When people in addiction go missing, their loved ones often turn to Facebook groups to find them

A woman recently posted photos of her brother in a local Facebook group, saying he hung out in Kensington — where there’s a vast open-air drug market — and that she hadn’t heard from him in three years.  “I pray daily I can hear his voice and see him again,” she wrote, asking for help. MORE: GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic have been gamechangers for weight loss. Can they have a similar effect on addiction? Another woman recently posted in the same online forum to see if anyone had information about her mom, who also spends time in the Kensington. “My heart hurts,” the woman wrote. “Something isn’t right.” Messages like these pop up daily in Facebook groups like Lost in Kensington, Found in Kensington and Found in Camden — each dedicated to helping people locate missing loved ones in the Philadelphia region. Many of the missing people have substance use disorders. Sometimes, their families fear they are dead. That was the case for Craig and Connie Snyder, whose son, Ryan, had struggled with addiction since his teens. Ryan died on July 28, 2018, when he was 38. But his family did not learn about his death until mid-2023, even though they
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