YASMIN ACREE - 15 yo (2008) - Chicago IL

The Chicago Police Department has sustained a complaint against two
officers in connection with the investigation into the disappearance of
a 15-year-old girl, a police source confirmed Thursday.The department would not officially discuss the nature of the complaint or what punishment the officers might face, if any.But a source said the complaint was filed by Rose Starnes, an aunt of
the girl, Yasmin Acree, who was first reported missing from the West
Side on Jan. 16, 2008.In her complaint, Starnes said two officers responded to her home in
the 4800 block of West Congress to take a missing-persons report.Starnes said she showed them a lock that had been cut off a rear basement door. Yasmin lived in the lower level of the house.But the officers would not inventory the lock, Starnes said in her complaint.The family continued to call police about the lock, which Starnes
considered evidence in Yasmin’s disappearance. On Jan. 17, 2008, the
lock was inventoried by police. Starnes filed her complaint on Jan. 18,
2008. The police source said the officers should have inventoried the lock at the time they first responded to the home.Starnes and a group of ministers gathered outside police headquarters
today to announce that officers were “found guilty of misconduct.”But police Supt. Jody Weis told reporters today that “in no way did
these officers’ actions impact the investigation” into Yasmin’s
disappearance.Yasmin remains missing.“We still believe and hope that she is out there and that whoever
abducted her will be apprehended,” Cy Fields, of the Leaders Network
coalition of religious leaders, told reporters outside police
headquarters at 35th and Michigan.At the time of her disappearance, police told reporters there was no
evidence of a break-in and that Yasmin had told friends she was
planning to run away. But Starnes said she believes the Austin
Polytechnic Academy freshman was kidnapped.Police said Yasmin went to school on Jan. 15, 2008, then to a YMCA
group meeting she regularly attended. Her YMCA mentor dropped her off
at home at about 8 p.m., police said.Starnes’ boyfriend told police he saw Yasmin come home. She did a load of laundry before going to her room, he told police.
Starnes adopted Yasmin after her mother died. Before she was adopted,
Yasmin had spent several years in a foster home in Kentucky, police
said.


* * * *

Chicago police admit there are major problems with their investigation into a missing teenager from Chicago's West Side.
An internal investigation says it found evidence of police misconduct. Thursday's admission of police misconduct follows a series of complaints from Yasmin's family and from religious leaders. Twenty
months have now passed since a bright young woman with a future of
community servicer went missing. Since then, her family has implored
the Chicago Police Department to intensify its search for her. And now
their fears that the investigation was mishandled have been confirmed.

Friends describe 15-year-old Yasmin Acree as an enthusiastic young woman who is fun to be around.
Yasmin attended Austin Polytechnic High School in Chicago, where
teachers said she was a well-adjusted student who made decent grades.
On Jan. 15, 2008, cops say Yasmin went to school as usual, and then
to a YMCA group meeting that she attended three days each week.
After the meeting, Yasmin's YMCA mentor dropped her off at home,
around 8 p.m., according to Chicago Police Detective Michael Roth.

Her mother passed away, and police say Yasmin spent several years in foster care in Kentucky before Rose adopted her.


Yasmin Acree went missing from her home on Jan. 15, 2008.

Cops say Yasmin had been living with her aunt,
Rose Starns, and her aunt's boyfriend, Charles Burt, on the west side
of Chicago for about four years.
Her mother passed away, and police say Yasmin spent several years in foster care in Kentucky before Rose adopted her.
On the evening of Jan. 15, 2008, Charles said he saw Yasmin come
home and do a load of laundry before retreating to her room in the
basement of the house.
She has not been seen or heard from since.
Yasmin never showed up at school the following morning, and when she
didn't come home as usual around 5 p.m. that night, cops say Rose and
Charles called police.
Police found that a lock on a gate behind the home had been cut.
Chicago Police say they have not ruled out any possibilities, and are investigating the case from all angles.

