In US, Mali and Liel Yahalomi Could Have Simply Disappeared, Relying On ‘Right To Vanish’

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — If Mali and Liel Yahalomi had chosen to start new lives in the United States, one particularly uncomfortable moment might have been avoided: the release of video footage showing police locating the two women in Argentina.

The case has raised questions about what happens when an adult deliberately cuts contact with family and disappears without committing a crime. In the United States, adults generally have the right to leave voluntarily. When police locate an adult reported missing and establish that the person is safe, left of their own free will and is not wanted in connection with a crime, officers generally cannot simply disclose the person’s whereabouts to relatives.

Had the two women told American authorities, “We are here voluntarily, we are healthy and we do not want anyone to know where we are,” police could generally confirm to concerned relatives that they had been found safe while withholding their location. Authorities could likewise issue a public statement confirming that the missing-person case had been resolved, without revealing where the individual was staying.

That does not mean, however, that completely disappearing is easy. There is no precise official figure for how many Americans deliberately disappear each year, partly because voluntary departures are included within the much broader category of missing-person reports.

Approximately 600,000 missing-person reports are filed annually in the United States. The overwhelming majority are resolved, with people being located or returning home on their own within days or weeks.

Many cases involve teenagers who run away or adults who temporarily cut contact with relatives. Women fleeing abusive relationships also account for some voluntary disappearances. Only a small proportion of missing-person cases are formally classified as abductions or other involuntary disappearances, while several thousand people remain listed as missing for more than a year.

There was a time when someone could leave a major East Coast city, move to a small Midwestern town and begin a new life with relatively little difficulty. Modern technology has made that far more complicated.

Digital records, financial systems, smartphones, social media, online services and an enormous network of surveillance and security cameras create a trail that can be difficult to erase.

There is also an important legal distinction between voluntarily cutting ties with family and attempting to disappear in order to evade debts, criminal proceedings or law enforcement. A person wanted by authorities does not acquire a legal right to evade them simply by deciding to start over.

For people who are not breaking the law, however, an entire industry has developed around privacy and the practical and emotional challenges of voluntarily leaving one’s former life behind.

Experts disagree even about whether someone planning to disappear should tell a single trusted person. One argument in favor is that doing so could prevent relatives from reporting the person missing and triggering a major search. On the other hand, telling someone means that another person knows the disappearance was deliberate.

Another key question is whom the person is trying to avoid. Family members have far fewer resources than governments, and someone genuinely being sought by U.S. authorities is unlikely to become unreachable simply by cutting personal ties.

Jason Hanson, a former CIA officer who operates a YouTube channel focused on personal security, privacy and survival, said disappearing successfully requires extensive preparation.

“It requires a great deal of preparation. You can’t wake up one morning and decide to disappear just because you watched a movie the night before where someone vanished within a few minutes.”

Modern life generates extensive digital traces through social-media accounts, financial transactions, smartphones and online services. Anyone attempting to withdraw completely from an existing social circle would have to contend with the enormous amount of information generated by ordinary daily activities.

The psychological transition can be equally difficult. Starting over means entering an environment where familiar friends, acquaintances and routines no longer provide a person’s established social identity. It can also mean leaving behind possessions, habits, hobbies and relationships that connect someone to their previous life.

The Hollywood fantasy of disappearing into a tiny town may itself be misleading. A newcomer can attract considerably more attention in a small community than in a major city where strangers arrive every day.

Ultimately, voluntarily cutting all ties requires powerful reasons. It means closing a door without knowing whether it can ever be reopened.

Frank Ahearn, who has worked with people seeking greater privacy and authored the book How to Disappear, says the reality bears little resemblance to Hollywood portrayals.

“You’re not simply faking your death, buying some fake documents in an alley and then retiring to a life of leisure on some small island nation.”

Ahearn argues that disappearing legally, without creating an even greater problem than the one a person is trying to escape, requires careful planning. “You have to be prepared to cut contact with everyone you know, to change everything you are.”

He also warns that disappearing is not something that can be improvised.”Disappearing means being prepared and strong enough. Otherwise, you will waste a lot of time and money trying to disappear, only to fail.”

The Yahalomi case illustrates the stark contrast between the legal right of an adult to voluntarily cut contact and the practical difficulty of becoming genuinely invisible in the modern world. Even when authorities have no legal reason to disclose a person’s location, digital records and everyday technology can make a complete disappearance extraordinarily difficult.