Vol. 3 Issue 28
Trina Reynolds-Tyler on our missing persons investigation
trina reynolds-tyler and Sarah Conway interviewed dozens of people over two years to release our Chicago Missing Persons investigation - a joint investigation with City Bureau. Photo: cai thomas
December 7, 2023
Chicagoans regularly ring the alarm about the disappearances of people through discussions of human trafficking, conspiracy theories about serial killers, or law enforcement black sites. Nationally, the rhetoric around missing person cases is that this isn’t an issue related to crime, but instead is an issue of people who just don't want to be found. If you were to look at the data at face value, you might assume this too. Nearly 100% of the cases in Chicago are closed non-criminal, meaning the person was “likely found” and the case was “not criminal in nature.” Our reporting tells us something different.
Through data science and relationship building, my co-reporter Sarah Conway (from City Bureau) and I were able to talk to a range of stakeholders including family members of missing Black women, community organizations, and law enforcement. These conversations helped us to put the pieces together to release our two-year investigation into police handling of missing person cases.
Through Beneath the Surface, we were able to gain some insight by reading 54 police misconduct records we had access to related to this issue. There was a range of allegations, but all alluded to a piece of a historically faulty missing persons pipeline. From refusal to file reports to closing a case before a person was found, the police misconduct complaints paved the way for our findings: data discrepancies and premature closures that were inherently connected to crime in Chicago.
When officers were called to speak at a City Council Public Safety Committee meeting in 2017, Chicago Police claimed the child returned or was found in 99.9 percent of cases between 2000 and 2016. Reporters identified two cases in that time period where the officer prematurely closed the case and the Black teenage missing girl was later found murdered.
Missing persons data from 2000 to 2021 show that just 10 cases were reclassified as homicides, but we were able to identify an additional 11 homicides classified as closed non-criminal, even though a homicide case was opened in relation to the case. Underlying crimes like human trafficking, domestic violence, and gun violence played a role in the disappearances of people.
Legislation as far back as 1984 mentions the importance of noting the final disposition of missing persons cases to help policy makers and law enforcement understand what's driving missing persons cases, but officers seldom follow this law; leaving the Illinois Task Force for Missing and Murdered Chicago Women with little to work with. On the day our investigation was published, we presented our findings to the Task Force.
You can read a few families' voices as part of our investigation. Their narratives are accompanied by filmmaker cai thomas’ mini documentaries on the families of Shante Bohanan, Takaylah Tribbitt, and Sonya Rouse.
trina reynolds-tyler
Director of Data
Co-Reporter Missing in Chicago
Thank you to everyone who attended our 2023 Supporter’s Convening. If you haven’t yet donated - there is still time to take advantage of this match opportunity. Your sustaining contribution keeps us on the ground reporting and fighting for public access to critical information. All contributions through the end of the year will go directly to our Narrative and Investigative Opportunity Fund and will be matched dollar for dollar until we reach $175,000. This fund allows us the agility to undertake and pursue new investigations and the flexibility to sustain and grow ongoing projects. Your support helps our team produce work like our missing persons investigation.
We are thrilled to share with you our 2023 Annual Report - an update on our work of the past year and a glimpse into forthcoming projects.
Read our Annual Report →
Last Week: National Data Transparency and Access Project Continues in Arkansas, Lawsuit in Michigan
Led by reporter Sam Stecklow and in partnership with a host of newsrooms, nonprofits, and media organizations alongside Big Local News, we are pushing to obtain crucial data around officer certification and employment history nationwide. This year our team contributed to obtaining police employment records in 35 states, and contributed to legal actions to make basic police records available in Colorado, Michigan, and Utah.
States that continue to withhold this information include Arkansas and Michigan.
In the Arkansas Advocate, Sam and Hunter Field write that Arkansas remains one of 15 states that keep the identities of its officers private, making public oversight near impossible.
The issue of wandering officers was brought to the forefront in Arkansas last year when a viral video of a suspect being beaten as three officers arrested him in Northwest Arkansas made national headlines.
One of the officers, Thell Riddle of the Mulberry Police Department, was previously fired from one department after a pair of domestic disturbances and forced to resign from another after a series of problems.
Read the full article from Sam and his co-author →
Last week, along with the Detroit Metro Times, we filed suit against Michigan State Police for refusing to disclose public records about the identities of current and former police officers.
Together with the Metro Times, we requested the data on Jan. 3. On March 8, MSP declined to provide the identities of certified and uncertified officers, along with other information, arguing “the public disclosure of the information would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of an individual’s privacy.”
To deny a public records request under Michigan’s FOIA, the burden is on a public body to demonstrate that withholding information outweighs the public interest in disclosure.
Read more about the suit →
You Didn’t See Nothin: Named Time, Vulture, and Apple Top Podcast of 2023
You Didn’t See Nothin has been named a top podcast of the year by multiple outlets including Time and Apple Podcasts. It has won awards for Best History from the Black Podcasting Awards, Best Serialized Story from Third Coast International Festival, and Signal Awards for Best Documentary and Best Host.
Listen now on all streaming platforms →
Last month, journalists Sam Stecklow, Andrew Fan, and trina reynolds-tyler wrote in the Chicago Reader about what’s at stake in the fight over police disciplinary arbitration. Should City Council approve the arbitration provision in the new contract with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the way Chicago police officers appeal disciplinary charges could result in secret hearings, more officers getting off the hook for misconduct, and an overall breakdown in the city’s newly strengthened police oversight infrastructure.
If at least 30 of the city’s 50 council members vote to reject the arbitration provision, it will set up further legal wrangling and a possible return to the negotiating table. The provision will first be heard in the Committee on Workforce Development in a meeting today at noon.
Read the full article →
Bonus: Read Jamie Kalven and Craig Futterman’s Op-Ed on the arbitration issue in the Chicago Tribune →
