Suspect arrested in student's Miami disappearance
BY MICHAEL WHITE
DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU
Tuesday, January 15th 2008, 11:46 AM
Stepha Henry, 22, (center) has been missing since May, when she vanished on a trip to Miami to visit relatives.
Stepha Henry, 22, (center) has been missing since May, when she vanished on a trip to Miami to visit relatives.
Detectives arrested a Brooklyn man suspected of killing a woman who vanished last year while visiting relatives in Miami, police said today.
Kendrick Williams, 32, was nabbed this morning after forensic tests of his car linked him to the victim, police said.
NYPD officers and detectives from Miami took Williams into custody about 8 a.m. at the Canarsie Pier in Brooklyn where he had been living out of a car. He was charged with murdering 22-year-old Stepha Henry, an aspiring lawyer who was last seen May 29 at Peppers Cafe Nightclub in Ford Lauderdale.
Henry and her 16-year-old sister had traveled to Florida just before Memorial Day to celebrate her sister’s birthday. They were staying with relatives, who last saw Henry getting into a black sedan driven by a man.
Florida police said Williams drove Henry to the club in an Acura Integra. He had initially told detectives he left the venue without Henry, police said.
Investigators impounded the car last September, and a forensic analysis found substantial evidence linking him to the victim, police said.
The two were believed to have been romantically involved, police said.
Henry, a graduate of Manhattan’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, had been preparing to take the entrance exams for law school when she vanished, her relatives said.
Her body has not been recovered. Police have not said how she was killed.
Source: NY Daily News
Of course it was buried underneath plenty of other news.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Update: Stepha Henry Case
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Veronica Ruiz - Missing Since Dec. 3, 2007
This is a strange one. Veronica Ruiz, 25 and an IRS agent, has been missing since December 3rd. She went hiking up on Mount Tamalpais in Mill Valley (across the bridge from San Francisco) and hasn't been seen since.
I got an email from Vox telling me about this story, so I'm posting it. Thanks Vox.
Here is a local flier announcing a community search: http://www.audcast.com/findveronicaruiz/
Here are screen shots from that flier (click on the image for a full view):
Here is a conversation about her case on the Yelp Community site:
Please Pray for Veronica Ruiz - Search For Missing Mill Valley Woman
KTVU: Search For Missing Mill Valley Woman Suspended
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Repost: Gloria Walker
This is posted over at the CSB: Crime Scene Blog, but I wanted to repost it here.
Gloria Walker has been missing since May 20, 2007. Someone has to know where she is.
-------------------------------
Gloria Walker
Name: Gloria Walker
Date Missing: May 20, 2007
Missing From: Cleveland, Ohio
DOB: 8/12/1960
Age: 46 yrs old
Hair Color: Black
Height: 5’2
Weight: 125 lbs
Eye Color: Brown
Sex: Female
Race: Black
Complexion: Medium
Police/Sheriff: Cleveland Police Dept
Officer/Deputy Name: Det. Chism
Officer’s Phone #: 216/6233333
Officer’s Case #: 200700186890
TES Case #: 07719Gloria Walker, age 46, was last seen on Sunday, May
20, 2007 around 11:30 p.m. in Cleveland, Ohioand has not been seen or
heard from since. Gloria was last seen wearing red jogging pants and
open toe sandals, top unknown. She was last seen driving a 1996 Chevy
Lumina.
Call: 281/3099500
Toll free 877/2709500
Article:
Gloria Walker, 46, disappeared from Cleveland’s eastside three months ago.
Saturday, Walker’s family received a helping hand, from 1,100 miles away.
EquuSearch, the same organization that mobilized thousands of people
in the search for Jessie Davis, the missing, pregnant mother in Stark
County, took on Walker’s case.
More than 80 volunteers waded through shoulder-high grass and
explored vacant homes on Cleveland’s east side. They peeled their way
through vacant homes and raked through heavy brush along the railroad
tracks. They looked for any sign of Gloria Walker.
Richard Johnson saw a missing person’s flier in his neighbor and decided to help out.
“We’re down here looking for shoes, any kind of personal
identification,” Johnson said as he probed 3-foot-tall weeds with a
stick. “You know, it’s time consuming, but it’s fulfilling. I think
everybody should do more to help everybody else.”
Tim Miller, founder of Equusearch mapped out specific areas for
volunteers to look for Walker. Miller said EquuSearch has found 72
people in the more than 700 cases they’ve taken on.
Walker was last seen May 20, driving a car her long-time boyfriend
had been repairing for a relative. Walker’s brother reported her
missing, five days after neighbors last saw her.
That car was found two weeks later in the Harvard/Fleet area of Cleveland, only three miles from her house.
Saturday, volunteers checked potential dump sites in that area. They
found a five-foot long, mound of dirt next to the tracks near Walker’s
home. It was nothing.
