The last time I wrote about Hannah Emily Upp, the New York City school teacher who vanished early in September, I said that I wouldn't update the case any more because Hannah was found alive and there didn't appear to be any crime involved in her disappearance.
At the request of Hannah's brother, Dan Upp, I decided to print a message Hannah sent to the Facebook group established to help find her. This the message in full:
Dear Friends (including those I have yet to meet!)
First of all, I send my most heartfelt thanks to all of you for your concern, support, and love during this past month. I understand that many of you have unanswered questions about the time that I was missing and I appreciate your patience while I have been under medical care.
I want to share with you that the time I was missing has been diagnosed as an episode of dissociative fugue. As is typical of a case of dissociative fugue, I was not aware of my own identity and I emerged from the episode with essentially no memory of what happened during the time I was missing. While this is a rare occurrence, information about the condition exists in medical literature and I would encourage anyone with more questions to consult those sources.
I wish I could thank each one of you individually, but since you number in the thousands, I will have to start with this message and hope that you understand how grateful I am to all of you for believing in me and welcoming me back.
All my love, Hannah
Dan followed up a little for me. Responding to this article in the New York Daily News, he said, "What this article doesn't say is that this was not just a personal claim, but rather a medical diagnosis made by the team of psychiatric professionals who have been working with Hannah since she was found. The psychiatrist that is quoted here has not been involved in any evaluation of Hannah and is making his comments based on incomplete information. I ask you all to please keep an open mind before leaping to conclusions and judgment based on the slant of an article."
I echo Dan Upp's sentiments. Having had a family member with grave mental health issues, I can tell you that certain states of mind can never be properly understood based only on secondhand case studies.
Hanna Emily Upp, the 23-year-old teacher who vanished in New York City on August 29, has been found alive. Hannah was reportedly rescued by deck hands on a Staten Island ferry boat.
The boat pilot saw Hannah in the water as he approached the Staten Island Terminal. A small rescue boat was launched from the ferry and Hannah was taken aboard. She was near drowning and reportedly "non-responsive."
Hannah was sent to Staten Island's Richmond University Medical Center. She is said to be in stable condition.
Hannah's brother, Dan "Wally" Upp, sent the following message to members of the Facebook group devoted to finding Hannah:
At long last, we are able to confirm that Hannah has been found and is safe! She is being cared for and has been positively identified. Hallelujah!
The media has already heard and some have immediately taken the most sensationalist route possible, but please don't put much credit in what they are saying/guessing/making up. The accurate details will all come out in time.
Thank you all so much for everything that you have done to help in this effort. It has been a long two weeks for all of us since she was declared missing, and we are overjoyed that she has been found.
with great rejoicing,
Hannah's family and friends
I am glad to say that since it does not appear -- at the moment -- that Hannah's disappearance was related to anything criminal, it will no longer be covered in this blog. It's just really nice to be able to say that about someone who has been found alive, someone who will be able to go home to her family. For anyone who covers crime stories, that's all too rare a privilege.
Dan "Wally" Upp, brother to missing NYC schoolteacher Hannah Upp, has been keeping track of various online discussions about his missing sister, and he got in touch with me to get some assistance in clarifying what the Upp family knows about this missing persons case.
What's become clear to me as I've communicated with Dan is how worried he is and how skewed some of the info about Hannah's disappearance really seems to be.
Referring in particular to the discussion taking place at Websleuths.com about Hannah's disappearance, Dan said he wasn't offended by anything be said there, but he did try to remind himself "that the posters do not know Hannah and some of the things they are proposing are ludicrous to those of us who do." Dan also said that he had to "do the same for just about any site that is covering Hannah's story."
Dan said he really wanted to clear up some things reported by mainstream media outlets covering Hannah's disappearance. The following is from an e-mail Dan sent earlier today:
To the best of my understanding, Hannah had no plans to specifically go to Pennsylvania to see our mother on Labor Day weekend. She had mentioned the possibility of going "somewhere" to her roommates, but my mother confirmed that they hadn't discussed specific plans for the weekend, (i.e. she was not expecting Hannah to come for a visit, and therefore didn't call her when she didn't come).
Dan also clarified Hannah's use of her debit card prior to her disappearance on August 29. According to him, Hannah withdrew money "on Thursday (Aug 28th), not Friday as some are reporting."