The activist pastor of a West Side church, his
extended family and fellow ministers meet next week with Chicago Police
Supt. Jody Weis over the department's handling of his cousin's
disappearance, more than 18 months ago.
Members of missing teen Yasmin Acree's family have insisted from the
beginning that she was not the type of teen who would run away, and say
there was ample evidence of forced entry into the family's home that
police ignored and failed to collect for three days.
By that time, charged Yasmin's cousin and minister, the Rev. Ira
Acree of Greater St. John Bible Church, the broken padlocks and door
frames had all been compromised as evidence by repeated handling.
Instead, Rev. Acree says, police initially treated Yasmin as a
runaway. Weis said the police Internal Affairs Division, after a
13-month investigation, sustained the family's view.
"It appears that some of our officers made a mistake. We'll deal
with that," Weis said, but added, "I think it's safe to say that
particular incident had no impact upon the efforts of our detectives in
locating that young lady."
Yasmin remains missing. Rev. Acree disputed Weis' view.
"I don't know how the superintendent can sit back and say there's
police misconduct, and then in the same breath say there's no impact in
the case," he said. "It makes absolutely no sense."
Acree said botched evidence collection at the scene cannot have helped.
Yasmin was a freshman at Austin High School when she disappeared, on Jan. 15, 2008.
The meeting, at Chicago Police headquarters, is scheduled for 11:30
a.m. Thursday, Sept. 17. Rev. Acree said he, Yasmin's mother, and
other ministers from his Leaders' Network will attend.

The family of a missing teenager met with Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis Thursday.
Yasmin Acree disappeared more than a year-and-a-half ago. Her
family believes police hampered efforts to find her. Police officials
have admitted there was misconduct while investigating the case. And it is those mistakes that the family of Yasmin Acree says cost
precious time and effort in finding the teen. Thursday, the girl's
family asked Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis to reclassify the
case and have detectives investigating the Yasmin's disappearance, not
treat her as a runaway, but as a missing person who was kidnapped. Surrounded by supporters, Rose Starnes left Chicago Police Department
headquarters Thursday afternoon still hoping her daughter will come
home safe. "Yasmin, if you can hear me, give me a call and let us know you are ok and alive," said Starnes. Starnes and several West Side clergy had a nearly two-hour meeting with
police superintendent Jody Weis, which comes as a sometimes frantic
20-month search for the girl continues and after a ruling by the CPD's
internal affairs division that officers botched efforts to find Yasmin.
"She was instantly classified as a runaway. From our
standpoint, runaways don't break locks, nor do they break doors," said
Rev. Cy Fields, Leader's Network of West Side Clergy. On
January 15, 2008, the family of the then-15-year-old Austin
Polytechnical Academy high school student says she went to the Austin
YMCA before returning home later that evening. They say they last saw
Yasmin doing laundry in the basement where her room was also located. The next morning, Yasmin was gone -- the only clue to what happened was a broken lock and a damaged outside door. "We don't know if this case could have had an earlier resolution that
we don't have today," said Rev. Marshall Hatch, New Mt. Pilgrim Church.
The family remains concerned that the home wasn't treated like
a crime scene and neither the door nor broken lock was dusted for
fingerprints. Thursday, Weis acknowledged that mistakes were
made but still believes in the integrity of the investigation, and in a
statement says: "This is the highest priority missing person case for
Area 5 detectives. All of us share the family's desire to find Yasmin
Acree". Still, an outpouring of support from the community have brought few leads. Yasmin's relative, the Reverend Ira Acree, maintains Yasmin was abducted and wants whoever has her to let her go. "There's no apartment, no job, there has to be an adult somewhere harboring her," said Rev. Acree. The pastors say Superintendent Weis did assure them, if warranted, the
police officers involved would be disciplined for their mishandling of
the case. This week, the reward for information about the teen's disappearance was raised from $3,000 to $5,000. The girl's family and friends are asking anyone with information about
the whereabouts of Yasmin Acree to call (773) 745-6052.

A prominent Chicago pastor says it was a good
faith gesture: referring to the Friday morning meeting with Chicago
deputy police superintendent Tina Scahill, who promised continued
efforts to find Yasmin Acree -- missing for a year and a half ago from
her home on Chicago's West Side.