“I think Gloria is findable,” Miller said. “I think some new
information came to law enforcement that may lead them in another
direction.”
Greg Washington, who said he fathered a son with Walker, was thankful for Miller’s expertise.
“He’s a godsend,” Washington said. “Every day has been getting up thinking about Gloria. Where is she?”
Even though Saturday’s searchers did not find Walker, Washington said the search encouraged him.
“We’ll keep turning over every stone we can,” Washington said. “I’m
not giving up. I promised her we would always watch each other’s back.”
Video:
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Olivia Maricela Soriano-Almendaris: Missing Since Oct. 2, 2007
Ohio Police Seek Missing Pregnant Mom
Ohio police issued missing person alert Thursday for a pregnant woman who disappeared from a bank on Oct. 2.
Olivia Maricela Soriano-Almendaris, 20, of Columbus, Ohio, is nine months pregnant and vanished on the same day she was due to give birth, according to the release from the Columbus Division of Police.
Soriano-Almendaris is 5-feet, 6-inches tall, weighs 150 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing green pants, a white T-shirt and a gray sweater, police said.
Authorities believe she may have been driving a black 1995 Ford Explorer with Ohio license plate number DZW-7021.
Anyone with information is asked to call the missing persons unit of the department's special victims bureau at 614-645-2358.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Glenda Furch: Last Seen Sept. 28, 2007
PD: Fort Worth Woman's Disappearance Suspicious
Missing Fort Worth Woman's Car Found BurnedThere's new information concerning the search for a Fort Worth grandmother who has been missing for nearly a week.
According to police, Glenda Furch's burned-out car was found in Dallas Thursday morning.
Furch's daughters have been holding vigil at their mother's Fort Worth apartment. The girls said they were hoping their 51-year-old mother would come back safe and sound.
Furch's daughter Shimon is begging the public for help. "We just need to know what happened. So if anybody knows anything we just plead to the community... today it's me, tomorrow it could be you. Just to the community, just to get involved and if you know anything just call the police and let them know."
The women broke down in tears when they learned about the discovery of the vehicle.
Furch has not been seen since she left her job at the General Motors plant in Arlington around midnight on Friday. Police have been looking for her and her 1998 4-door gold/champagne colored Mazda Millenia ever since.
Early Wednesday morning firefighters in southeast Dallas found a car on fire at an abandoned car wash near Hatcher and Military Parkway.
After tracing the cars identification numbers, investigators confirmed Thursday that the vehicle is Furch's.
Investigators with the Fort Worth Police Department say the discovery of the car is a significant development. "That's one less thing that we have to focus efforts on – finding the car," says FWPD Spokesman Lt. Dean Sullivan. "Now we have to find out who's responsible for setting it on fire, determine whether or not there's any involvement."
Fort Worth homicide detectives and crime scene investigators spent part of the day in Dallas looking for evidence in or on Furch's car and checking out the area where it was found.
"Really still, at this point even though we suspect foul play, we haven't concluded exactly that there's any crime that's been committed. Of course worst case scenario, if it does determine that we locate her in peril or some otherwise means of course we'll have to start working on developing suspects," Sullivan said.
Furch's co-workers from the Arlington GM plant are planning a candle light vigil for her on Saturday.
Crusade to find missing Nailah made us care
An interesting article by Mary Mitchell at the Chicago Sun-Times discussing how the crusade to find Nailah was different from other cases of missing black women.Crusade to find missing Nailah made us care
Black families push to get coverage of disappearances
October 2, 2007
BY MARY MITCHELL Sun-Times Columnist
The relatives of Nailah Franklin are living a family's worst nightmare. Last Friday, an unclothed body that was discovered in the Calumet Woods was identified as the 28-year-old Franklin. With her fashion model looks, Franklin has been described as the "star" of her close-knit family.
Franklin was reported missing Sept. 19.
Like most parents, I worry about my adult daughters because, unfortunately, there is too much mayhem in the world. I don't think my family is much different from a lot of others.
And while every missing person is neither pretty or even lovable, if someone we love goes missing, we want police to turn over every stone. We want our friends and our neighbors to fan out across the city and join in the search. We want that person's face plastered on national news programs as well as in the local papers.
She was not seen in the same light
Yet, too often when young black women disappear, none of those things happen without the family waging a crusade.
These relatives have to scuffle to get alerts posted, and when the police department distributes the alert, it is still a fight to get the notice in a newspaper.
Franklin's disappearance didn't follow that pattern for several reasons.
First, she was a very attractive black woman who came from a middle-class background.
As such, her disappearance didn't get typecast as a throwaway. Franklin wasn't seen in the same light as the troubled black women who walked the streets in neighborhoods like Roseland and Englewood and ended up being found dead in abandoned buildings without anyone knowing they were missing.
