Missing POC- Where did they go?

A Blog for ENG 332.

[hbogirl1998]

CASE OF: AKIA EGGLESTON: PREGNANT AND MISSING, ENDANGERED, FOUL PLAY? FINAL THOUGHTS.

Hi, guys I’m back, and unfortunately, this is my last blog. Today, I want to cover the case of Akia Eggleston. Akia, who was 22 at the time of her disappearance, and 8 months pregnant, and has still yet to be found. At the time of her disappearance, Eggleston lived in Cherry Hill, Baltimore and was already a mother to a 2-year-old little girl. The last time Akia was seen was on May 3rd, 2017, and reported missing when she did not show up to her baby shower on May 7th. Friends and family knew Akia had been planning this shower for months, she wouldn’t miss it for the world. One thing I would like to note was that Akia was put on bed rest for her pregnancy, all those close to her knew she couldn’t move around well or participate in anything too physically asserting. Initially when she was reported missing, police searched her apartment and it seemed as if she had moved out, but those around her knew this wasn’t possible given her current health condition. Akia’s friends and family not only knew this was physically impossible, but knew she wouldn’t just leave her 2-year-old daughter abandoned. The father of Akia’s unborn child never showed up to the baby shower, placing him under suspicion of the family, yet he was never labeled as a person of interested or investigated to this day. The exact date of Akia’s disappearance is unknown, but it is believed to be May 3rd, 2017. The suspicious circumstances can’t help but have me wonder if Akia was yet another young black individual labeled as a “runaway”, or “leaving on her own” by police and her community, but we may never know, despite us knowing her physical condition. I hope and pray this wasn’t a label this missing young woman was given. What I do know is that in the first few months of Akia missing, there was only 3 articles about her disappearance, and nonewere national news articles, making it difficult to expand the search for the young mother.

Within a year of Akia’s disappearance, she had only been mentioned in national new articles twice, and one of those articles being grouped together with others. It is sad to know that if this was a young, missing, pregnant white woman, it would be worldwide news. There is little to no information out there about her disappearance, which is also true to her family. In fact, on July 31st, 2019, Akia’s family was invited onto “The View” to talk about Akia’s case. This appearance has Akia’s step father on the record stating, “Yes, we have spoken, and yes, we have met. But when the time that you speak with the individual in such a matter as this is... maybe once, every three, four, five months, you call them to speak to them and you have no response, and you have to go to the level of contacting your congressman, who contacts the mayor, who contacts the assistant, who contacts the chief of police, who then contacts the head of the FBI from the Baltimore division- it’s a crazy process” (Shawn Wilkinson, The View). This is the sad reality of black families and their missing loved ones, hard to read about this knowing Akia’s stepfather has to go to these lengths to simply get a reply or information about his still missing daughter, and grandchild. It is stated while on the show by cohost Sunny Hostin that their (police department’s) “level of communication is not to the expectations of the family” (The View). Akia’s stepfather goes on the record saying, “her story never got outside Baltimore” in 2019, previous to his interview on “The View”. This is the reality that I have seen across a few of my cases, that in this nature the police departments give the bare minimum communication, not the effective communication that these families and friends deserve. And, the obvious commonality across all of my cases, there has been very little news coverage, and we know if the roles were reversed in terms of race, the picture would be very different. We can however, see hope at the end, because coverage on Akia’s case gained more media traction after her stepfather’s appearance on “The View”. I hope to be able to have this post shared so that Akia and her child may have a voice, the potential to be found. This coming May will be 3 years since Akia Eggleston’s disappearance, and I hope that there is active effort being taken. I will attach images and demographics for Eggleston below.

Throughout the course of this semester I’ve had the opportunity to write about missing persons of all ages, specifically African American women and children. I’ve covered cases that depict unequal media coverage, police mishandling, unsolved mysteries, and exactly how African American individuals are mislabeled and openly disrespected whether that be by their community, or local and state law enforcement. It has been extremely eye opening, while also extremely saddening to tell these stories of individuals who seemed to never have a chance of being found. While I was happy to try to bring unheard voices into the light, it has been emotionally difficult to research and write about these cases when I know why it is the way that it is in our country.

I want to talk about how over the course of the semester, it has not only been emotionally difficult to research, but logically as well. It has been extremely difficult to find news stories, coverage and content on these cases, and not only these cases, but missing African American cases in general. It is not me thinking that there aren’t many more African Americans missing in this country, it’s the fact that I know there are so many more missing individuals and I couldn’t find news or coverage to be able to write the blogs. I mean, some of these cases have 5 or less stories on them. It has been challenging to find the content to be able to bring voices to these people simply because the information and news is notout there for people to see, it’s not out there for people to be aware. Which brings me to my reason for writing the blogs, to be able to bring voices to those unheard.

