Meaghan Good turned a teenage fascination with missing persons cases into one of the internet’s most important resources for the vanished and their families.
A mission born in adolescence
As a teenager, Good stumbled onto the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s website and was immediately drawn in by the faces and stories of the missing. She recalls that it “just grabbed” her and never let go. That early curiosity would eventually lead her to “The Charley Project,” an online database dedicated to missing persons cases.
At 17, Good inherited The Charley Project, which has since grown into the second-largest online database of missing persons case information. More than two decades later, she still considers it her magnum opus — the defining work of her life and career.
Building and maintaining The Charley Project
The Charley Project organizes and preserves over 15,000 missing persons cases, compiling verified information from a range of reliable sources into detailed, accessible case files. Good emphasizes that organization and accuracy are not just administrative tasks, but essential tools that can help move a case forward.
In our podcast episode and accompanying video, she explains how properly verified information — dates, locations, physical descriptions, last known movements and credible witness accounts — can give investigators, journalists and citizen sleuths a clearer roadmap. When that information is organized and easy to find, she says, it can uncover patterns, rule out misinformation and refocus attention where it’s most needed.
The importance of verification
Good is candid about the dangers of bad information in missing persons cases. She urges anyone researching a case — whether an online crowdsourcer or a professional investigator — to be cautious about unverified claims, rumors and conspiracy theories. She stresses the importance of:
- Confirming details with primary or credible secondary sources
- Cross-checking names, dates and locations
- Watching for contradictions in public narratives
- Distinguishing between official updates and speculation
In the episode, she shares practical guidance on what to watch for when verifying and authenticating case details, warning that misinformation can mislead investigators, retraumatize families and derail public understanding of a case.
Autism, focus and stamina
Good credits her autism as a key factor in her ability to sustain the intense, detail-oriented work that The Charley Project requires. She describes a kind of ongoing stamina — a capacity to stay engaged with the cases day after day, year after year — that she believes is directly tied to how her brain works.
While others might burn out or turn away from the emotional weight of the subject matter, Good says she never grows tired of talking about these cases. Each file, each entry and each update represents a real person who is still missing, and she regards that responsibility with unwavering seriousness.
A desk, a dog and a global impact
From a small desk, often with her dog at her side, Good spends her days collecting, verifying and organizing case information. It is solitary work in some respects, but the impact is anything but isolated.
Her database is used by online crowdsourcers, amateur sleuths, journalists and professional investigators. For many, The Charley Project is a starting point — or a crucial cross-reference — when trying to understand the history and context of a missing person’s case. The work she does has helped generate leads, keep older cases in the public eye and, in some instances, contribute to bringing closing developments from unexpected places.
Good sees this as her life’s mission: to find every detail, enter it accurately and present it in a way that others can use to search, share and scrutinize. In a digital landscape crowded with distraction and misinformation, The Charley Project stands as a meticulously curated archive of the missing — and a testament to what sustained individual commitment can accomplish.
In our podcast episode and video, Meaghan Good not only shares the story of how she came to steward The Charley Project, but also offers a roadmap for anyone who wants to help: verify, organize, and always remember that behind every case file is a human being still waiting to be found.
For more information about “The Charley Project” visit their website at www.charleyproject.org or like/follow the org’s socials @charleyproject.
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