Neither was Franklin's disappearance viewed in the same way as law enforcement views the average teenage runaway. Although many of the parents and guardians of these young people do their best to get media attention, their pleas are routinely ignored. And while police will pick up runaways if they happen to bump into them, they don't make it a priority to locate teens who bolt from their homes.
Franklin's relatives and friends made sure her plight was not ignored. Her sister, Lehia Franklin Acox, used her media contacts to ensure that photographs of her missing sister were widely circulated. For consecutive days, Nailah's beautiful smile graced the front pages, while updates of the search aired regularly on national news programs.
This is a significant change from just four years ago.
When Nancie Walker, a Chicago businesswoman, disappeared in 2003, her family and friends had to pressure the Chicago Police Department to investigate the disappearance as a possible abduction even though Walker was not known to take off without letting anyone know of her whereabouts.
Three months after vanishing, Walker's dismembered body was found in plastic bags. No one has been charged with that crime.
The way Nailah Franklin's disappearance was handled -- not just by the police but by the media -- shows that black families now are more aggressive about getting the media's help.
Because of the Franklin family's efforts, I saw the face of Nailah Franklin so often, I began to feel as if I knew her. And just as the faces of two other missing persons -- Laci Peterson and Natalee Holloway -- were etched into our consciousness through media exposure, by the time Franklin's body was found 10 days after she disappeared, many of us were genuinely moved by the tragedy.
It is a tragedy, but also a blessing that Franklin has been humanized in a way that so many missing black women have not been.
Case can't be dismissed
From her sisters, we learned that Franklin was someone who brought incredible joy to their lives. From her employers, we learned that the young professional was so well-respected in the workplace that her unscheduled absence was cause for alarm.
During days of waiting, we learned that Franklin had a spiritual family, that she had career goals and that she was a real role model for her younger relatives.
Nailah Franklin's family made sure there would be no presumptions. People who loved Franklin made sure that her disappearance wouldn't be dismissed as just another act of random violence.
No missing person should get less than that.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Ethlin Williams Ruddock: Missing Since Sept. 22, 2007
Brooklyn Woman with Alzheimer's Still Missing
Last Seen in Flatlands
NEW YORK -- An elderly Brooklyn woman with Alzheimer's has been missing from her Brooklyn home for a week. Her family has been handing out photo fliers, hoping someone has seen Ethlin Williams Ruddock, 78.
Police said she was last seen Saturday, September 22, at 5:30 p.m. on East 46th Street in the Flatlands section of Brooklyn.
She was wearing a floral-print shirt, beige skirt, black sandals, a black Coach purse, and a gold wedding band inscribed with "To Ethlin Love Alvin." She is of African-Caribbean descent and has black eyes, a dark complexion, and thin salt-and-pepper hair.
Ruddock is enrolled in the Alzheimer's Association Safe Return program. Her identification number is 232665, but she is not wearing any of her identification products.
Anyone with information can call the Alzheimer's Association Safe Return program at 800-572-1122 or the Crime Stoppers hot line at 800-577-TIPS (8477).
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Nailah Franklin's Body Found
Update 1 (Sept. 30, 2007 @ 9:38am KST)
There were some people who didn't believe the body was Nailah's. However, authorities have confirmed that it's her body with medical records.
Here is the article: Police identify body of missing Chicago woman
______________________________________________
Horrible news - Nailan Franklin's body has been found according to a report from the Associated Press.
I'm posting the article here, but as I mentioned in the original post on Nailah, the Crime US blog is posting regular updates on this case.
Uncle: Missing drug rep's body found
Story HighlightsCALUMET CITY, Illinois (AP) -- A drug sales representative who disappeared last week was found dead near a forest preserve, not far from where her car was abandoned, her uncle said Thursday.
- NEW: Uncle of Nailah Franklin says her body was found
- Police haven't identified body found in Illinois forest preserve
- Franklin was reported missing September 19 after missing a meeting
- Her car was found in Hammond, Indiana, near abandoned building
Calumet City Police Chief Russell Larson confirmed only that an unidentified woman's body had been found in the area Thursday morning.
But Nailah Franklin's uncle Jon Merrill and family friend Andrew Holms said authorities had told the family the body is that of Merrill's 28-year-old niece.
Franklin, a pharmaceutical sales representative for Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly, was reported missing September 19 after she missed a meeting at work. Her car was discovered in Hammond, Indiana, on Friday night near an abandoned building.
Franklin had filed a police report shortly before her disappearance about getting threatening phone calls from a man she had dated briefly.
Chicago police said Monday they had interviewed someone Franklin once dated but have not named a suspect in her disappearance.
Since her disappearance, family members and volunteers have papered the area with fliers and taken out a newspaper ad seeking the public's help.
They have offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Nailah Franklin: Missing Since Sept. 18, 2007
Nailah Franklin is 5′2″ and weighs about 115 lbs.
