Although African Americans make up just 13 percent of the U.S. population, we account for 33 percent of the missing in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s database. Cases involving African Americans also tend to receive less media coverage than missing Whites, with missing men of color getting even less attention.
NewsOne has partnered with the Black and Missing Foundation and TV One to focus on the crisis of missing African Americans.
To be a part of the solution, NewsOne will profile a missing person weekly and provide tips about how to keep your loved ones safe and what to do if someone goes missing, while TV One‘s newest show, “Find Our Missing,” hosted by award-winning actress S. Epatha Merkerson, tells these stories in visual form.
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Murphy Jane Hickerson (pictured), a 43-year-old double-organ transplant recipient who has been missing since April 28, was found dead in a parking lot early Wednesday morning, according to authorities.
Hickerson, who lived in Canonsburg, Penn., was an accomplished woman with two Master’s degrees who worked at McDonald’s corporate headquarters. She may have been depressed about her illness, according to her mother.
She had spoken of visiting a cousin in New York City but disappeared a couple of days after her birthday.
The Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office says Hickerson’s body was discovered just before 6 a.m. this morning inside the Gabriel Brother’s parking lot (pictured below) on Findley Road in Rostraver Township.
A manager noticed Hickerson’s 2009 Honda CRV, which had also been reported missing. According to CBS Pittsburgh, the doors to the car were secured and Hickerson was found laying in the back seat. The coroner says Hickerson had been there for at least a week.
Family members were especially concerned when Hickerson went missing, because she was on anti-rejection drugs that she did not have in her possession due to her pancreas and kidney transplant. Hickerson had suffered from Type 1 diabetes since she was 4 years old. Her illness forced her to move in with her mother 12 years ago.
An autopsy is being conducted to determine exactly how Hickerson died.
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