I knew going into this blog that minorities were not equally represented and covered within the media, and I obviously knew police bias towards certain groups of people. But, I had no idea the extent of the little media coverage that there was, I mean many of these cases I really had to dig for information. I really, really had to dig to find the proper information to represent these individuals respectfully and accurately. I also learned police bias doesn’t manifest in only violence towards these groups of people, it manifests in the lack of care and empathy for these missing persons, and the blatant labeling of African Americans as “runaways” and “leaving on their own”, in contrast to their white counterparts. I have noticed the lack of communication between police and the grieving families, something that we all know simply does not happen with non-minority families. It’s difficult to watch these cases come and go with no answers, continuously under the same circumstances. I hope I have been part of the solution to be able to bring voices and coverage in the best way I know how, and call out the inequality themes I have seen. Thank you for following my blogs for the semester, and I hope this becomes one little step in a long process of work that needs to be done.

Here are Akia Eggleston’s demographics and pictures: 

Source: ABC NEWS

[hbogirl1998]

CASE OF: Rasheed Ali Jr., November Robinson, Daniya Champagne, Da’Nesha Champagne and Danasia Champagne: FIVE CHILDREN MISSING FOR OVER 2 MONTHS, ONLY ONE ARTICLE.

Hi guys, I am back this week with a new case, yet another case that has absolutely broken my heart, yet another case that makes no sense. Today, I want to talk to you about the case of Rasheed Ali Jr., November Robinson, Daniya Champagne, Da’Nesha Champagne and Danasia Champagne, all 5 children are minors who have been missing since August 21st, 2020. All five children are siblings, and guys, listen. There is literally, and I mean literally no coverage on this case. I know in all my posts I say this, but I am not kidding when I say I have only found one singular new article on these missing children.These five children were last seen in North Charlestown, South Carolina on August 21st, and have been missing since. When I type in five missing children to google and select “news”, the article does not even come up! Nothing on this case comes up at all. The one article that there is (which does not come up when you search 5 missing siblings, children, etc.), only states when they were last seen and where. Five black children missing for over 2 months, most likely missing together and there is no awareness and no coverage, only their pictures and names, absolutely no details on their case at all. I was unable to find information on whether an Amber Alert was issued in their area. 

The saddest part is that this has not, and will not be on national news despite the magnitude and severity of the situation. My heart hurts for all those grieving for their missing children, their friends and their family. They say the most crucial timeframe for missing children is the first 48 hours- this singular news article was not posted until September 21st. One month after their disappearance. Not only this, but the article has typos in the children’s names. How is this happening? One reply to the publishing of the news article was “5 Siblings missing… 1st time hearing about this..WHY?” to which one individual responded, “Likely because of their skin color. If they were white, it’d be all over national news.” It is sad to realize this is the reality of this situation, it is frankly unbelievable, but it is unmistakably true. We have to do better. I am attaching the little information we have about these children’s disappearances.

[hbogirl1998]

Case of: Sage Smith- Cover-up? Murdered? Lost in the madness.

Hi guys, I am back this week with a new case, the case of Sage Smith, a 19-year-old black trans woman who went missing on November 20th, 2012. Smith was living in Charlottesville, Virginia at the time. I want to point out that trans identified individuals live in a world today and even then, where they have to live fearfully because of their identity, not everyone is accepting, and when you add that marginalization to a person of color it becomes so much more endangering. There is something to be said about the media in this case, also in 2012, another woman by the name of Heather Hodges disappeared in Virginia, she was a cisgender white female. Hodges case was covered by not only local but mainstream news media platforms nationally and internationally. Sage Smith’s case? Only covered by local media outlets. Why haven’t we heard of her case? According to ForHarriet.com “She’s black and she’s trans”. According to the same source, “reporters consistently use the wrong pronouns to identify her”. So, not only was the media not widespread, like Hodges, there was virtually no respect factor for her identity either. 

According to Harvardcrcl.com, “Violence against Black trans women has been accurately described as ‘a pandemic within a pandemic’” in 2019. The change has not happened. In Sage Smith’s case, not only do we see again the media disregarding her case in comparison to a white woman’s during the same time, Smith’s roommate Aubrey said the department had not taken Sage’s case seriously in the beginning as they let on, they initially only asked for Sage’s name, birthday, and picture. Aubrey also claimed it took investigators more than two weeksto interview her after Smith’s disappearance, and Sage’s family has gone on to say the investigators have not been open and honest, nor kept in contact with them about their daughter’s case. 