Addressing the issue of Hannah possibly having gone to ground, or run away, Dan Upp was clear:
The reason that I and others have stated that this is not a "runaway" case is because that implies that a person has left of their own accord and purely from a desire to get away, with no other underlying causes. Hannah is probably the most considerate and compassionate person that I have ever known, and I'm not just saying that because she's my sister. Being who she is and knowing how many people love and care about her, there is no way that she would ever just take off of her own volition if she was in her right frame of mind.
Generally, Dan told me, the possibilities as to what may have happened to Hannah are: "an abduction or crime of some sort (which hasn't been completely ruled out), or something that severely affected Hannah (mental/emotional overload, breakdown, sudden onset of mental disorder, full or partial amnesia, fugue state, or whatever else the pseudo-psychologists are discussing now) that caused her to act in a way that she would not normally act by taking off and not telling anyone."
He felt compelled to address the sighting of Hannah. She was spotted checking her e-mail in a Manhattan Apple store. To Hannah's family, "some kind of psychological breakdown" seems like the most logical explanation for the young woman's disappearance.
In his e-mail, Dan expanded on this:
The act of seeking out a computer may indicate that she was coming out of whatever condition she was temporarily in, or it may be her just trying to find out who she is. The point is that we don't know what caused her to behave this way, but that something is definitely wrong. We don't know if she has control over whether or not she comes back, but if she does, we want her to know that we are waiting to welcome her back no matter what, and she doesn't have to worry about us being angry or upset because of anything that has happened. No questions asked, we just want her to be safe, and she can tell us about whatever happened when she's ready.
I addressed the fact that Hannah Upp was a freegan in my first post about her disappearance, and I ultimately decided I wasn't sure that this had much significance. Dan Upp addressed the issue:
As far as the freegan aspect goes, I thoroughly concur with all those who have said that its role in this situation has almost certainly been drastically overplayed. We've already cleared up the fact that Hannah didn't believe in it as a hardcore lifestyle, it was just a way to get some perfectly good food for free that would have otherwise gone to waste. And people frequently get the wrong mental image from the tongue-in-cheek phrase "dumpster diving". Instead of digging through piles of broken glass and medical waste for a half-eaten chicken wing, what it really generally entails is picking up sealed plastic bags of bagels or fruit or whole sandwich trays from where they have been carefully placed next to the dumpster. This is all food that is perfectly good and was on sale for general consumption five minutes ago, but because of when it was made or put on the shelves, it's against store policy to sell it again the next day, so whenever they close they have to throw it away.
Finally, Dan wanted to clarify an allegation that Hannah Upp had occasionally slipped "under the radar" while attending Bryn Mawr. "[There] were times when things got very busy and stressful" for Hannah while she was a student, Dan told me. When this happened, he said, "Hannah didn't go to her classes for a day or two and kind of 'holed up' in her room or a friend's room." Hannah didn't just vanish, Dan said, "there were still friends that knew where she was and that she was okay." To him, that was "clearly a completely different situation than what we're looking at here."
Hannah Emily Upp is still among the missing. She is 5'5", weighs between 120 and 130, has dark hair and hazel-green eyes. If you have some information about her disappearance, call 800-577-TIPS or call the 30th precinct at (212) 690-8842 or (212) 690-8843.
According to a message sent to the Facebook group devoted to finding missing NYC middle school teacher Hannah Emily Upp, Hannah may still be alive.
The e-mail was sent to members of the group tonight by Hannah's brother, Dan "Wally" Upp. Dan wrote:
Hannah has been seen, and she is alive! There is still a lot of things we don't know, but here is what we can say so far.
"There's been a confirmed report that she has recently been seen alive in midtown NYC. We are ready to welcome Hannah back, with no questions asked. If anyone sees her, call 911 immediately."
We're not quite out of the woods yet, but this is obviously an incredible sign of hope. Please continue your vigilance and get this word out!
Hallelujah!
It's a good time to remind anyone reading this that missing persons cases don't always involve a criminal act, but they are of interest to people who follow crime stories, in part because of the mystery.
Dan's e-mail opens up the possibility that Hannah may have, for lack of a better term, "freaked out" about her job and the beginning of the new school year. Perhaps she had no idea as to how she should handle her situation, and emotionally, she imploded.
