In recent weeks, an online rumor surrounding quantities of missing people in Virginia, possibly connected to a malicious ice cream truck, has infected thousands of people’s feeds on social media, and been blown out of proportion, at least according to the Virginia State Police. The internet’s most rapidly deepening rabbit hole has caused online mass hysteria through a culmination of increasing missing persons reports, suspicious ice cream trucks, and little police involvement.
In August, multiple TikTok videos began going viral, referencing the supposed 80 to 100+ Missing Children reports in Virginia coming in in a matter of days, while pointing fingers at ice cream trucks seen around the state driving around late at night with music blaring and lights flashing. According to the MCC (Missing Children Clearinghouse) 88 children were reported missing between August 3-9, the number even climbing to a weekly average of 98 children.
However the context of these numbers are grossly skewed by the online videos suggesting supposed perpetrators. The actual truth according to the MCC is a vast majority of these cases are reported as runaway children or kids who simply just left. Skeptics claim that this does not remove the possibility of kidnappings after leaving, but the MCC reports of the 88 children missing as of Aug. 13, 80 have been safely located, leaving 8 kids missing. Even more specific to Virginia, all 25 CODI alerts (similar to an Amber Alert) issued this year in Virginia have since located every child according to Virginia State Police.
Still, the question remains: why is Virginia reporting more missing children than any other state? This is further elaborated as a policy of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, where all cases are forwarded to the Center of Operations located in Virginia. This is done to centralize all cases in one area.
And what of the videos of ice cream trucks driving around Virginia anywhere from 10 p.m. to allegedly 3 a.m.? Aside from discussion in online forums, the topic has not received much real investigation. The Virginia State Police states there is no evidence connecting missing children and ice cream trucks, but did not explain the ice cream trucks being out so late. One of the only seemingly “backed” theories is that ice cream truck businesses are individually owned and therefore work on their own hours, even if late.Some former users speculate they are targeting a supposed “late night cravings” audience for sales. The other sensible explanation is that the videos online showing the times the ice cream trucks are out so late could be lying. For example, and ice cream truck’s policy may be to return back to the business’ permanent location once it gets dark, as the main child demographic is now decreased. When it gets dark and a truck begins heading back around 9 p.m., any person could record the truck and claim it was another time to try and grab as many views online as possible amongst the current paranoia.
In all, this entire online frenzy has caused quite a panic, but like most “shocking” news on TikTok, if it seems to be unreasonable, it’s usually because it is.
