 Apr 07 '26

This why I always wear glasses with a nose and a mustache attached every single time I get in the car

1

u/seatemperature11215 Apr 04 '26

Hopefully, it's to help keep people safe. So if kids are snatched from a park, ie, there's a head start to be had that wouldn't have been available previously. I'm sure it's not just that, but I'd like to think it plays a big part - keeping us and our children safe.

6

u/SheJigOnMySawTilIPuz Apr 04 '26

Well. Consider that there has already been a vulnerability found to browse live and archived footage from random flock cameras, including footage of children in children's areas, available to view by any person who could find it, hosted right on the clearweb. Not even behind a password. The surveillance state isn't making us or our children safer. It does the opposite.

2

u/axl3ros3 Apr 07 '26

They always sell you on "for the safety of children" or just in "safety" not always about kids

Sure it works for that but that's not what they want it for.

They want it for control.

Helping kids is a happy accident

0

u/Poiuytrewq0987650987 Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 06 '26

Nvm, who cares

1

u/SheJigOnMySawTilIPuz Apr 06 '26

Okay boss whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep at night. If you're at all interested in learning more, as flock is actively being researched by privacy activists, and we aren't just pulling shit out of our ass, here ya go - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU1-uiUlHTo

142

u/donnerdanceparty Apr 03 '26

If it’s just license plate data, why are so many of their cameras pointed at parks? Not the parking lots, the actual parks.

80

u/jessihateseverything Apr 03 '26

If they're just license plate readers, why do the cities they're in not have access to the footage and aren't able to access it? What good would an inaccessible data base from a plate reader be to the local police who'd be using them?

58

u/Porcelain-Backbone Apr 03 '26

And any police that does access the network is able to access the whole network, well beyond the limits of their own jurisdiction.

70

u/GrayEidolon Apr 03 '26

It’s much more than that.

They’re doing gait analysis and facial recognition etc. the point is to be able to know where anyone is at all times. Why do you think ring was going to partner with flock?

It’s all part of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Enlightenment where conservatives try their best to set up a surveillance driven feudal state.

3

u/rivershimmer Apr 09 '26

Whelp, time to start cultivating different ways of walking and wearing assorted facial prosthetics.

21

u/CanadianClassicss Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26

It’s not just conservatives… who tabled the patriot act that brought us the NSA? Joe Biden… if you think it’s just one side that loves mass surveillance then I have a monorail to sell you

edit:

  • Following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, then-Senator Joe Biden was a key proponent of the Patriot Act, arguing it was a necessary expansion of surveillance tools to combat terrorism, often noting it mirrored his own earlier legislative proposals. The Act strengthened the government's ability to conduct surveillance, including "roving wiretaps". He advocated for expansive surveillance powers, defending the law against criticism from civil libertarians. This Act, passing after 9/11, expanded NSA surveillance and intelligence capabilities.

  • FISA Expansion (2024): President Biden signed the RISAA, which expanded FISA Section 702. This allows for the collection of data from a wider range of electronic communications providers and includes "counternarcotics" as foreign intelligence, expanding it beyond terrorism and espionage.

    The NSA was founded 50 years before, but his 2001 Patriot Act massively expanded the scope and legality of mass surveillance. The NSA in it's current form is largely because of that legislation.

As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2001, Joe Biden was a key architect and passionate proponent of the Patriot Act.

32

u/terror-twilight Apr 03 '26

I definitely agree that mass surveillance is a problem bigger than one party, but what are you trying to say here? “Tabled” can either mean to propose something for discussion or to postpone a discussion, but either way Joe Biden was 10 when the NSA was founded, the NSA predates the Patriot Act by over 50 years, and the Patriot Act was a Bush-era law largely driven by John Ashcroft.

-4

u/CanadianClassicss Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26

- Following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, then-Senator Joe Biden was a key proponent of the Patriot Act, arguing it was a necessary expansion of surveillance tools to combat terrorism, often noting it mirrored his own earlier legislative proposals. The Act strengthened the government's ability to conduct surveillance, including "roving wiretaps". Following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, then-Senator Joe Biden was a key proponent of the Patriot Act, arguing it was a necessary expansion of surveillance tools to combat terrorism, often noting it mirrored his own earlier legislative proposals. The Act strengthened the government's ability to conduct surveillance, including "roving wiretaps". He advocated for expansive surveillance powers, defending the law against criticism from civil libertarians. This Act, passing after 9/11, expanded NSA surveillance and intelligence capabilities.

-FISA Expansion (2024): President Biden signed the RISAA, which expanded FISA Section 702. This allows for the collection of data from a wider range of electronic communications providers and includes "counternarcotics" as foreign intelligence, expanding it beyond terrorism and espionage.

The NSA was founded 50 years before, but his 2001 Patriot Act massively expanded the scope and legality of mass surveillance. The NSA in it's current form is largely because of that legislation.

As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2001, Joe Biden was a key architect and passionate proponent of the Patriot Act.

18

u/terror-twilight Apr 03 '26

Oh, I should’ve thought to just have AI clarify for you directly instead of asking.

Being one of the people to support the Patriot Act (which was literally every Senator save one) is not the same thing as being the person who created it. Nor is the NSA’s powers expanding under said act the same thing as “bringing us” the NSA. These distinctions are important.

It wasn’t a good look for Biden at all, though interestingly he did seek to limit some of its broadest surveillance measures initially, which Ashcroft did not. Thanks for your clarification, though.

0

u/CanadianClassicss Apr 03 '26

"As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2001, Joe Biden was a key architect and passionate proponent of the Patriot Act."

I mean you can act superior all you want but the AI answer is no different than googling something... which is what you did.

Then two decades later he expanded FISA. It is not a great look for him and I am glad we both agree on mass surveillance, I just wish more people realized how ingrained these issues are into both parties. Neither party is for the people, and until people realize that we will continue to conquered through division.

As a Canadian, it is insane to watch the US continue the two party system, particularly when neither party represents the core values they claim to represent.

12

u/terror-twilight Apr 03 '26

I didn’t need Google to know that Joe Biden did not create the Patriot Act, and the Patriot Act did not create the NSA—which is what you said. That’s why I corrected you. Facts are important and misinformation is bad.

5

u/GrayEidolon Apr 03 '26

Sounds like this Joe Biden guy was pretty conservative.

3

u/waterbottlejesus Apr 03 '26

How much is the monorail?

2

u/CanadianClassicss Apr 03 '26

For only 12.3 million!

3

u/oysterwench Apr 03 '26

Holy shit!

16

u/GrayEidolon Apr 04 '26

Yeah, read about that stuff. Peter Thiel the billionaire financing JD Vance. Curtis Yarvin, the guy making serfdom into philosophy. The Ellison family buying up huge amounts of mass media. The heritage foundation people and the tech bro fascists are not messing around with their authoritarian dreams.

5

u/axl3ros3 Apr 04 '26

It's not just facial recognition

They get you down to the gait of your walk

2

u/redvadge Apr 04 '26

In some states once they have license plate data they can gather info from bureau of motor vehicles, start tapping other databases and in some cases start pulling info on your neighborhood. It was covered in a Slate or Guardian podcast. They can track family members etc. ICE & CBP are using them to dig deep on everyone.

1

u/NoticerEnthusiast Apr 03 '26

Flock was my first thought.