Whatever the case, if Hannah comes home more or less okay and was missing of her own volition, her disappearance will then be a personal matter for her and her family to deal with.
Dan Upp sent me an e-mail today explaining why Hannah's friends and family are trying to be careful and balance the information they give to the public about the missing 23-year-old. "[We] are trying to be very careful with how much of Hannah's personal information we release to the world, out of concern for her safety," he wrote. Later, in the same e-mail, Dan clarified some of his and his familys' worries: "[To] keep from discouraging other sickos out there, we are being! careful about what we freely disclose to a mass audience [...] I just want to say that there are still going to be questions that I am not going to answer for the sake of Hannah's safety."
I don't know how the new sighting of this missing woman was "verified," but the caution expressed by her brother in his e-mail to me tells me this midtown sighting is cause for hope. That can only be a good thing.
WABC story about the disappearance of Hannah Emily Upp.
Please be sure to read the update at the bottom of this post.
Earlier tonight, Arielle Schechter sent an interesting e-mail out to members of the Facebook group devoted to finding missing NYC middle school teacher Hannah Emily Upp. Someone claims they've seen Hannah since she vanished on August 29, 2008. Arielle's e-mail:
I just received a call from a man who says he was with Hannah on Monday. He said that he met her in Green Point at about 5:00am on Monday, and they went to Coney Island together, and he left her there at about 9:00pm. He said that her hair is shorter than in her picture. The police are investigating his claim.
- Arielle
The New York Daily Newsreported Friday that Hannah may have been having more trouble adjusting to her life as a grad student and teacher than anyone knew. From the paper: "One source said Upp - an NYC Teaching Fellow who was about to get her own classroom - skipped work the day before she disappeared."
The same source stated that while other teachers were prepping their classrooms on August 28 in anticipation of the first day of school, Hannah withdrew forty bucks from an ATM and took herself to a movie at a theater in Times Square.
However, the Daily News went on to say that "education sources" told them Hannah did go to school that day. The same article quoted Hannah Wood, one of the admins of the Facebook group, saying that Hannah Upp was "more frustrated than unhappy."
That statement is similar to some things Arielle Schechter said in our conversation yesterday. Hannah's first year of school wasn't all that different from the first year of teaching for many educators; it's frequently a trial by fire.
I hope the lead alluded to in Arielle's e-mail is real, but you cover enough of these cases, it's hard to scoot your cynicism aside. High-profile stories frequently invite the delusional or attention-starved. Still -- it's better to hope than not.
UPDATE
I'm afraid my cynicism was founded. Hannah Wood sent out another message to the Hannah Upp Facebook group shortly after this entry was first published. It read, in part:
We are so sad to report that, unfortunately, the tip we received has turned out to be of no use. We sincerely apologize that the message went out before we, and the police, were all fully aware of what was happening.
In the coming days, we should brace ourselves for more messages like this, from people who are more concerned with creating problems than with solving the mystery of Hannah’s disappearance.
Though this is undoubtedly painful and brutally disappointing for all of us, we are committed to maintaining this Facebook group and to a sustained publicity campaign. If, for every ten false messages, we receive even one valid and useful piece of information, we feel it would be worth it...
Wood went on to recommend that anyone contacted by someone claiming to have seen Hannah not engage the tipster, but direct them to call the 30th Precinct. She noted -- correctly, I think -- that a tipster with "Hannah's best interests at heart [...] will do so."
I alluded to this in a post I wrote Saturday evening about the disappearance of Orlando toddler Caylee Anthony -- the more high profile cases like this become, the more it is likely that some raging assholes will come out of the woodwork.
Last night, just after midnight, group administrator Hannah Wood sent the following information in a mass e-mail to members of the Facebook group devoted to finding missing New York City middle school teacher Hannah Emily Upp:
We wish we could be writing to you saying she’s been found, but right now we must allow ourselves to be comforted by the United Federation of Teachers’ incredibly generous offer of a $10,000 reward for information leading to Hannah’s whereabouts. This is in addition to the $2,000 offered by NYPD Crime Stoppers...
Later, in the same message, Wood wrote:
It’s now been over a week since anyone last saw Hannah, and thus the quest to find her has assumed a new and serious urgency. We know that your lives will go on – they must – but we ask you from the very depths of our being to please keep our amazing, beautiful, wonderful friend in your thoughts. Continue to keep in touch: receiving your emails and messages means more to us, and to Hannah (wherever she is), than you might ever imagine...