The family had been critical of Chicago Police because the girl had
been listed initially as a runaway and because there was no effort made
to inventory or fingerprint a broken lock found on a back basement door
on the day the girl vanished.

The Rev. Ira Acree, a cousin of the missing girl, said Deputy Tina
Scahil spent about a half hour looking over the family home and
speaking with family members at home on West Congress Blvd.

The Rev. Acree labeled it a gesture of good faith rather than a serious to restart the investigation.

But the girl's mother, Rose Starns, said she believes Chicago police are genuinely concerned about the girl's whereabouts.

She said Deputy Scahill asked if anyone had checked with the girl's doctor to see if he knew what might have happened.

She also said Deputy Scahill offered some suggestions for better ways
to publicize the $5,000 family members put up for information about
Yasmin.

Starns added the police will be helping print some missing persons fliers for distribution around the neighborhood.

CLEVELAND -- Authorities in Chicago believe a missing 17-year-old girl is in the Cleveland area.Yasmine Acree, of Chicago, Ill., was reported missing on Jan. 16, 2008.


The Chicago Police Department received information from the National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children that there was an anonymous tip that
the missing girl was seen in Cleveland.Acree is 5-foot-1 and weighs 125 pounds.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Acree should call 216-623-5630.

* * * *

CLEVELAND -- Police in Chicago and Cleveland joined forces Friday to try to locate a missing teenager.

Yasmine Acree, 17, was last seen near her Chicago home in January of 2008.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received an
anonymous tip that the teen was seen in the Greater Cleveland area.

Police are now asking the public for their assistance in locating Acree.

She is described as a black female, 5 feet 1 inch tall and 125 pounds.

Acree's mother told authorities that the teen has never gone missing in the past.

Anyone with information on Acree's whereabouts is asked to contact the
Cleveland Police,

Sex and Child Abuse Unit at (216) 623-5630 or the
Chicago Police Department at (312) 746-8365 immediately.

CLEVELAND -- A tip from "America's Most Wanted" has police looking for a Chicago girl in Cleveland.

Yasmine Acree has been missing for two years and police say they need your help in solving the case.

Acree was an honor student at a Chicago school and involved in sports.

She was 15-years-old when she went missing.

Authorities allegedly thought she was a runaway but her mother insisted she wasn't.

Rose Starnes, Yasmine's mother, says someone broke the lock on her basement door.

She says after police arrived at her residence, they didn't ask enough
questions, ignored the broken lock and told her Yasmine ran away.

Chicago police later admitted to making mistakes when they investigated the evidence in Acree's disappearance.

But now authorities say they are focused on the missing persons case.

The story of Yasmine caught the attention of America's Most Wanted.

The show aired on Fox 8 and after seeing the now 17-year-old's picture,
a tip from someone in Cleveland came in claiming they saw the teen.

Chicago Police Detective Mike Roth says, "The tip was that an anonymous
caller saw the child in a friend of a friend's home. The caller does
not remember the address or street name of the residence. The child was
getting an auburn curly weave put in her natural hair at the residence.
That's the tip and it's just somewhere in Cleveland Ohio."

With no street address or location, police have little to go on.

If you have any information regarding Yasmine Acree's whereabouts,
you're asked to call the Cleveland or Chicago Police Department.

January 14, 2011 (CHICAGO) (WLS) --
The family of a missing teenager says Chicago police are not doing enough to find her three years after her disappearance.
Friday, Yasmin Acree's relatives delivered a letter to
police headquarters requesting a meeting with Superintendent Jody Weis.
The teen vanished from her home in January of 2008. No one has been arrested in the case. Acree's family accused the police department of treating this as a runaway case. "Had they just not fumbled the ball at the beginning, we could be well
on our way -- we could even have had Yasmin back at home, and this
honor roll student would be in school," said Ira Acree, Yasmin Acree's
cousin. The Chicago Police Department says it continues to
aggressively investigate the case and investigators will meet with her
family.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7899002