Petitions have gone up to encourage the department to continue to heavily investigate Sage’s case because she has been categorized as “Endangered Missing” because of a previous relationship. This is what the petition description said according to Storiesoftheunsolved.com, “It asks that investigators begin to better communicate with Cookie, and requests they expand the investigation beyond its focus on McFadden. It also asks that the department publicly apologize for its mishandling of the case, especially surrounding the amount of time it took for it to be designated as a criminal investigation. Finally, it requested that the media respect the pronouns Sage went by, and urged for regular meetings with the family.” Mcfadden is the previous relationship of Sage, and has not been expanded upon despite only having minimal circumstantial evidence. Black Trans women are targeted by everyday people, people you would never suspect, hate crimes are a commonality, especially considering the contextual setting (Charlottesville, Virginia). I mourn for Sage’s family and their lost loved one to more likely than not, a hate crime against their daughter. I want them to know there are people out there learning and trying to spread the word about their daughter’s case and encouraging a fight for justice. I will attach below Sage Smith’s demographics and images.

Images Courtesy of: The Charley Project

[hbogirl1998]

Case of: Unique Harris- Into the night.

Hi guys, I am back this week with another case to cover. This week I want to bring a voice to the case of Unique Harris, a 24-year-old single mother who went missing on the night of October 9th/10th (ultimately unknown) 2010, from her Washington D.C. apartment. Harris, according to the reports had stayed up the previous night to watch movies with her children and young cousin. When the children awoke in the morning, she was gone. Family members of Harris found it strange but were not immediately alarmed until her glasses were found neatly folded on her pillow in her bedroom. This caused alarm because Harris reportedly was essentially blind without her glasses, and never went anywhere on her own without them. 

Unique Harris’s mother, Valencia is quoted “I think a lot of people get the misunderstanding that we immediately get help from the police department. That’s not the case”. In fact, not only was it difficult to get essential help from the police but Harris’s family had to fight for media coverage, and still are. Again, as I scan the internet there isn’t media coverage from the time period of her disappearance. There is more news NOW than there ever was in 2010. The popular crime podcast, Crime Junkie, covered Unique’s case 8 months ago, and recently (2019) an ABC News article titled “Families of missing black Americans fight for media, police to focus on their loved one’s cases” was released including Unique’s case. Why now? Because it wasn’t covered before, TEN years after this young black woman’s disappearance. It is so disheartening that I can find these years and years old cases and narratives of women who did not get any justice for reasons unknown. Unique Harris’s family is still fighting for justice and hasn’t given up, they are sure she did not leave on her own for obvious reasons, but somehow those covering the case can’t see that. There is no explicit information on if Unique was labeled as a runaway mom, or that she left on her own, but by the lack of coverage and unsolved nature of it we can assume the worst. These women’s livesmatter and they should be treated as such. I will attach photos and demographics of Unique Harris below.

[hbogirl1998]

Case of: Alexis Patterson- Media Mystery

Hi guys! I am back this week and this week I want to talk more about missing people of color. This week I want to focus on a specific case and in this case the media coverage in contrast to a similar case. The only difference is race, and socioeconomic status. I want to talk about the missing person’s case of Elizabeth Smart and Alexis Patterson. Elizabeth Smart was a young, white, wealthy girl living in a nice neighborhood in Salt Lake City Utah when she was abducted on June 5, 2002. Alexis Patterson was a young, black girl living in a less-wealthy neighborhood in Milwaukee Wisconsin. I should note Elizabeth Smart was rescued in March 2003. In the 9 months after Elizabeth Smart went missing there was extensive news coverage on her missing case, it even reached international channels. She ended up being rescued because witnesses identified two persons of interest in her case.

 The same cannot be said for Alexis Patterson. She was last seen on May 3rd, 2002 at her elementary school, and she has still not been found. The cases were in such close proximity and under such similar circumstances I can’t fathom why I had never heard of Alexis Patterson’s case.  “A 2010 study about the media coverage of missing children in the United States discovered that only 20 percent of reported stories focused on missing Black children despite it corresponding to 33 percent of the overall missing children cases” (https://www.ebony.com/news/missing-black-girls/). The reason for media coverage is so blatantly obvious, and it is contingent upon your place in society. I am not simply stating that Elizabeth Smart’s case didn’t deserve media attention, both cases deserved equal amount of the coverage. Unfortunately for Alexis and her family and friends, this just wasn’t the case. In an interview with Alexis’s Mother, Ayanna Patterson, she shared “sometimes the public were cruel toward her and her family” (https://storiesoftheunsolved.com/2020/01/11/the-disappearance-of-alexis-patterson/). I can’t even understand why local communities would target a grieving family. I think in part the society placed blame on the family. And no, it does not make sense. 