Were this not a season for storms and politics, it is likely that Hannah Upp's mysterious disappearance from her apartment on August 29 would be receiving major play from cable news networks like CNN and MSNBC. Since it isn't -- yet -- major blogs and newspapers have taken up the slack.
Ian Spiegelman, weekend editor of the enormously popular Gawker.com, was unusually serious (for Gawker) in his post about Hannah's disappearance. Spiegelman wrote, "This is actually important. And anyone using this thread to make a certain old complaint about the media and missing people, you'll get banned instantly."
Spiegelman was referring to a now pro forma complaint often issued by many in the blogosphere whenever a missing persons story about a white female gets a lot of airplay. While it is true that there is inequity in the way these cases are covered by the mainstream news (recall Fox News -- for example -- and its wall-to-wall coverage of the Natalee Holloway disappearance in the summer of 2005), it is also true that some stories receive the level of coverage they do because they don't have easy explanations -- it is the mystery that draws attention to the case as much as anything.
With Hannah Upp, the yeoman's work being done by her friends from Bryn Mawr has a lot to do with the story making it to a blog that doesn't normally touch such a story -- like Gawker. As soon as it was clear that something was seriously wrong, that there was no logical explanation for Hannah vanishing into thin air, friends like Hannah Wood and Arielle Schechter began contacting anyone and everyone they could think of to get the word out. Sometimes I think we should focus less on the media's occasional feeding frenzy on cases like this and more on the positive aspect -- that Hannah Upp had friends so committed to finding her that they used every networking tool they could think of to let the world know something was wrong.
Anyone who knows anything about Hannah Upp's disappearance -- please call Detective Perez at the 30th Precinct. You can call either 212-690-8842 or 212-690-8843.
And just so it's clear, I'll echo the Gawker editor on this score -- any of that usual bitching "about the media and missing people, you'll get banned instantly."
On the phone, Arielle Schechter's youthful voice sounds a little frayed. Her worry for her friend Hannah Emily Upp is palpable.
Hannah, age 23, has been missing since August 29, 2008. When she didn't come to work to begin her second year of teaching Spanish at Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change in Harlem, it was clear that something was wrong.
Arielle told me that Hannah's friends are simply doing everything they can think of to get the word out about Hannah's disappearance. That was why she joined friends Hannah Wood, Amy Scott and Piyali Bhattacharya in maintaining the Facebook group they titled "We're Not Giving Upp (on Hannah)."
"We need to just get as much information out there as we can and hope that the right person sees her," Arielle said. They're doing pretty well -- at last count, the Facebook group had 1,282 members.
Arielle said that everyone is worried. Some are scared. But, she said, "we don't know," so they "try to not speculate."
Hannah was a freegan, but Arielle explained that being a freegan wasn't really that big a part of Hannah's lifestyle. It was social, for Hannah, something fun and unusual to do. It didn't have to be about finding free food -- Hannah might find a perfectly nice picture frame out by a Dumpster and take it home.
Hannah's vanishing is a true conundrum for those who know her. Arielle, who has known Hannah for "about 3 years," says that nothing fits. And many of the usual issues that pop up when a person goes missing weren't present in Hannah's life. As far as Arielle Schechter knows, Hannah has never had any major mental health issues. Hannah Upp didn't have a significant other, or any known problems with an ex, either.
Hannah's job teaching middle schoolers Spanish was part of New York City's teaching fellowship program. Hannah was taking classes towards her master's at night and, like other teaching fellows, working at an underserved school during the day. Arielle said she thought that Hannah was good at what she did -- "very creative."
Hannah's first year teaching at Thurgood Marshall wasn't a picnic, but as far as Arielle knew, that was about par for the course for any first year teacher.
People have been posting flyers everywhere in Hannah's neighborhood, and Arielle said that scent dogs will try to find some trace of Hannah along routes she was known to run.
On the Web, friends are sending out blind e-mails, to publicists, people working with publishing houses or at newspapers, anyone who can get the word out.
It's all they can think of to do, right now. Get the word out, and not speculate too much.
