Missing and Murdered Children

Updates on Gage & Hannah: January 22, 2008
Updates on Chioma Gray: January 22, 2008

First I want to say that I am not first blogger to mention the disparity of news coverage of missing children cases. I wonder why some missing children receive so much coverage by the media when other children receive little or no news coverage. One population who usually receives little to no news coverage are the endangered runaways. It does not seem to matter whether they are 12 or 17 years of age; as long as they are considered runaways the media really as a general rule does not cover such stories even when those runaways are believed to be with adults.

Having said all of that, I am really surprised to see how a story about two runaways from Michigan is being covered by the media - more so - the spin they are putting on the story. The runaways are 15-year-old Gage Petherbridge and 13-year-old Hannah McConnell from Vienna Township, MI.

The Associated Press led with the follow headline to the story posted on The Detroit Free Press website on January 17, 2008:

“Mich. lovebirds, 15 and 13, are on the run in family minivan”¹

The Detroit News ran their first story about the two runaway teens on January 17th with the following headline:

Search under way for teen sweethearts who ran away from Vienna Township²

Friday January 18th the Detroit News ran two stories about the missing teens with the following headlines:

Lovestruck teens run off, leave parents heartbroken
Cops search for boy, 15, girl, 13, who left with van, dog, $680, Xbox.³

Still no word from lovelorn runaway teens⁴

The following headline of a story written by Detroit News reporter Doug Guthrie addresses in the headline the real seriousness of the story:

Families fear worst for teens on the run⁵

And finally, a glimmer of hope from the headline of a story written by Detroit News reporter Santiago Esparza:

Families say young lovers made call from Nevada⁶

Why I am annoyed:

The facts of the story are these:

Gage is 15-years-old and does not have a drivers license.

He stole the family car, he did not borrow the family care. He took the car without permission.

He transported a minor across state lines. Yes, I know he is a minor himself but he is almost 16-years-old.

Hannah is 13-years-old.

She stole $100 from her mother’s purse before leaving the house.

She tried to commit suicide in November and has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She did not bring her medications with her when she left home.

A few weeks prior to the disappearance Gage’s mother told him he could no longer see Hannah.

Three weeks earlier, Wismer cut off communications between the two because they were constantly e-mailing and calling each other, chatting through dinner and family time. They had been seeing each other for nearly a year.⁷

Gage left a note for his parents apologizing for leaving but saying he would do anything to be with Hannah. I am wondering if at this point he will be willing to go to jail for grand theft auto or even a charge of taking the car without permission. Most likely his parents will not press charges against him.

I am less than sympathetic to these kids and I feel if these kids came from another neighborhood there would be no news coverage given or if the story was covered the spin would be just as I am saying - calling the story what it is - two kids that do not want to follow the rules their parents set down for them.

I guess this story made me angry when I heard the lead-in for the story on the afternoon news on a CBS Los Angles, CA affiliate. The lead-in called the kids “real life Romeo and Juliet.”

The reason for that lead-in to the story is because Hannah wrote in her journal that she is still planning to take her own life.

“This has been portrayed as puppy love. It’s not,” said Hannah McConnell’s 27-year-old sister, Veronica McConnell, on Friday night.

“It’s more like Romeo and Juliet. These are kids who need help because the only way they may see out is to end it all.”⁸

I am sympathetic to teens who are suicidal. There were at least 5 teens reported missing last year who ended up being located deceased and the cause of death was ruled as suicide.

Police are conducting a national search for the Hannah and Gage. Wismer’s minivan, is a white 1997 Pontiac Montana with the license plate 6DYW54. I don’t know what that information means because the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has been designated by the United States Department of Justice to handle Amber Alerts. The NCMEC as of Saturday afternoon indicates there are no active Amber Alerts. Another peculiarity with this case is the lack of a missing poster at the NCMEC. As of this writing, Sunday January 20, 2008 these two missing teens do not appear on the NCMEC website. I don’t know how the police are conducting a national search for these two endangered missing teens. I live in southern California and there has not been anymore news broadcasts about Hannah and Gage since the one earlier in the week. It was believed they were headed to Huntington Beach, CA which is not too far from where I live - one would think the local news would be all over this story and there would be an active Amber Alert given the fact the police know the license number, know the car was taken without permission, know Hannah has a history of a recent suicide attempt, is possibly suicidal and does not have her medication to keep her stable.

Monday January 21, 2008:

Hannah and Gage were located and taken into custody today in Louisiana. That is pretty far from where the parents of these two runaway teens thought they might be going. The parents thought they might have been headed to either Colorado or Huntington Beach, California. In fact, this afternoon, the local Los Angeles, California affiliate ran the missing story again mentioning the possible Huntington Beach destination.

