Black and Missing but Not Forgotten

Chicago police were asking for the public’s help in finding a 14-year-old girl who is a ward of the state and may be with her sister, who is also missing.

Shantease Coleman, 14, was missing from Aunt Martha’s Youth Home, 5001 S. Michigan Ave., police said. She may have been in the company of her sister, Larita Coleman, 15, who also has been reported missing.

In recent months, Shantease Coleman has been in a youth home in Robbins and has had police contact at 7900 S. Cottage Grove Ave., according to the alert. She also was reported missing in May, June and August.

Coleman may be in the company of her sister, police said. She was last seen Nov. 18.

Police described Coleman as black, 5-foot-1, 105 pounds, black hair, brown eyes and with a medium complexion.

Anyone with information about her or her sister’s whereabouts should contact the Wentworth Area Special Victims Unit at 312-747-8385.

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Chicago police this morning issued an alert for a 15-year-old girl missing from Aunt Martha’s Youth Home at 5001 S. Michigan Ave. since Sept. 13.

Lashay Scates is described as 5-foot-5, 132 pounds with brown eyes, black hair and a medium complexion.

She was last seen wearing a blue jean jacket and skirt. No other details were provided.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call police at 312-747-8385.

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Police are asking for help finding a 15-year-old South Side girl who has not been seen by her family since she left for her charter high school on Friday.

Brianna “Bri-Bri” Lacey, who lives near 80th Street and South Eberhart Avenue, left for school Friday morning and has not been seen by her family since, according to a police alert issued today. She had been headed to Chicago International Charter School’s Longwood Academy Campus, 1309 W. 95th St., police said.

Lacey spends time at locations near her home and also near 105th Street and Yates Avenue, according to police. She also goes by the name Brianna Wright.

Lacey was last seen wearing school clothes: gray pants, a navy blue polo shirt, a navy blue sweater, a brown coat, and black gym shoes.

She is black, stands about 5 feet, 4 inches tall, weighs about 110 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes, with a light complexion. She also has pierced ears.

Anyone with information regarding Lacey’s whereabouts should call the Calumet Detective Area’s Special Victims Unit at 312-747-8274.

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Chicago police today issued an alert for a 15-year-old girl missing from Freeport, Ill., who was last seen in Chicago Wednesday.

Mary Hall, who uses the nickname China, is described as 5-foot-1, 125 pounds with black eyes, brown hair and a light black complexion.

She originally was reported missing from Freeport but was visiting family members near the 500 block of West 72nd Street in the Englewood neighborhood when she told her case worker, “I’m sorry,” and ran off, police said in the alert.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Freeport Police Department at (815) 235-8226.

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The NYPD has activated the New York State AMBER Alert because of a confirmed child abduction that happened in the Bronx Tuesday afternoon, officials said.

Giavonna Vizard, 20 months old, was at home at 630 St. Lawrence Avenue with her mother and her visiting aunt, a teenager, Tuesday, police said.

During the visit, Giavonna’s mother left the room. When she came back, both were gone, along with the baby’s jacket.

Police believe Giavonna’s aunt, Lisa Keitt, 13, took her. Keitt is a chronic runaway, cops said.

Giavonna is described as black, with brown hair and brown eyes. She is two feet tall and weighs 30 pounds.

She was last seen wearing light blue jeans, a long sleeve pink striped shirt, black Air Jordan sneakers, and a black bubble coat with Rocawear lettering in pink on the back.

Keitt is described as black, with short, brown hair and brown eyes. She is about 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs about 115 pounds.

She was last seen wearing black stretch pants, a black zip-up sweatshirt, white and purple sneakers, and a long black bubble coat.

Anyone with information should call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hot line at 800-577-TIPS.

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The family of missing a 29-year-old Savannah woman and her 3-year-old daughter have set up a $2,000 reward for their safe return.

Ronkeya Holmes and her daughter Masarah Ross have been missing for two months.

In addition to posting a reward for their return, the family also set up an account at SunTrust Bank to help with any expenses they may come across related to the search.

Ronkeya’s mother Edith Fletcher, said the family is not giving up and will continue their search.

They will be selling T-shirts with the missing pairs pictures on them and hosting bake sales to raise funds for the reward.

Fletcher said she is staying in contact with Winter Haven, Florida investigators, but so far nothing significant has turned up.

In November, Fletcher and her family visited the cities of Winter Haven and Haines City in Florida to pass out fliers that contained information about her daughter and granddaughter.

“We not able to sleep. All of us had our own personal relationship with my sister you know. It’s just, it’s hard, real hard having to be there for each other,” said Ronkeya’s sister Angel Fletcher.

It was October 18, 2009 when Ronkeya drove to Florida to pick up her daughter from the child’s father, Lester Ross.

The 3-year-old was staying at her father’s home in Winter Haven while Holmes took classes at Savannah Technical College.

Ross says he handed the girl over at a Haines City Walmart, but police haven’t found any evidence to back up that claim.

We spoke with Fletcher shortly before she headed to Florida in search of her daughter.

“It’s just hard knowing that you have spent two weeks without her not knowing anything. Where she is, or how she is doing,” said Fletcher.

With each day that passes, Fletcher worries that her daughter may no longer be alive.