Please call the police at (312) 746-9259 if you have any information about the case.
For more info about the case check the Crimeblog USA which is updating its post on Nailah regularly: Missing Person from Chicago: Nailah Franklin
The latest news as I'm typing this is that her vehicle was found in Indiana, but she's still missing.
Here is an article from CBS News in Chicago.
Family Fears Missing Woman Was Harmed
Friend Says Nailah Franklin Disappeared After Threatening Message From Ex-Boyfriend
(CBS) CHICAGO A massive effort is underway to find a missing woman who disappeared apparently without a trace. Nailah Franklin's family and friends, along with police, are scrambling to get the word out.
As CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports, the Little Gym in University Village served Friday as the gathering point for Franklin's family and friends. There was a continuous flow of well wishers stopping by, picking up fliers that they're passing out in the community. Both the police and Franklin's family say they're not giving up hope she'll be found.
Family and friends spent Friday afternoon passing out fliers near Franklin's University Village condominium.
"We just want to get as much information possible out about Nailah and to be able to talk and keep the momentum in the streets," said Franklin's friend Lavelle Smith.
The 28-year-old Eli Lilly pharmaceutical representative was last seen on September 18. Her family says she is always in constant contact, especially by text message. The last message she sent was that night, saying she was at dinner and would call later. No one has heard from her since.
"She is very bright, smart, educated, a beautiful black woman," said Franklin's uncle Dwayne Johnson.
At a news conference on Friday afternoon, police said they are tracing phone calls as well as personal and business credt card records. They're also going over video from a surveillance camera outside her condo.
"I'd just like to find her," said Sgt. Virginia Zic-Schlomas of the Area 4 Special Victims Unit.
Police are talking with several people Franklin has had relationships with. Sources say one of them has a history of making threats to other women. A week before she vanished Franklin had filed a report with police about a man she had dated, claiming he was threatening her by phone.
"She had already had contact with a detective of our agency, who was in constant contact with her giving her advice," Zic-Schlomas said.
Among the advice was to file a restraining order against the man.
Franklin's friend Dana McClellan said the message contained the following: "Basically 'I could do harm to you. You haven't seen that side, of me but I do have a bad side and I could do harm to you.'"
Franklin's sister went to the Harrison Area police headquarters Friday morning to talk to detectives about the case. She said detectives called her and asked her to come in.
Police say they still have confidence Franklin will be found.
"I'm still hoping there's a positive outcome in the results of all this," Zic-Schlomas said.
Two computers are also missing from Franklin's home: a personal laptop and one she used for her work with Eli Lilly.
Franklin is 5-feet 2-inches, 115 pounds, with brown eyes and brown hair.
Her company car, a 2005 four-door, black Chevy Impala, has also vanished. It has Illinois license plate number of 1957855.
Eli Lilly is also involved in the investigation since one of their employees, and a company computer, is missing.
"This is someone who just had everything to live for; she was at the top of her game professionally; she bought two condos on her own as a single woman; she dotes on her niece, my daughter; she's just a person who is very connected with the people she cares about," Franklin's sister said. "This is so out of character."
If you have any information about the case, police ask that you call (312) 746-9259.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Cinthia Pulido-DelToro, Lilibeth Sierra DelToro and Anahi Josette DelToro: Missing Since August 29, 2007
On August 29, 2007, Cinthia picked up her children, Lilibeth and Anahi from their babysitter's residence in Phoenix, Arizona and was on her way back home to Mesa, Arizona. She contacted a family member at approximately 9:30 pm and said she would be home soon. Cinthia and the children have not been heard from since. They were last known to be traveling in a 2005 blue Chevy Cavalier with Arizona license plate 036-MBZ.
The poster containing information on all three.
ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)
Mesa Police Department (Arizona) - 1-480-644-2211
Cinthia, Lilibeth and Anahi
Missing City: PHOENIX
Missing State : AZ
Cinthia's description:
DOB: Jun 21, 1982
Sex: Female
Missing Date: Aug 29, 2007
Race: Hispanic
Age Now: 25
Height: 5'2" (157 cm)
Weight: 120 lbs (54 kg)
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Lilibeth's description:
DOB: Jun 28, 2004
Sex: Female
Missing Date: Aug 29, 2007
Race: Hispanic
Age Now: 3
Height: 3'0" (91 cm)
Weight: 35 lbs (16 kg)
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Anahi's description:
DOB: Apr 16, 2007
Sex: Female
Missing Date: Aug 29, 2007
Race: Hispanic
Age Now: 4 Month(s)
Height: 2'0" (61 cm)
Height: 12 lbs (5 kg)
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Found: Mahalia Xiong Missing
Mahalia Xiong Laid to Rest
Funeral set for Mahalia Xiong
-------------------------------------
Thank you for letting Missing Minorities know about this.