Even in searching on news and coverage for the cases, there is a drastic difference. I can barely find any news stories on Alexis’s disappearance in the time period of which she went missing, but I heard the case of Elizabeth Smart from my parents. It is so clear the inequality of the media, and I wonder if Alexis’s case had received half the amount of coverage of Elizabeth’s that maybe she would have been found. It was as if Elizabeth’s case was of more importance than Alexis’s and other missing girls of color during the time period. The media simply did not cover Alexis’s case to the degree to which was owed to her, and she went missing before Elizabeth Smart. Alexis Patterson is still missing, she would have been 25 this time today. I am attaching age progression pictures of Alexis Patterson below.

[hbogirl1998]

Case of: Shemika Cosey- Kidnapped?

Hi guys! Welcome back, this is going to be my second blog post. Each week I’m going to cover and bring to light a new case I find questionable. I want to bring some kind of voice to these cases in the best way I can, even if it is only you guys reading it. Every little bit counts. The missing persons cases of minorities is at a staggering high, the difference is they go underreported, unsolved, and under-investigated. This week, I want to cover the case of a young woman named Shemika Cosey. Shemika Cosey went missing on December 28th, 2008. According to family and friends, it had been a normal day, there were no signs to indicate anything off with Cosey. Even then, when the police were called to investigate, because of the house door being unlocked, the police chose not to launch an investigation for the missing girl. She was 16 years old. Cosey’s family has reiterated time and time again that there is no possibility she just left on her own, no friends that would have been able to support her financially in this manner, and all of her belongings were left inside the house, if she left, it was made clear she was planning to return. Nonetheless, the police labeled Cosey as a runaway, simply because the front door was unlocked. It’s now been almost 12 years and there is still no sign of Shemika. 

The law enforcement in charge of the case simply asserts “it seemed” like she left on her own. When they do this, they also communicate indirectly to the media, and public the case is not worth covering. Which is exactly what happened, there was practically no media coverage. Shemika’s mother, Paula Hill is still fighting for justice for her daughter. The sad reality of it is, in the past few years there has been more media coverage on Shemika’s case than there was when she initially disappeared.  When I search her name, the same article pieces come up from 2019. Again, I can’t find much on any social media platforms, the most recent coverage was on ABC News. The case has since gone cold, and investigators have no leads or persons of interests. Below, I am going to attach what we know of Shemika Cosey’s disappearance and some age progression images, and her mother Paula Hill with a missing persons sign. 

Courtesy: Namus

[hbogirl1998]

Case of: Donna Michelle Calloway- Without a trace.

Hi guys! I want to introduce myself a little bit, I am a senior Communications studies major with a focus in PR, and a minor in WGSS. Over the course of this semester, I have chosen to focus my blog on missing people of color and how the media, police, and community handle these cases differently than those of white individuals. Far too many times I have seen and heard the troubling news of a black child or black woman missing,years after the fact. Why is that? I believe the intersectionality of their given identities are the reason for this, their race, socioeconomic status, and gender. The marginalized groups are underreported, and informally labeled as unimportant in some cases, which leads to them going cold. Every post, I want to call attention to or focus on one specific case, give you the details, and my opinion on what I think of it. I recognize I am writing from a white perspective and want to make sure my readers know I identify as white too, this is something I have definitely taken into account.

I want to briefly cover a case that just recently passed the one year anniversary of her disappearance. When I say briefly, I mean there just isn’t a lot of information on this case, it was barely covered and there is little to no information on the news or the web about it. This case is of 39-year-old Donna Michelle Calloway. Donna Michelle Calloway went missing on August 28th,2019 in Montgomery, Alabama and disappeared without a trace. What troubles me the most about this case is that even after research on differing social platforms, I can barely find any coverage or reports on her case. There isn’t even a description of her clothing. The only conclusion I come to after reading so little on this case is that it was under-investigated and under reported. There are not even any details about the police investigation. This is exactly why I want to call attention and cover these cases because clearly, no one else has. No one can, because there isn’t any information to cover, and that is because of the media and police’s lack of effort. The case has since gone cold, and Donna is still missing. I have to assume some may have thought she left on her own accord as she was last seen leaving her residence. We have to call out the disproportionate coverage and investigation. I will attach below Donna Calloway’s demographics as well as a picture.