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I get that it would erase the phone but that shouldn't remove it as Activation Lock should still be active on it.
They should just make hard restart available to deal with situations where the phone crashes. This would allow you to restart your phone when it locks up, but it would prevent a dirty thief from shutting it down without a passcode.
Picking up a lost phone is not stealing. Picking up a lost phone and not attempting to return it, is. I would ask that you revise your attitude towards people; you aren't being very kind. Understand? 
<-- a prime example, by the way.
In any case, it would make little sense that you could not turn off a phone without a password. The passcode is used to allow you entrance; you don't someone's permission to leave normally, do you? In that regard, I don't think there is anything you can do until your phone is turned on once more. I hope that someone has found it and attempts to return it to you.
I would advise, as others have, that you firstly contact your carrier.
Next, that you call the phone and see if you can get some response. If it's not turned on and you don't see it in Find my iPhone then that won't do any good but you can try, nonetheless. Again, you have made it clear that you misplaced it. It may have been pick-pocketed but assuming that's not the case, it's too early to assume anyone has stolen your phone. Maybe the battery died?
And talk to the police and see if they can help you locate your phone.
Though, you're right in one sense. It is suspicious that it was turned off so soon after you misplaced it. But not necessarily reason to assume it was stolen.
<-- a prime example, by the way.In any case, it would make little sense that you could not turn off a phone without a password. The passcode is used to allow you entrance; you don't someone's permission to leave normally, do you? In that regard, I don't think there is anything you can do until your phone is turned on once more. I hope that someone has found it and attempts to return it to you.
I would advise, as others have, that you firstly contact your carrier.
Next, that you call the phone and see if you can get some response. If it's not turned on and you don't see it in Find my iPhone then that won't do any good but you can try, nonetheless. Again, you have made it clear that you misplaced it. It may have been pick-pocketed but assuming that's not the case, it's too early to assume anyone has stolen your phone. Maybe the battery died?
And talk to the police and see if they can help you locate your phone.
Though, you're right in one sense. It is suspicious that it was turned off so soon after you misplaced it. But not necessarily reason to assume it was stolen.
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One more thing! There is this thing to check the status of one's phone https://www.icloud.com/activationlock/ . I entered my IMEI and guess what, it says my 100 % previously locked and blocked iPhone now is totally activation free and ready to be used???!?! I am not an important business person or stuff like that, nobody cares about info in the phone apart me, so its not the case of long term plan to steal my phone, like someone said, it was only missplaced... Thing is, in eastern Europe we have little people that would return the device when found on the streets... Maybe there is some new ways to bypass all the securities and just reset iPhone without need to enter Apple ID etc?
Perhaps for whatever reason Find My iPhone wasn't actually enabled after all despite you being under the impression that it was?
Well, it is just impossible!!! I had used find my iPhone function earlier on that day...
Did you get any text messages / imessages / emails from Apple on another device about your device being found and to follow a link and enter your user name and pw?
nope. I thought so that i should have got an email if any changes were made, but no email.
[doublepost=1462459711][/doublepost]I dont get it, these both apple generated info are contradictory... ?
[doublepost=1462460238][/doublepost]I have also found that in my country they do in fact remove icloud activation lock from ANY iPhone IF the device is not reported as stolen or lost, then they ask for 200$ per device... Is this kind of unlocking available in the states also? Just curious
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I thought you said you were running iOS 9.3.1. on the device.
This, and other conflicting info (not showing up on iCloud, activation lock is Off, etc.), leads me to believe you may be looking up the wrong device. Double check your Apple ID and IMEI.
This, and other conflicting info (not showing up on iCloud, activation lock is Off, etc.), leads me to believe you may be looking up the wrong device. Double check your Apple ID and IMEI.
Who are "they" that "remove" iCloud Activation Lock?nope. I thought so that i should have got an email if any changes were made, but no email.
[doublepost=1462459711][/doublepost]I dont get it, these both apple generated info are contradictory... ?
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[doublepost=1462460238][/doublepost]I have also found that in my country they do in fact remove icloud activation lock from ANY iPhone IF the device is not reported as stolen or lost, then they ask for 200$ per device... Is this kind of unlocking available in the states also? Just curious
I know, but his first post says iOS 9.3.1. That's why I mentioned it, and that's why I'm saying it's conflicting info.
EDIT: I understand what you are saying now. Since it says "or later" it is not contradicting. Interesting choice of words by Apple.
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If dropped it could be "off" because it broke.
Finding a phone isn't stealing.
Someone may have found it and turned it in somewhere.
If I found a phone, I'd likely pick it up and give it to whatever place seemed likely that its owner may have been recently.
For example, if there was a store very near to where I found it, that's where I'd turn it in.
In my area, I'd be very unlikely to bother driving all the way to the police station.
