“I had a friend whose daughter went missing,” Tara Winter told Dateline. She was located safe about six weeks later, but during that time, Tara realized there was a need. “The support, the advocacy is not there for families,” she said. Tara decided she would step into the space to fill it.
In 2023, Tara founded Missing Link, an organization focused on supporting the families of the missing. She told Dateline she has about 25 years of experience in not-for-profit development, which was critical to creating Missing Link. “There was such a gap and a need for families, for someone to step into this space and provide the education and the support of when someone goes missing, those critical hours of being there,” Tara explained. And, she says, their support isn’t simply in the early days, “but ongoing, helping that family navigate the twists and turns of a case, ‘cause they’re not always solved within a few hours or a few days.”
Over the past few years, Tara has brought together a team of people dedicated to the cause. One of those people is Mieoki Corbett-Jacobs.
“She came to volunteer and then fell in love with the organization,” Tara said. Mieoki joined the team in December 2025 and is now the Chief Executive Officer. “It was very clear to us that she was going to be here for the longer term and be a real building and guiding force for Missing Link because of her own experience.”
“When someone goes missing, a family is immediately overwhelmed,” Mieoki said. She experienced that firsthand when her cousin Zelig Williams vanished in October 2024. She spoke to Josh Mankiewicz about Zelig’s disappearance on Season 5 of the Dateline: Missing in America podcast, which is now available to listen to on any podcast platform.
Mieoki says she and Tara bonded over their shared experiences. “It just made complete sense for us to work together to build a resource so that when a family member does have someone go missing, instead of trying to call 10 people to figure out how to get help, they can call us,” she said. “And let us do that heavy lifting for them.”
“And if not, then they have the resource; they can download it,” Tara added.
The resources Missing Link lists on its website are designed to benefit a family member of a missing person. From information about what to do in the first 24 hours, to how to file a police report, to how to create a missing flyer or contact the media, they have downloadable guides and editable documents to make the process quick and easy.
Mieoki and Tara also created a “practical step-by-step guide for what to do when someone is missing,” which they call “The L.I.N.K.S. Framework.” They explained the acronym to Dateline.
L — Locate the Facts
One of the most important things for someone to do when they have a missing loved one is identify key facts, such as the last known location of the person, a timeline of the day they vanished, what clothing they were wearing, their mode of transportation, and any recent communications.
“Every moment is critical,” Mieoki told Dateline. “Get as much information as you can.”
“The quicker the officers get the information, the quicker they can act,” Mieoki explained. And she had another piece of advice: “Share it all.”
She recognizes that people may want to protect the missing person’s privacy, but Mieoki feels it’s important to share everything possible. “If you want someone to be found, you really have to -- to provide all the information that you can, in order for them to be found,” she said.
I — Initiate the Report
Mieoki and Tara both want to emphasize: “There is no 24-hour waiting period.”
“There’s actually not even an hour waiting period,” Mieoki said. “At the end of the day, if your intuition tells you that something’s wrong, and that someone that you love or are close to, a family member or friend is -- is not where they’re supposed to be and is not responding, they’re officially missing at that point.”
If you’re having difficulty getting a report taken, Missing Link can help. “That’s also where we can come in,” Tara said. She told Dateline they have a legal advocate who has been able to help get reports taken whenever a family member faces pushback in reporting a missing loved one.
N — Network with Purpose
If you have a missing loved one, Missing Link advises beginning a coordinated outreach with family, trusted friends, and advocacy organizations that can provide support.
After Mieoki’s cousin Zelig vanished, she quickly became the family spokesperson. “They were so overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do; they did the next best thing, and that was to contact someone in their family, someone close that they trusted,” Mieoki said.
She advises having someone take the lead “to talk to the police, to partner with them, to find other organizations that can support in the search.”
“That’s what networking with a purpose is,” Mieoki told Dateline.
K — Keep and Preserve Evidence
Mieoki says keeping and preserving evidence is similar to locating the facts, “but then it’s very different.”
Missing Link has created a guide for staying organized and creating a “case journal” to keep track of everything. They say it’s important at the very beginning to save videos, texts, social media activity, and any security footage, even if it doesn’t seem important at first. That type of information could end up being critical to an investigation.
“Make sure that you preserve that evidence, and then get it to the officer or the investigator as soon as possible,” she said.
S — Strengthen the Search
“Tara has already amassed a great deal of individuals and teams that are willing to help us in different locations across the country, to coordinate volunteers, partnering with local media,” Mieoki said. She told Dateline that Missing Link is growing and their outreach is expanding, connecting with people who have K-9s, drones, and tools for water searches.
“There’s so many different organizations and companies,” she said. “We don’t do, you know, water searches, but we’ll find someone who can.”
Missing Link is “the coordinated engine running behind and around the family,” Mieoki said.
“This isn’t just one organization working to solve a problem. This is multiple organizations all coming together and linking arms to provide wraparound support to families,” Tara told Dateline. “Families are often left with, ‘What do I do next?’” Missing Link steps in to provide support while the police are doing their work. “That’s really the bridge that we’re trying to gap.”
Those are the foundations of L.I.N.K.S.
Of course, there’s one piece of advice they hope people follow, so they never join the club no one wants to be a part of, or have need of their resources.
“Preventative measures are important,” Mieoki said. “Make sure people know where you are or where you’re going. You know, if you can share your location, share it. Share it with someone. Like, I have on my phone over 30 family members.”
“It’s important; you never know what can happen,” she said. “Always make sure someone is aware of where you are.”
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