According to the Detroit News.com article written by reporter Francis X. Donnelly, the two teens were spotted by a resident of Cameron Parrish, LA who then called authorities. The teens will remain in custody until their parents can come to Louisiana to pick them up.⁹

Tuesday January 22, 2008:

I don’t know why I surprised but I am. The lead-in story today for celebrity tabloid show Inside Edition was about Hannah McConnell and Gage Petherbridge or as they are otherwise known - the ‘modern day Romeo & Juliet.’ According to Inside Edition.com they were there when Hannah & Gage’s parents received the news that their children had been located.¹⁰

Chioma Gray:

Chioma Gray was abducted by Andrew Tafoya on December 13, 2007 from Ventura, CA. Chioma is 15-years-old and Andrew is 20-years-old. A felony warrant for kidnapping was issued for Andrew Tafoya on December 14, 2007. The poster goes on to say that they may travel to Mexico in a white 2008 Acura TSX with the California license plate 6AXX928 and that Andrew has multiple tattoos.

I hate going down this road but I am going to do it anyway. I first have to say that I am not African-American - I am White. It offends me that there has been no news coverage about Chioma’s abduction, no Amber Alert issued when the case has been designated as an abduction, the abductor has had a kidnapping warrant issued for his arrest, and the authorities have the description and license number of the abductor and the vehicle.

To add insult to injury today the NCMEC released an updated poster for Chioma Gray’s case. The first poster had one picture of Chioma and a picture of her abductor. Here is what the NCMEC has up now for Chioma’s case:

Click on the image to see a larger image of the new poster. The poster makes reference to another photo of Chioma but there is a blank space where the new photo is supposed to be. The photo of her abductor is no longer on the poster even though reference is still made to him on the poster.

Chioma is missing from Ventura, CA but the city is misspelled on the poster.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children makes quite a bit of mistakes on the posters. They claim they have few paid employees and use mainly volunteers but they are given thousands of dollars each year from the federal government as well as corporate sponsors.

Andrew Joshu Tafoya is an Hispanic Male with black hair and brown eyes. He is 5′9″ tall and weighs approximately 160 lbs. He has tatoos on his left arm, right arm and left leg and chest. Andrew’s date of birth is March 13, 1987.¹¹

Chioma Ezronesha Gray is a 15-year-old Black female with black hair and brown eyes. Chioma is 5′4″ tall and weighs approximately 115 lbs. She has a heart-shaped birthmark on her right shoulder. The last time Chioma was seen she was wearing a white zip-up jacket with a hood, black tights, and sandals. Chioma was last seen in Ventura, CA on December 13, 2007.¹²

I hope Chioma is found safe and I hope Hannah and Gage are found safe as well. I also hope that someday soon the NCMEC will start doing a better job.

Tuesday January 22, 2008

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children issued the corrected or updated missing poster for Chioma today. I am a bit mystified that the case type has been changed from non-family abduction to that of endangered missing. Andrew’s status on the poster has been changed from abductor to companion even though the poster states there is still a felony warrant out for his arrest.¹³

There is still no news coverage of Chioma’s disappearance. She has now been missing for over a month.

References:

1. ’Mich. lovebirds, 15 and 13, are on the run in family minivan,’ The Detroit Free Press.com, January 17, 2008, http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880117081. [↩]
2. Francis X. Donnelly, “Search under way for teen sweethearts who ran away from Vienna Township,” The Detroit News.com, January17, 2008, http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801170467. [↩]
3. Francis X. Donnelley, “Lovestruck teens run off, leave parents heartbroken,” The Detroit News.com, January 18, 2008, http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801180388. [↩]
4. Francis X. Donnelley, “Still no word from lovelorn runaway teens,” The Detroit News.com, January 18, 2008, http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801180447. [↩]
5. Doug Guthrie, “Families fear worst for teens on the run,” The Detroit News.com, January 19, 2008, http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801190401. [↩]
6. Santiago Esparza, “Families say young lovers made call from Nevada,” TheDetroitNews.com, January 19, 2008, http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801190412. [↩]
7. Francis X. Donnelly, “Search under way for teen sweethearts who ran away from Vienna Township,” TheDetroitNews.com,January 17, 2008, http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801170467. [↩]
8. Doug Guthrie, TheDetroitNews.com, [↩]
9. Francis X. Donnelly, “Missing teens found safe in Louisiana,” TheDetroitNews.com, January 21, 2008, http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080121/METRO/801210408. [↩]
10. ’Romeo & Juliet Run Off and Return,’ Inside Edition.com, January 22, 2008, http://www.insideedition.com/news.aspx?storyId=1206. [↩]
11. USDOJ January 20, 2008, http://dojapp.doj.ca.gov/missing/detail.asp?FCN=6140734700410. [↩]
12. Ibid. [↩]
13. ’Chioma Gray Missing Poster,’ National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, January 22, 2008, http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=1086049&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US. [↩]