Hannah Emily Upp is 5'5" and weighs about 130 lbs. She has long, dark hair and hazel-green eyes. She has a lot of friends who want her to come home safe. Again, if you know anything about her disappearance, call Detective Perez at the 30th Precinct Detective Squad at 212-690-8842, or 212-690-8843, or call (800) 577-TIPS.
No one has seen 23-year-old New York City school teacher Hannah Emily Upp since Friday, August 29, 2008.
Her roommates say Hannah was planning a weekend getaway. She was going to spend some time with her mom in Philadelphia and probably return to NYC on Saturday, no later than Sunday. They last saw her around 2 that afternoon.
Some time that day she used her debit card to go to a movie by herself at a Times Square movie theater.
When Hannah didn't come home on Sunday, her roommates began to worry. Phone calls went straight to voice mail.
When they entered her bedroom Monday evening, frantic with worry, they found Hannah's handbag. Everything she might need was there -- an ATM card, her cell, her passport and her subway card.
Hannah was supposed to go back to work on Tuesday, Sept. 2, at the Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change, where she taught middle school Spanish. The first day of her second year as a teacher passed, still no Hannah.
Now there is a Facebook group dedicated to finding Hannah, as well as several blog posts and news articles.
No one knows where she is.
Hannah Upp graduated from Bryn Mawr in 2007. Following graduation she moved to New York, where she secured her job at Thurgood Marshall and began doing volunteer work for AIDS organizations. The Daily News reported that she had also begun working on a master's in education at Pace University.
Hannah had wide-ranging, unusual interests. An article published in the Daily News on July 19, 2008 featured a photo of Hannah with a couple of friends holding bags of bagels. According to the piece, Hannah and her friends were "freegans."
Freegans are a subculture of people, usually vegans, who only eat food that is free. Freegans find what they need by scavenging on the street; the practice is called Dumpster diving. To be a freegan is to reject capitalist values and the wastefulness of society at large. It's an act of defiance, a turning away from crass, consumer culture. Since May 8 this year, Hannah Upp had even been a member of a Meetup group for people interested in "NYC Dumpster Diving."
While a member of the Bryn Mawr and Haverford Chamber Singers, Hannah wrote about a choir trip to Ghana for Bryn Mawr Now. Her article revealed a great deal of insight and a compelling way with words. Hannah wrote:
Returning to Bryn Mawr also meant that I was faced with the challenge of explaining how I spent my winter break, and I have surprised myself with my descriptions of the trip. Instead of the details that would excite a thrill-seeking traveler [...] I find myself describing the emotion I felt while we sang a spiritual at the banks of the river where slaves were bathed for the last time before being sent off on the Middle Passage. I recall the power of the hospitality of the family that welcomed me into their home, where I would share a small bed with three others in what turned into a very cozy night. I refer to the instant connection developed with the members of other choirs when we were able to engage through a song that we had specifically learned to sing together. As corny as it sounds, music did become the instant bridge. Even though I had never met this person singing next to me and any objective comparison of our lives would indicate a complete lack of common ground, we were able to interact and share something that needs no explanation...
A fellow Bryn Mawr student, writing in her tumblelog about Hannah's disappearance, called the young teacher "one of the kindest people I’ve ever met." The size of the Facebook group devoted to finding Hannah is further testament to the number of people who know her and now find themselves worried about the teacher with the easy, winning smile. In a comment on the group page, a friend named Danika Hunt wrote, "I am completely distraught right now, actively keeping my mind aside whenever I can, because I can't imagine my Hannah in this situation. Please return home safely. You're in mine and my family's prayers. I miss you."
Corey Godbey wrote that he was "Hannah's cousin Corey from KS." Godbey continued, "I want to thank each one of you that has joined this group... and also ask you to join me... As we continue to pray for Hannah's safety and ask God to reveal her whereabouts to us... we also need to pray (believing) for the person(s) that DO know where she is. Someone does. Somewhere. Pray with me that that person(s) will reveal what they know in the opportune moment..."
Not all disappearances are the result of a criminal act. They can come from depression, from misadventure, from someone simply wanting to just get the hell away from it all. It seems clear that in this case, Hannah Upp's disappearance was completely unexpected and to those who know and love her, cause for great suspicion and worry.
