According to the FBI, there were 465,676 National Crime Information Center entries for missing children in 2016.
Frustrated that police don’t always treat runaway and missing children cases as a high priority, private investigator Joseph Travers started Saved in America to pick up these cases where cops leave off.
Videos by VICE
Saved in America is a San Diego–based nonprofit made up of former Navy SEALS and police officers who, as licensed private investigators, assist parents and law enforcement in tracking down runaways.
Since its inception in 2015, the group has assisted in the rescue of 35 children, finding them from California to Florida, in an average time of nine days and at a cost of $5,000.
VICE News follows the group of volunteers on the ground as they assist a mother from Utah in search of her daughter.
This segment originally aired July 10, 2017, on VICE News Tonight on HBO.
