Isiah 1:17- Learn to do well. Seek justice, Relieve the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, Plead for the widow.
Timothy Cunningham reported to work on Monday, February 12, but told his supervisors he needed to leave early because he was feeling sick. Loved one said he left his cell phone, his wallet, and his SUV at home. Atlanta Police are holding on to his cell phone as part of their missing person’s investigation.Yeah something odd happened here, though hopefully he's out there safe. Below is what Morehouse College posted to instagram.
Loved ones hope someone will recognize Cunningham, perhaps even as a John Doe in a hospital.
"We just hope he will just come home safely. None of this makes sense. He wouldn't just evaporate like this and leave his dog alone and have our mother wondering and worrying like this. He wouldn't," said the missing man's brother.
Anyone with information on Cunningham's whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the Atlanta Police Department at 404-546-4235.
A year ago today, Rose Starnes was frantically wondering what happened to her 15-year-old daughter, Yasmin Acree, who disappeared from their Austin home the week earlier.The story has been getting some national attention however:
Last Thursday was the one-year anniversary of Yasmin's disappearance. The family believes she was kidnapped from their home, but Chicago Police can't say for sure. Yasmin turned 16 Oct. 25. Starnes believes Yasmin is still alive, perhaps being held against her will. Family and friends by habit talk about her in the present tense. The family would have thrown a party for Yasmin on her birthday, Starnes said, either at the Congress Parkway home or out at a restaurant. Yasmin loves to eat, her mother said.
Last Thursday, the family had a press conference at the 25th District Police Station at 5555 W. Grand to mark the year she's been gone. They were joined by law enforcement officials, clergy and community leaders. Yasmin's cousin, the Rev. Ira Acree of Greater St. John Bible Church, led the proceedings. They announced a $3,000 reward offered for any information leading to her whereabouts. Yasmin, the group pointed out, is among the nearly 1 million children who go missing each year.
"It's hard but we get along," said Starnes on a Sunday morning in the family's living room. "This one year has been hard because we're nowhere close then where we were in the beginning. We don't know any more then when she came up missing."
In October, her story appeared on the Maury Povich Show that featured missing children and on America's Most Wanted in December. Producers from the Povich show filmed at the family's home. Yasmin's room, which is in the basement, hasn't changed that much, except for a new bed spread. About a dozen stuffed animals are on the bed. Yasmin's gym shoes are resting on a stool. Her salutatorian plague and trophy for winning an essay contest while at May Elementary School where she was an academic scholar sits on the window sill. Yasmin talked about becoming a fashion designer or a model, and sometimes talked about college.Some more details:
It was Tuesday evening, Jan 15, 2008 when Yasmin was last seen. She went to school that day at Austin Polytech Academy on the Austin High School campus, 231 N. Pine, then to the Austin YMCA, 501 N. Central, after school where she was part of a mentoring program. Her teachers at May school, where Yasmin graduated in 2007, recruited her for the program. Yasmin spent time with her mentor that Tuesday before heading home that evening. Family members saw her. They said she washed clothes in the basement before going to bed. She was gone the next day and hasn't been seen since.One question that came up here and will come up in cases of other missing black people is whether or not this case is being covered by the media. Indeed the families of missing loved ones might ask if their loved one is being ignored in favor of more privileged or caucasian missing people.
I'm watching this story on Channel 2. If and when I see a vid or a write up for this story I'll post it here. In the meanwhile, the Tribune can take it away. I had to Google for it!About a dozen friends and family members of a missing 15-year-old Chicago girl gathered Wednesday outside a West Side police station to urge authorities to step up their investigation into what happened to her.Let's hope they find her! I hope nothing bad has happened to her.
It has been nearly six months since Yasmin Acree, a freshman at Austin Polytechnical Academy, went missing.
Acree's mother, Rose Starnes, was joined by about 10 ministers from across the city to raise concerns about the investigation. They said it took two days for police to gather a lock that may have been cut from a wrought-iron gate outside the teen's home and questioned why the investigation focused on her as a runaway rather than as a crime victim.
"The lock should have been in the possession of an investigating officer," said Rev. Ira Acree, a relative and pastor of Greater St. John Bible Church in Austin. "I'm very suspicious at this point."
Police Cmdr. Joseph Salemme called accusations they were not doing their best "a little insulting." Investigators have worked more than 2,000 hours on the case and sent numerous items to Illinois State Police for lab analysis, he said.
The FBI Saturday night is investigating a California couple who claim that a mysterious picture on the Internet is actually their daughter, not missing Chicago girl Tionda Bradley.I still hope these young girls are found and that there will be answers as to what happened to them that summer day in 2001.
And if they are right, a local private detective says, the case highlights the dangers of the Internet.
"It stops the money, resources and manpower from going after a false lead," said private detective James Miller.
Earlier this week, a Houston forensic artist sparked controversy saying, she was certain a mysterious Internet picture is Tionda Bradley, a South Side girl that disappeared from her home in 2001 with her younger sister.
In a phone interview from Chula Vista, Calif., Jeff Smith told CBS 2 the girl in the Internet picture is the same one in this picture – his daughter.
And he was sorry if the picture raised the hopes of the Bradley family.
"I hate to have a family suffer like this, it is very disheartening," Smith said. "It's a very cruel thing to do someone missing a child."
"It gave the family false hope, but it did bring national awareness to the case," Miller said.
A mysterious photo of a girl that surfaced on the Internet last year is missing Chicago girl Tionda Bradley, who vanished with her sister Diamond in 2001, an expert says.Let's hope they're still out there somewhere and also for any possible answers that could be found in this case. There just has to be a reason why these two young black girls went missing back in 2001. What happened?
According to a high-profile forensic artist who analyzed photos of a young Tionda -- 10 when she disappeared; her sister was 3 -- next to photos of a girl whose picture was part of a profile for a social networking Web site, the photos match.
"I took a hard look at them [the photos] for the first time [this week], and I do not say this lightly, but it's her," said Lois Gibson, a forensic artist with the Houston Police Department.
Gibson has been called on to assist authorities around the country, including DuPage County, where she drew a picture of a little boy found dead in 2005. He remains unidentified.
Gibson says the photos of a young Tionda compared with the photos of the older girl, with long hair, a dark top and shy smile, show they have the same nose, the same nostrils, even the same lips.
Family said Thursday they have been assured the newer photos haven't been doctored or otherwise enhanced.
Chicago Police have "no substantive leads, but detectives are aware of this enhanced image," said police News Affairs Director Monique Bond.
The photograph surfaced last year, as part of a MySpace page by someone named "Angelique."
The photo trail ended with a teenager who found the picture on the Internet and posted it on MySpace. That teenager reportedly does not remember where she or he found the picture.
In August 2007, six years after the girls first went missing, their aunt told CBS 2 it could well be a picture of Tionda.
"That's my niece. I'm telling you that's my niece. And if it's not my niece, only DNA can prove me different," said Shelia Bradley-Smith.
The family of a missing man is helping in the search for two little girls who vanished six years ago.
Tionda and Diamond Bradley now have their first billboard, located on the Dan Ryan Expressway near 84th Street.
The Bradley sisters were last seen leaving their South Side apartment building in July 2001.
The sister of missing West Chicago man John Spira worked with Lamar Advertising to get the new billboard for Tionda and Diamond.
John Spira, also known as "Chicago Johnny," was last seen in February at his business.
Chicagoist gets a hat-tip for providing a link to this story. I did a Google search to find more stories about her and I found a link to this blog, Bonnie's Blog of Crime, that links to other stories involving this girl's case. I would suggest you go there for a compilation of stories.