Dropping into the subjective blogger's voice now -- I couldn't help but notice that Hannah Upp disappeared just two days before the murder of Pace University honors student Kevin Pravia. Pravia was apparently murdered by a homeless man, Jeromie Cancel, whom Pravia met early in the morning on August 31. Cancel accompanied Pravia to his apartment. After Pravia fell asleep, Cancel took a number of electronic items and left -- only to return and strangle Kevin Pravia as an afterthought.
Freegans with jobs and residences like Hannah Upp would surely come into quite a bit of contact with the homeless, who sometimes have no choice but to Dumpster-dive.
Let's hope Hannah didn't encounter Jeromie Cancel or someone like him. Since it seems as though Cancel has been more than willing to confess to what he's done, it is unlikely she ran into him, or he might have already said so. Still, there had to be a certain danger factor in pursuing the freegan lifestyle, since among the homeless, there will always be a small number of people like Jeromie Cancel, who have profound and potentially dangerous emotional and mental problems.
If you think you have information that might help in the search for Hannah Emily Upp, please call (800) 577-TIPS or get in touch with Detective Perez at the 30th Precinct Detective Squad, by calling either 212-690-8842, or 212-690-8843.
Riverfront Times"The Unsolved Murder of Ernie Brasier: A Clayton attorney's death nearly two years ago continues to mystify police and colleagues" St. Louis Attorney Ernie Brasier was, according to his own mother-in-law, "cut out for the priesthood." Why would anyone want to kill him? Because that's what happened to Brasier on December 19, 2006. Two years on, his murder is still unsolved. The suspects? The attorney's former colleagues. By Kathleen McLaughlin Miami New Times"The People Under the Bridge" After tough new sex-offender laws closely proscribed where convicted felons could live, the State of Florida came up with a novel idea: parking them under a bridge. The result was a bizarre community of criminals, hard-core and otherwise, setting up camp in the middle of town. This story won first place in the prestigious Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) contest. By Isaiah Thompson Houston Press"Toxic Town" In the town of Somerville, Texas, years of pollution from a massive wood-treatment plant have led to contamination levels higher than those found at Love Canal--and rates of cancer and birth defects that officials say constitute a public-health emergency. By Todd Spivak Phoenix New Times"Target Practice" Only two journalists were arrested in the United States in 2007 for exercising their First Amendment rights. They happened to be the executive editor and chief executive officer of Village Voice Media. After Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio put Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin in jail for publishing a story revealing massive abuses of the grand jury process, the paper responded with a series of articles that demonstrated--yet again--how Arpaio and his cohort, county attorney Andrew Thomas, had routinely violated the constitution in the name of law and order. By New Times editorial staff Village Voice"Rudy Giuliani's Five Big Lies About 9/11" Someone needed to give the tough-talking presidential candidate a reality check about what happened on that fateful day. We were happy to oblige. By Wayne Barrett Houston Press"Heads You Lose, Tails You Lose" Thinking about investing in rare coins to protect yourself against an unstable economy? Before you purchase so much as a penny, read this investigative effort, which revealed the wide variety of scams used by the industry to reel in customers. The story was named a finalist for the Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism. By Todd Spivak Seattle Weekly"What If They Weren't Gay?" Newly declassified documents put the lie to the government's claim of a Cold War homosexual conspiracy. By Rick Anderson Phoenix New Times"Snake on a Plane" You won't believe what happened when the cops told the airline it had a murderer on board. By Paul Rubin Dallas Observer"House of Death" A dozen men were tortured, killed and buried in a small house in Juarez. Three years later, the U.S. government was still trying to cover it up. By Jesse Hyde Westword"Made For Each Other" Just when the sad saga of JonBenet Ramsey had faded from memory, Colorado authorities thrust the case back into the limelight by arresting a publicity seeker named John Mark Karr for her murder. It was left to Alan Prendergast to write the definitive story of how a university professor with an agenda--and a history of fingering the wrong suspects--led the Boulder DA to make such a colossal blunder. By Alan Prendergast
The last time I wrote about Hannah Emily Upp, the New York City school teacher who vanished early in September, I said that I wouldn't update the case any more because Hannah was found alive and there didn't appear to be any crime involved in her disappearance.
Last night, just after midnight, group administrator Hannah Wood sent the following information in a mass e-mail to members of the Facebook group devoted to finding missing New York City middle school teacher Hannah Emily Upp: