Missing: Dead or Alive - Is the Netflix series real or fake? Details explored

Missing: Dead or Alive (Image via YouTube/@Netflix)
Missing: Dead or Alive (Image via YouTube/@Netflix)

Missing: Dead or Alive is based on real, true crimes and missing people.

Netflix released the first season of Missing: Dead or Alive in 2023. Years after the show's success, the network has released Missing: Dead or Alive Season 2, with four episodes, each about thirty-five to forty-five minutes long, offering a good balance of runtime for the viewers.

Season 2 of Missing: Dead or Alive features the Richland County Sheriff's Department Missing Persons Unit in Columbia, South Carolina, authorities, Sergeant Vicki Rains, who is a real investigator at the sheriff's office, JP Smith, a member of the Richland County Missing Persons investigative team, and Captain Heidi Jackson, who heads the Missing Persons Unit.

Missing: Dead or Alive Season 2 also includes Deputy Brittany Yarnal, the unit's Victim's Advocate, investigators Kerwin Ruiz and John Anderson, and K9 specialist Michel Galliot. They work alongside Lt. Brad Maxwell from the Major Crimes Unit.

So if you're wondering whether the Netflix series Missing: Dead or Alive is real or scripted, it is very much real and follows actual cases handled by the authorities. Season 1 shows real cases looked into by the Richland County Sheriff's Department in Columbia, South Carolina, that took place between 2019 and 2021.


What happens in Missing: Dead or Alive Season 1?

Missing: Dead or Alive (Image via YouTube/@Netflix)
Missing: Dead or Alive (Image via YouTube/@Netflix)

Missing: Dead or Alive, Season 1, follows four real missing-person cases.

Lorraine Garcia: The first story is about Lorraine Garcia, who was reported missing in 2021. The episode raises concern around her son, Anthony, who had PTSD, but later it turns out she's okay and alive. Lorraine had chosen to leave on her own.

Amirah Watson: The second episode revolved around Amirah Watson, who went missing with her mother at the age of ten. After Amirah's father reported the case to the police, the US Marshals eventually found Amirah safe at a family home in Georgia, and she was brought back to her father. The case ended with her mother getting arrested for disobeying a custody order.

David Taylor: The third episode follows the story of David Taylor, whose truck was found abandoned without any trace of his belongings or the $10000 lottery prize he won. While there were suspicions of murder because of the missing lottery, it was later discovered that David died of hypothermia after his body was found in the woods.

Sierra Stevens: The fourth and last episode of Season 1 revolved around Sierra Stevens, a seventeen-year-old who disappeared. While police thought she had become a victim of sex trafficking, it was later confirmed that Sierra was okay, and she avoided going home after spotting police outside.


What happens in Missing: Dead or Alive Season 2?

Like the previous season, Missing: Dead or Alive Season 2 also wraps up with four episodes.

Bentley: The first case talks about a young boy, Bentley, who goes missing. The episode ends with a happy ending, with the authorities finding him in the woods and bringing him back to his mother, concluding that he just got lost in the forest.

Duncan Morgan: The second case focuses on Duncan Morgan, a case reported by a mother. Upon investigation, police found his belongings in his place, suggesting he didn't run away. However, they soon learned that Morgan owed money to drug dealers. According to other witnesses, Morgan was at a friend's apartment when Eric "Easy" Greene demanded the money he owed.

While Greene kept on saying he would pay for the drugs, he was ultimately killed by Greene. However, Greene denied the claims. Morgan's boy was found nearly half a year later, and Green was sentenced to 57 years in jail.

Shandon Floyd: The last case revolves around Shandon Floyd, who disappeared after last being seen in a Northeast Columbia hotel with Michael Eaddy. Upon checking the CCTV cameras, it showed Shandon getting into Eaddy's car after she told him that she was going grocery shopping, but another man later drove off with her. Eaddy revealed to the police that she used to work for him as a sex worker, and he was her handler, while her mother revealed Floyd was transgender.

It was later revealed that Shandon used to do drugs with the man she met at the hotel and died of an overdose. The man and the woman eventually left the car with her body. Her death was later confirmed to be a drug overdose.


The series is now streaming on Netflix.

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Edited by Tanisha Aggarwal