Friends and family of a teenage Chicago girl who has been missing for
more than three years said today they have not given up hope that the
girl will be found alive.
Yasmin Acree was 15 when she was reported missing from her Austin
home on Jan. 16, 2008. Her family found that the locks on two outside
gates had been cut and that the door to the basement -- where Yasmin's
bedroom was located -- had been forced open.
However, police initially said they found no evidence of a break-in
and that Yasmin had told friends she was planning to run away.
Yasmin’s family, friends and teachers were convinced she had been
abducted, saying the honor student at Austin Polytechnical Academy was a
popular girl with a stable life.
Police later admitted the initial investigation was mishandled.
On Monday, Yasmin’s mother and four pastors met with Chicago police
and FBI officials at Area 5 headquarters to ensure the case is still a
top priority. They said after the meeting that they are satisfied with
the department’s efforts but frustrated with the lack of progress.
“Leads for finding Yasmin seem to be just as cold as the ground
outside,” said her mother, Rose Starnes. “This isn’t getting any easier.
It’s getting harder and harder. It’s been three years, and it’s really
rough.”
“We don’t want Yasmin to become out of sight and out of mind,” said
the Rev. Cy Fields, who joined Starnes during the meeting with police
officials. “We want to make sure that her case is high-priority, not
only in Area 5 but in the Chicago Police Department as a whole.”
Police said the case remains under investigation.
Yasmin’s case should serve as a reminder to police that every
missing-persons case should be thoroughly investigated from the start,
said Fields, pastor of New Landmark Baptist Church in East Garfield
Park.
A recent Tribune investigative series
that examined 530 attempted child abductions by strangers in the city
and suburbs since 2008 found that, although few child abductors were
successfully prosecuted, the arrest rate was roughly 20 times higher in
Chicago's majority white census tracts than for African-American
communities.
Those findings prompted U.S. Sen. Bobby Rush to hold a hearing Saturday
on Chicago's South Side in which he grilled top law enforcement
officials about whether they respond forcefully enough when
African-American and Hispanic children are reported missing or
potentially abducted. Yasmin is African-American.
The clergy-based Leaders Network is offering a $5,000 reward for
information that leads to an arrest in the case. Anyone with information
about the case is asked to call Area 5 police at 312-746-8365 or
312-746-8282.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chibrknews-missing-teens-family-still-hop-01242011,0,4144601.story

Police could announce Saturday a break in the case of a Chicago teenager who has been missing for three years.

Yasmin Acree was 15 years old when she vanished from her Austin home in January 2008.
Chicago
Police Department Supt. Jody Weis was scheduled to hold a news
conference Saturday to discuss developments in the investigation, but he
gave no more specific information about the developments.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7968421

The Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune reported over the weekend that
police are circulating a photo of what missing Austin teen Yasmin Acree
could look like three years after the 15-year-old's disappeared from her
West Side home.

Chicago Police Department Superintendent Jody Weis said Saturday he hopes the new photo will generate tips.

Classmates of Yasmin's at Austin Polytechnical Academy gathered last month at the
school to remember their friend, who went missing in January 2008 and
would be a senior this year at the school.

Although there are no leads in Yasmin's disappearance-which the police originally
treated as a runaway case and later admitted they had not acted quickly
enough-her friends and family remain hopeful they will find her.

Anyone with information about Yasmin should call 312-746-8365.

Endangered Missing

YASMIN ACREE

DOB: Oct 25, 1992 Missing: Jan 15, 2008 Age Now: 18 Sex: Female Race: Black Hair: Sandy Eyes: Brown Height: 5'1" (155 cm) Weight: 125 lbs (57 kg) Missing From: CHICAGO IL United States

Age Progressed

Yasmin's photo is shown age progressed to 18 years. She was last seen at home on January 15, 2008.

ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST) Chicago Police Department (Illinois) 1-312-746-8365

Serial rapist suspect says he knows fate of missing teen

A serial rape suspect has stated on Friday, that he knows what happened to a missing teen, but won't elaborate.

Jimmie Terrell Smith is faces charges in the rapes of five girls and women between 2006 and 2009 and two allegedly kidnappings, plus attempted murder, in one of the cases.

During a jailhouse interview, Smith told Chicago Tribune reporters that he knew what happened to missing 15-year-old Yasmin Acree, but he would not elaborate. Yasmin's diary has recently been found by Tribune reporters and in the diary, Yasmin's mentioned Smith.