Help Find Mahalia Xiong
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay student Mahalia Xiong was reported missing after she didn’t return from a night of bowling with friends, said her brother, Tou Lee, on Sunday.
From what family members have pieced together, Xiong and her friends left Ashwaubenon Bowling Alley, 2929 Allied St., sometime after 2 a.m. Friday, Lee said.
Mahalia is described as a 5-foot tall, 105-pound Asian with a medium build. She has black hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans and black high-heeled shoes.
She was last seen driving a four-door, 1996 Mercury Sable with a Wisconsin license plate of TFD-715.
Anyone with information about Mahalia Xiong is asked to call Green Bay police at (920) 448-3208.
Click "Read more" for links to flyers and articles on this case.
reappropriate: Missing Student
Flyer #1: http://mahaliaxiong.pleasehelpfind.org/images/flyer1a.pdf
Flyer #2: http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/missing.htm
News Articles:
Groups:
Friday, June 29, 2007
News Focuses on Missing Person Stories of Whites
Photo montage from GuerrillaFunk.com's Spotlight Skips Cases of Missing Minorities (also linked below).
As the first post on this blog mentioned, the idea of creating a blog focused on missing minorities came to fruition because the media just doesn't give these stories much, if any, press.
It came from a thread where we were discussing Stepha Henry. There was a lot of complaining. I believe that complaning only further perpetuates the status quo. It's when you couple the complaint with action that you inspire change.
To that end, I asked everyone to email their friends, put it up on their MySpace or Facebook and to blog Stepha's story if they had a blog. From that, the idea for this blog was born.
Due to work and school commitments I've only now gotten the time to turn my attention to this new blog. To be honest, I hope the need for it doesn't last very long.
However, I'll start off by posting a blog from MSNBC where Dateline's Josh Mankiewicz did a piece called "What's Missing?" and wrote a blog named Missing Minorities in Missing Person Stories. In both, he asked the tough questions about why the stories about the missing persons like the ones we'll post here go unnoticed in the media.
This segment was aired back on August 7, 2005 however I found a transcript of it on Cybersleuths Crime Discussion in a thread aptly named White world of missing women. Here is the transcript. I also advise clicking on Mankiewicz's blog on this to read the comments because they're interesting.Dateline, Friday, August 7th: What's Missing?; National news tends to focus on missing persons stories of white people.
Unfortunately, Tamika's story has a bad ending because her remains were found. Her killer was apprehended due to a tip after America's Most Wanted aired a segment on her disappearance. The killer was sentenced and put on trial, and now he's serving a life sentence without parole.
Announcer: From our studios in New York, here is Ann Curry.
AC: Good evening. Parents do all they can to protect their children, but sometimes a parent's love just isn't enough. For more than two months now we've watched as Natalee Holloway's mother has conducted a desperate search for her missing 18year-old daughter, the tragedy covered extensively by the media.
But our next story is not about Natalee Holloway. We want to tell you about another family's agonizing search for a young woman who is also missing. But unless you live near her home town, you've probably never heard of her, and the question Josh Mankiewicz asks tonight is, why not?
(Tape) A 24-year-old California college student...
(Tape)...new developments in the search for that missing American teen...
Wolf Blitzer...who hasn't been scene since last Monday.
Harry Smith ...and was reported missing.
Josh Mankiwitcz: It's the lead story...
(Excerpts from various news broadcasts shown with photos of missing persons)
Lester Holt: (From news broadcast) ...student missing for five months.
Josh Mankiwitz: The networks and the cable news channels can't seem to get enough of it.
(Excerpts from various news broadcasts shown with photos of missing persons)
Tape ...police are now into their second week of searching.
JM: It's the story of Laci, of Chandra, of Lori, of Jennifer, of Elizabeth, of Natalee.
(Photo of Laci Peterson; photo of Chandra Levy; photo of Lori Hacking; photo of Jennifer Wilbanks; photo of Elizabeth Smart; photo of Natalee Holloway)
John Seigenthaler: Authorities are hoping for a break in the case.
JM: Their disappearances have brought heartaches and anguish. But if all you did was watch the TV news in this country, you might that think these are the only people who are missing, or that their fate in particular is incredibly important since we tell the story of their disappearances not once, but again and again.
(Home video excerpt of Peterson; family; woman cooking at home; news program excerpts of stories about missing persons; Levy missing person poster; photo of girl on TV screen; police escorting person covered with a blanket; video excerpt of Holloway shown on TV screen; video excerpt of Peterson and others; Peterson missing person poster shown on TV screen)
Peter Jennings: Laci Peterson...
Ann Curry: Laci Peterson...
Harry Smith: Laci Peterson.
JM: But in a country of almost 300 million, these Americans are missing too. The difference is that we don't cover their stories.