“I’m ready for that call, but I don’t want to get that call,” said Fletcher.

Investigators found Ronkeya’s car shortly after her disappearance with her luggage in the front seat, her college badge hanging from the rear view mirror and several children’s items in the back seat.

“I think they planted it in there to cover it up,” said Fletcher.

Ronkeya’s mother believes her granddaughter’s father may have something to do with their disappearance.

Either way, the family says they won’t stop searching until they know what really happened to Ronkeya Holmes and her child.

The FBI is also looking into this case.

Investigators haven’t been able to find Lester Ross since he was questioned about the disappearance of Holmes and their daughter.

If you’d like to donate to the search fund, visit any SunTrust Bank and ask to give to the Holmes/Fletcher Benevolent Fund.

And if you know anything about the missing mother and daughter, call Polk County Crime Stoppers at 800.226.TIPS or your local authorities.

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Let’s raise money for this family. $2,000 is barely enough to cover a billboard for them, let alone all expenses this family may encounter in their search. If you can’t donate, at least help to spread the word about them. Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, bullentin board – go viral and go crazy. National media is not reporting on them, so it’s up to us to keep their story going and keep their pictures at the front.

The search for a missing Rosedale mother who vanished after dropping her only daughter off at school ended violently after the father of her child strangled her to death and abandoned her body in a Long Island street, police said.

Marvon Jemmott, 35, of 231 St. in Rosedale, was awaiting arraignment in First District Court in Hempstead, L.I., Wednesday afternoon on a second-degree murder charge in the death of his ex-girlfriend Jamaica Smith, Nassau County police said. Smith, 36, was reported missing from her home the day before Thanksgiving and her body was found Monday morning outside an abandoned home on Krull Street in Uniondale, L.I., according to police.

Smith’s older sister, Vernita Vereen, said she and her kin had prayed that the single mother would be found alive and held onto their hope alive even when reports surfaced that she was killed in Long Island.

“We’re going to identify a body right and see if it’s her. We hope it isn’t,” Vereen said Tuesday just hours before she went to confirm the death with the authorities.

A Nassau meter agent spotted the body on the curb of the street around 8:45 a.m. Monday, according to police. The body was in front of an unoccupied home, police said.

The Nassau County Medical Examiner’s office said Smith was strangled to death. Her family knew that her disappearance the day before Thanksgiving was suspicious, according to Vereen.

Smith, who recently moved back to Rosedale from Tennessee and was living with her niece, never left for long without informing her close friends or relatives since she has been raising her young daughter by herself, according to Vereen.

“She wouldn’t leave without her daughter, she wouldn’t leave her family,” Vereen said.

The sibling said Smith was last seen dropping off her daughter at PS 156 in Laurelton. Smith was a private beautician who worked at her clients’ homes, according to Vereen.

Police did not name a motive for the killing.

In a statement released late Tuesday, City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) offered his condolences to the family, who came to his office for help when Smith was missing.

“Like many community members who joined their efforts to find Jamaica, I am terribly disappointed with this outcome,” he said.

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A missing 24-year-old man was last seen at the Southpoint mall bus stop and intended to take the next bus home Friday night, Chapel Hill police said.

A Silver Alert was issued for James Treymane “Trey” Culton, of Chapel Hill, early Saturday. Police believe Culton suffers from a cognitive impairment.

Culton is black man, 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighing 190 pounds. He has short, black hair and brown eyes.

He was last seen wearing a blue and orange New York Knicks jersey, jean shorts, black and white tennis shoes, and a black coat with a fur-lined collar.

Culton was last seen at the bus stop at 10:12 p.m. Authorities believe he might have boarded ITA Transit bus to head to 417 Clayton Road.

Anyone with information about Culton’s whereabouts should call the Chapel Hill police at 919-968-2760.

Developed in 2007, Silver Alert is a system to quickly notify the public about missing endangered adults who suffer from dementia or other cognitive impairments, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

It also allows caregivers and nursing homes to report a person missing. In the past, only a family member could report an adult missing.

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A 12-year-old West Side boy has been missing since Friday morning, police said.

Kimani Alexander was last seen Friday when he left between 7 and 7:30 a.m. for Lowell Elementary School, near Spaulding Avenue and Hirsch Street in Humboldt Park, police said in a press release this morning.

Alexander is described as being 4-foot-8-inches tall and weighing 80 pounds; he is African-American with a medium complexion, brown eyes and black hair. He has a scar on the right side of his stomach and was wearing navy blue pants, a blue collared shirt, and a gray jacket with a hood, according to the release.

Anyone with information should call 911 or Chicago Police at 312-746-8365.

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Chicago police are seeking the public’s help in finding a 15-year-old North Side girl missing since Thanksgiving Day, when she had a disagreement with her parents.

Kayla Downer was last seen when she left her home in the 1600 block of West Pratt Avenue wearing a black t-shirt with karate fighters on the front and white jogging pants, according to police. She has not attended classes at Rickover Naval Academy School since Thanksgiving.

Downer is described as an African American about 5 feet 5 inches tall and about 150 pounds, with medium complexion, black hair and brown eyes.

Police asked anyone with information about her whereabouts to call 911 or the Belmont Area Special Victims Unit at 312-744-8266.

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