Really disturbing to think how easy it was to disappear back then....

Dwell on this for a second:

Today, you can take pictures and circulate them around, police stations can do the same. You can post on a variety of social websites that a friend or loved one has gone missing.

Back then, you'd be in the same state as your closest friends or family and you could so easily disappear into obscurity. There was no way to circulate pictures, no way to spread the word (especially as you don't even have pictures), and even people who MIGHT have heard of a missing guy wouldn't know they just passed him while visiting the slave owner.

People disappear today as well, but the kidnappers in these cases rarely IF EVER allow those folks to see the light of day or to step outside of a building or house, back then the kidnapped folks walked out in broad daylight in huge open fields because it was that easy to disappear and STAY missing.