Meet Tamika Huston: bright, beautiful, with an angel's voice. Get a good look at her, because you won't be seeing her again and again on national television. She's singing at Rebecca Howard's wedding. Tamika is Rebecca's niece.
(Photos of missing persons shown in rapid succession; video excerpt of Tamika Huston performing; Rebecca Howard in wedding gown)
Rebecca Howard: She is an amazing young woman.
(Video excerpt of Huston and Rebecca at Rebecca's wedding)
RH: Very bubbly, very bright. She has an amazing singing voice.
JM: Tamika's dream of becoming a singer led her to try out for the TV show "American Idol." She didn't make the cut,but the experience seemed to inspire Tamika to set her sights beyond the life she was living in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
(Excerpts from opening sequence of "American Idol"; photo of Huston; Spartanburg)
RH: I think she really realized, `It's time for me to, like, figure out what I really want to do with the rest of the my life.'
JM: And then one day she vanishes.
RH:: One day.
JM: It was late May of last year. At 24, Tamika had quit her waitressing job and was going out on interviews. Since she was living alone, it took a couple of weeks for her family to notice that they hadn't heard from her in a while.
(Spartanburg; photo of Huston; restaurant; home)
RH: I spent my day Saturday, Sunday trying to find her. By Monday morning I called police in Spartanburg and said that something is terribly wrong.
JM: Police went to Tamika's home.
RH: She's not there.
JM: And there's no sign of a struggle.
RH: No.
JM: And yet what police did fine was reason for you to worry even more.
RH: Oh, absolutely. Her dog, Macy, who Tamika treated like her child, the dog was there, had given birth to a litter of puppies that had obviously been left alone for some time in distress. So at that point, I knew without question that something had gone horribly wrong.
JM: And the news got worse. Inside Tamika's home police found her driver's license, her cell phone, and some uncashed paychecks. It didn't appear that Tamika had just gone on vacation. Six days later officer's found Tamika's car on the other side of town. Inside the car they found a set of keys that led them to these apartments, a place with seemingly no connection to Tamika Huston.
JM: So you took Tamika's picture and walked around that apartment complex and asked if anybody had seen her.
Lt. Steve Lamb: Correct.
JM: And no one had.
Lt. Lamb: No.
JM: Spartanburg police Lieutenant Steve Lamb led the investigation.
JM: It doesn't sound as if Tamka's family had any difficulty at all persuading you to take this seriously.
Lt. Lamb: I mean, we looked at the family. They were extremely concerned.
JM: Police were at work, and so was Tamika's aunt Rebecca, a public relations executive in Miami.
RH: I draft press release, I start making phone calls.
JM) And here in Spartanburg Rebecca's PR skills paid off.
News clip: Twenty-four-year-old Tamika Huston disappeared around May 21st.
RH: The local media picked up on Tamika's story pretty quickly.
(Excerpts from news programs about Huston's disappearance)
JM: But Rebecca knew she had to spread the word outside Spartanburg.
(Excerpts from news programs about Huston's disappearance)
RH: Tamika could be anywhere from California to New York.
RH: So I wanted to cast as wide a net as I could possibly cast.
JM: So you start calling the broadcast networks.
RH: Yeah, absolutely.
JM: And what happens?
RH: Nothing. Nothing. I couldn't understand why I wasn't even getting, `Thank you very much but, you know, we're not interested in the story at this time. I would, I...
JM: You mean people didn't even tell you that?
RH: No.
JM: No one responded.
RH: No.
JM: This is true at NBC?
RH: Yes.
JM: ABC?
RH: ABC, yes.
JM: CBS?
RH: CBS.
JM: CNN?
RH: CNN.
JM: FOX?
RH: FOX.
JM: MSNBC?
RH: Yes. MSNBC.
JM: It was crushing news for Rebecca, who was desperate to get out any information about Tamika. Her family had done everything they could think of, from prayer vigils and a $50,000 reward, to Web sites devoted to news about Tamika. And this was a family with some connection. An uncle works for US Senator Patrick Leahy, and another uncle, Rebecca's husband, is a celebrity: Former NFL star Desmond Howard, a Heisman Trophy winner, and later Super Bowl MVP. But those connections didn't help enough, and this family found the disinterest in Tamika's story frustrating, because to them, Tamika's story was so similar to those of other women, like Chandra Levy and Lori Hacking.
(Rebecca; people at prayer vigil; Huston missing person poster; Web pages; family photo; Capitol Building; video excerpts of Rebecca and Desmond Howard's wedding; Desmond being awarded Heisman trophy; excerpt from football game; photo of Huston; Huston missing person poster; billboard poster of missing person; Peterson missing person poster; Levy missing person poster; Hacking missing person poster)
JM: What made you think that this particular story about Tamika Huston disappearing would be the kind of thing that network news would be interested in?
RH: Well, Lori Hacking went missing about three weeks after my niece did...
