The Missing Woman You Haven't Heard About
Last week the world was stunned when Kansas teenager Kelsey Smith was abducted from the parking lot of a Target and killed. Then there is the high profile case of Madeleine McCann, a three year old British girl who was abducted from her bed in a hotel in Portugal back in May, while on vacation with her parents. Both of these cases are heartbreaking and horrible. I can't even begin to imagine what the parents of these girls must be going through.
But I bet you haven't heard about the case of missing Brooklyn native, Stepha Henry (no relation). Stepha Henry is a twenty-two year old African-American woman who went missing during a trip to Miami, Florida during Memorial day weekend.
Henry, a recent honors graduate of John Jay College, was in Miami with her sixteen year old sister to attend a reggae concert for her sister's birthday. She was last seen in a Miami nightclub called Peppers Cafe. A video tape shows Henry at the club. But she never made it home, and no one has seen her since.
I first heard about this case not on national news, as I did the two previously mentioned cases, but on MySpace. Stepha Henry's disappearance has been ignored by the national news. The story has gotten local coverage in Miami and in New York but beyond that. . . zip! Recently, a reporter for the Miami Herald was angered when the last minute interview he agreed to do about the Stepha Henry case with MSNBC was cancelled. Why? Because of ongoing coverage of Paris Hilton!
This is so beyond infuriating, and so incredibly sad : (.
Even Natalee Holloway, the Alabama teen who went missing during a class trip to Aruba, still gets media coverage two years after her disappearance. I'm not saying these cases don't deserve national media coverage. All I'm asking is why doesn't Stepha Henry?
Click here for more info on the case.
Angela
4 comments:
Angela, thanks for bringing Stepha Henry's case to our attention. I'm beyond stunned and disgusted that MSNBC would cut coverage of a missing person to add more blather on the already overexposed Paris Hilton. News coverage has often helped police investigations. Oh, but let's not put substance ahead of revenue dollars. (Sarcasm intended.)
How horrible! I have thought several times recently that I am glad I'm not young and dating now. It just isn't safe. I can imagine myself clutching whatever I am drinking to my chest at all times for fear of someone dropping rohypnol into it.
I am going to go lock my daughter in a closet for about 20 years.
Liz
reviewedbyliz.com
Hmm, a famous socialite gets jail time for breaking the law, and at the same time a young woman who happens to be a honor student goes missing. Which story needs the most coverage? It's a no brainer isn't it? Oops, I guess it's not to the media.
It's amazing how the media will dictate to us what they think is important. I heard about Ms. Henry's case some time last month (don't remember how or from where). I sent an email out to my entire address book and a friend suggested that I start a blog to make others aware of this atrocity and many others that the media feel isn't newsworthy. I have started that blog, and have goteen some attention. I read on another blog somewhere that we don't need the media anymore, we now have our own media...BLOGS!!! Keep up the good work, ladies.
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