And if I picked it up, and determined it to be damaged, unable to turn it on, unable to access / determine who the owner is, and no nearby stores that the owner might have been to, then I'd probably just throw it in the first trash can I came across.
Assuming that the device was still operational, the problem with all the security settings is that nobody would be able to access it's data and look up who you might be.
Prior to all the security stuff, when I found a phone I went into the contacts and called someone that had recently been called from that phone and used that person to get in contact with the owner of the phone.
Security on the phone is part of the problem when it comes to being reunited with your phone.
Perhaps putting a sticker on the phone with your contact information and saying if found find me at....
Otherwise, go to every place near where the phone was lost and ask employees, people, etc.
And call the police, report it LOST and ask if it's been found. You'll need to contact every police department within say 20 miles of where it was lost. Because you never know which location might have been convenient to whoever found it.
In my case, that would be about 6 police stations. And also in my case, one police station doesn't automatically communicate everything with the other one.
You might also use Craigslist and advertise that it's been LOST.
If you falsely claim it was stolen, then nobody would contact you. Including someone who is honestly trying to find you. If you take the hostile stolen attitude, and I found it I'd avoid contacting you because I wouldn't want you to file false charges against me. I'd throw it away.
If I saw an ad saying LOST, then I'd happily do everything I could to get it back to you if I found it.
Finding a phone isn't stealing.
Someone may have found it and turned it in somewhere.
If I found a phone, I'd likely pick it up and give it to whatever place seemed likely that its owner may have been recently.
For example, if there was a store very near to where I found it, that's where I'd turn it in.
In my area, I'd be very unlikely to bother driving all the way to the police station.
And if I picked it up, and determined it to be damaged, unable to turn it on, unable to access / determine who the owner is, and no nearby stores that the owner might have been to, then I'd probably just throw it in the first trash can I came across.
Assuming that the device was still operational, the problem with all the security settings is that nobody would be able to access it's data and look up who you might be.
Prior to all the security stuff, when I found a phone I went into the contacts and called someone that had recently been called from that phone and used that person to get in contact with the owner of the phone.
Security on the phone is part of the problem when it comes to being reunited with your phone.
Perhaps putting a sticker on the phone with your contact information and saying if found find me at....
Otherwise, go to every place near where the phone was lost and ask employees, people, etc.
And call the police, report it LOST and ask if it's been found. You'll need to contact every police department within say 20 miles of where it was lost. Because you never know which location might have been convenient to whoever found it.
In my case, that would be about 6 police stations. And also in my case, one police station doesn't automatically communicate everything with the other one.
You might also use Craigslist and advertise that it's been LOST.
If you falsely claim it was stolen, then nobody would contact you. Including someone who is honestly trying to find you. If you take the hostile stolen attitude, and I found it I'd avoid contacting you because I wouldn't want you to file false charges against me. I'd throw it away.
If I saw an ad saying LOST, then I'd happily do everything I could to get it back to you if I found it.
iOS 10 should have the option to turn on "require passcode to power off" in settings. Then a thief cannot turn it off if it is activated. Simple.
They likely could using the reset method potentially, given an earlier discussion of it.
I think the discussion point is how did it disappear from FMI on iCloud.
Thiefs are sneaky. It's very possible that a pro phone thief watched you enter your passcode, and then either swiped the phone directly from your pocket or distracted you and took it while you laid it down for even a second.
With your passcode, they could then disable "find my iPhone" and log out of iCloud on the iPhone within seconds.
Even if a phone is locked... You can ask Siri who's phone is this. Or in the Emergency screen, you can go to Medical ID and it'll allow you to contact any of the preset emergency contacts. Or if a phone is placed in lost phone mode you can call the number that is set at the time lost mode is turned on.
There, multiple ways to find the proper owner.
It says iOS 8 or later which is 9.3.1 and yes, i triplechecked the imei
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Wow... You are so naive. Maybe in USA people are that kind, on contrary where I live in east of europe chances that someone would return an iDevice are close to zero. In this case i realised im missing my phone 10 minutes from last acitivity with it. I called to my phone from my friends and there was good signal. Nobody answered however. After a few moments i tryed to put it to lost mode and wrote a security message displaying my phone number, though it was too late. It had already been switched off ( or think off any other reason that suits you) with no calling signal or possibility to locate it through stock security apps
I've read this entire thread and nobody has speculated that the phone may have been functionally destroyed within seconds of losing it. Whether it was the way it dropped out of your pocket or the location it was dropped.
This doesn't completely explain the iCloud anomalies or all the mysteries here. It would be interesting to be watching Find My iPhone while sledgehammering one, but I'm not volunteering up my iPhone. I'm sure somewhere, somebody has done something similar.
No need to sledgehammer one... Simulate it by turning the phone off.
It should show the phone as offline but still there.