(Voiceover) ...and her family was getting round-the-clock coverage on that case.
(Photo of Hacking; excerpt from "Today" show of Hacking family being interviewed)
RH: And I had just spent the preceding three weeks, trying to get the attention of those same reporters, of those same programs, of those same networks to pay attention to what I was saying about Tamika. I was flabbergasted.
JM: But Rebecca wouldn't take no for an answer. Seeing the steady drum beat of the Laci Peterson coverage, she says she called the "Today" show directly and got nowhere. The same was true at "Good Morning America," at "The Early Show" on CBS, at "20/20," and right here.
(Rebecca; excerpt from "Today" show program about Peterson; excerpt from "Today" show; excerpt from "Good Morning America"; excerpt from "The Early Show"; excerpt from "20/20"; excerpt of DATELINE opening sequence)
JM: DATELINE?
RH: DATELINE.
JM: You called us?
RH: I called DA, I never got past. I was directed to please send an e-mail, which I did.
JM: And nobody ever, and nobody ever messaged you back?
RH: No. No.
JM: No one's claiming that every missing person story should get a place on the news. There are almost 50,000 people in the FBI's database of missing persons cases. But consider this: most of those missing adults are men. Almost thirty percent of those abducted or kidnapped are black. So why is it then that we in the news media seem to focus so much on cases that involve victims who are young, attractive, female and white?
RH: Tamika's young, she's attractive, middle class. The only thing that she isn't is white. You know, I don't know what else it could be.
JM: Before you dismiss that criticism, look at the numbers gathered by media analyst Andrew Tyndall who regularly monitors network news. In the year that Tamika's relatives were begging for air time, the morning news broadcast on NBC, ABC, and CBS aired a combined 941 minutes on the Laci Peterson story; 135 minutes on Lori Hacking, killed by her husband in Salt Lake City; and 98 minutes of coverage on Audrey Seiler, a University of Wisconsin student who faked her own abduction.
(Magazine article; network logos; photo of Peterson; photo of Hacking; photo of Audrey Sealer)
Tape (From news broadcast) But first, a developing story.
JM There was even more coverage on cable, and here at Dateline we did almost six hours just on the Laci Peterson story.
For this story we contacted the presidents of all three network news divisions, as well as the heads of the cable news channels. Only one of them agreed to sit down for an interview.
(Excerpt from CNN news program; excerpt from Dateline; photos of news division heads accompanied by their network logo)
JM: Why is there such a huge disparity in stories about white victims as opposed to the other kinds.
Neil Shapiro, Network President: Well, let me say, I don't like hearing that that's true.
JM: Neil Shapiro is president of NBC news.
(Neil Shapiro speaking at meeting)
NS: You know, our mission is to try to cover America, and that means all facets of America.
(Shapiro speaking at meeting)
NS: And when our coverage doesn't reflect that, it distresses me. That said, I think it's important that people in the industry talk about it. I think the fact that I'm talking about it, I think the fact that Dateline NBC is devoting air time to it means we take it seriously. And we have to do better.
JM: Critics describe these stories as `damsels in distress.' Neil Shapiro says the wall to wall coverage often starts not with the networks, but with cable, which has 24 hours to fill each day and can follow a developing story in an effort to hold an audience. But that doesn't explain all those network hours devoted to stories like Laci Peterson.
(Photo of Holloway; military searchers in Aruba; Shapiro and reporter walking in city; photo of Holloway; photo of two teen girls; excerpts from news programs; Peterson missing person poster)
JM: I can only conclude that the reason we do those kinds of stories again and again and again is because they work with the audience, because they get a rating.
NS: I think we do stories that people care about, and there's no doubt that when a story get, has, reaches such talkability that everybody is talking about it, that it's on talk radio, that it's on cable, that if we as a network news division feel like we can weigh in, we can advance the story, we should. I think we shouldn't be above the news.
JM: He says there are no rules, written or unwritten, about who should or should not be covered.
(Photo of Wilbanks; photo of Smart; photo of Hacking)
NS: I think when the Peterson story first started, I remember hearing it on the radio.
(Photo of Peterson)
NS: And I had no idea who the Petersons were or what they looked like. So I think certainly when we start to chase stories, I'm not sure we even know.
JM: But is the fact that the victim in that case turned out to be an attractive white woman, is that why we covered it so many times and devoted so much air time to it?
NS: I hope not, and I don't think so.
JM: To what extent is the race of the people involved a factor in making editorial decisions?
NS: Let me make this clear: Race is not a factor in who we cover or how we cover it.
JM: Not everyone is convinced.
(Deborah Mathis talking to man in office)
Deborah Mathis: If you're covering the nation, cover the entire nation. If you're covering the American people, cover all the people.
JM: Deborah Mathis writes a newspaper column, and also teaches journalism at Northwestern University. For 15 years she saw the TV news business from the inside as an anchor, reporter, producer and newsroom manager.
(Mathis in offices; Mathis report on Web page)
Deborah Mathis: I am not accusing news executives of racism, not per se. I am, I am accusing them of, of ignorance. No, you don't cover every white woman, but you don't cover any black women. Now, just please tell me how this is right? You can't do it.
JM: Months after Tamika vanished, Rebecca Howard finally made some headway. Tamika's story got a 15 second mention on the FOX News Channel, "America's Most Wanted" aired a show about the case, and "Headline News" did the story.
Meanwhile, police have made progress. Through a key found in Tamika's car they discovered what might be a crime scene in a nearby apartment. Blood evidence on a carpet matched Tamika's DNA. And police now have a suspect, but no proof if Tamika is dead or alive.
After we interviewed Rebecca Howard, USA Today picked up the story, and recently news programs have been discussing not the story of Tamika, but why the story of her disappearance received so little attention.
(Rebecca looking through scrapbook at home; excerpt from news program; "America's Most Wanted" logo from show; "Headline News" opening sequence; photo of Huston; keys; interior of apartment; photo of Huston; Rebecca at home; USA Today cover page; excerpt from "The Early Show")
Brian Williams, NBC: (From "NBC Nightly News") Three young boys, including one...
JM: And the broadcast networks and cable news channels did give more coverage than usual to the story of three missing Hispanic boys in Camden, New Jersey. And in the midst of the Natalee Holloway coverage some national attention was given to the story of Latoyia Figueroa, a 24 year old pregnant mother of one who's ben missing from Philadelphia since July 18th.
Despite the best efforts of her family, Tamika Huston is still missing from her home and lives of her relatives. She's missing from those hours of network and cable news coverage as well, but she is finally in the headlines, ironically as a symbol of how missing Americans who look like her are almost never on the nation's electronic front page.
(Excerpts from "NBC Nightly News"; Latoyia Figueroa missing person poster; Figueroa volunteers; man wearing T shirt with Figueroa picture; people gathered for prayer vigil; still image of Huston singing at Howard wedding; photo of Huston and Rebecca at wedding; photo of Huston and children; photos and articles in USA Today; photo of Huston and other missing persons)
END OF SEGMENT
America's Most Wanted: Tamika Huston's Case
Guerrilla Funk: Spotlight Skips Cases of Missing Minorities
USA Today: Spotlight skips cases of missing minorities
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Stepha Henry - Missing Since 5/29/07
Here is info on a College Grad who has been missing since 5/29. Had I not been browsing Concrete Loop and reading about celebs I would have never known about this.
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Missing grad's mom seeks answers
BY YAMICHE ALCINDOR
In quiet, grief-stricken voices, family members of a girl missing since last weekend's Memorial Day celebrations made a public plea for any information regarding her whereabouts.
Stepha Henry, 22, was last seen partying at Peppers Cafe, located on 3828 N. University Dr. in Fort Lauderdale, at 1 a.m. May 29.
Steve and Sylvia Henry flew down this week from their home in New York to help search for their child.
''I'm going to stay in Florida until I find my daughter,'' Sylvia Henry said Wednesday, speaking at Miami-Dade police headquarters.
As Miami-Dade homicide detectives joined the search, police said they would work around the clock to find her.
Henry, a recent graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, flew down from New York for Memorial Day weekend to celebrate her sister's 16th birthday. The Henry sisters had been staying with their aunt and cousin in Miami Gardens for the weekend and planned to fly home May 29.
The night before she disappeared, Henry told her family she was getting a ride to Peppers from a friend. Her sister stayed home.
A videotape taken by a promotional group at Peppers shows Henry at the club.
But she never made it home.
Calls placed to Henry's cell phone went straight to her voice mail. The petite woman was last seen wearing a black dress with a white tank top underneath and brown heels. She was carrying a brown clutch purse. Henry, who has long bronze hair, is 5'2'' and 110 pounds.
''It's been very hard. She is not the kind of girl to run off. If anyone has seen her, I am asking that you please come forward,'' Henry's mother said Wednesday.
Emily Chin's family owns Peppers Cafe.
''No one at Peppers knows anything,'' said Emily Chin, whose family owns Peppers Cafe. ''I just hope that her mother finds her.'' Chin added that Peppers employees didn't know Henry was missing until they saw her story in the news.
A vigil was held at Henry's college campus in New York Wednesday, the school said in a news release.
Miami-Dade Detective Roy Rutland said police are looking for information regarding the driver of a dark-colored four-door Acura Integra, who picked Henry up at her aunt's house.
Anyone with information can call Miami-Dade Det. Brigette Robert at 305-418-7200 or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
Miami Herald staff writer David Ovalle contributed to this report.
Source: Miami Herald