"I miss Tyrell…," Yasmin wrote.

Yasmin disappeared after her adopted mother, Rose Mae Starnes, left Yasmin with her live-in boyfriend while she played the slots at the Grand Victoria Casino.

There was a massive investigation into Yasmin's disappearance, but Yasmin has never been found. During the time of Yasmin's disappearance, Smith once lived in the same building as Yasmin, and had contact with her after he moved out.

After the story came out, police obtained a search warrant to search the apartment which is now empty.

Last week, Smith told the court that he wanted to defend himself during the trail. The judge, James Linn cautioned Smith against representing himself and on Monday, the judge ordered a mental health examination for Smith.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Serial rapist suspect says he know fate of missing teen - National missing persons | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/missing-persons-in-national/serial-rapist-suspect-says-he-know-fate-of-missing-teen#ixzz1GcKQHDuq

Relatives and friends of a teen-aged girl who went missing from the Austin
neighborhood nearly four years ago teamed up with Chicago Police
Saturday to renew a public plea for information related to Yasmin
Acree’s whereabouts.
Acree disappeared from her home in the 4800 block of West Congress Parkway on Jan. 15 or 16, 2008. She would be 19 now.
“This
day is always a hard day for me,” said Rose Starnes, a relative by
marriage who adopted Acree. “Four years, and nothing concrete. I know
that people are working and trying, but nothing has brought Yasmin back
to us.”




Community members went
through the neighborhood Saturday afternoon, distributing fliers with an
age-enhanced photo of Acree on parked cars and to passing motorists.
Meanwhile, Starnes sat among relatives in her living room at the
Congress Parkway home, subdued and lamenting the lack of clarity on the
four-year-old mystery.
“I
just miss her,” she said. “ I don’t know if she’s out there, if she’s
alive, if she’s being tortured. I wonder what she would look like now. I
wonder will I ever see her again, will I ever get to hug her or kiss
her?”
Starnes also said that while she has not given up hope of finding Acree alive, one false lead after another has taken its toll.
Numerous
people have contacted the police claiming to have seen Acree or someone
resembling her, she said. Once, just a few days after Acree went
missing, police came by Starnes’s home with a girl matching her
daughter’s description.
“My hopes are never up until I see Yasmin
again,” Starnes said. “I hope that when I get some news, it will be that
she’s still alive, even though I know it’s possible that she might not
be.”
“Sometimes you see those Lifetime (cable TV network) movies
with the happy ending. When is our happy ending?” said Starnes’
daughter, Shakelia Johnson, 34. “When will our questions be answered?”
No
one has been charged in Acree’s disappearance and the police
investigation has been frequently criticized. In 2011, Tribune reporters
uncovered a diary of Acree’s that police had not found. Acree’s diary
entries twice referenced a now 36-year-old man on parole for attempted
murder who lived in her building, a fact detectives did not learn until
nearly a year and a half into their investigation.
That man,
Jimmie Terrell Smith, is now in Cook County Jail awaiting trial in a
series of rapes. Among other crimes, Smith is accused of abducting and
raping four young women over two days, including three of his
then-girlfriend's daughters in May 2009. Smith has been questioned by
police in connection with Acree’s disappearance, as well.
Despite their grief, Johnson said the family appreciated the ongoing support from the community.
“It
feels good that people still care,” Johnson said. “People will never
stop fighting to find her, or trying to find out what happened to her.
Whatever she’s going through, we’ll always be by her side.”
Police
said that anyone with information should contact The National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678, or the Grand
Central Area Special Victims Unit at (312) 746-8365.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-yasmin-acree-family-friends-of-teen-missing-4-years-appeal-for-publics-help-20120114,0,3578550.story

Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Chicago's Black and missing

New cable show aims to bring balance in national coverage
by Kathy Chaney




The families of Yasmin Acree and sisters Diamond and Tionda Bradley hopes the new series “Find Our Missing” on TV One cable network will bring in new leads to seemingly cold missing persons cases of color.

Yasmin Acree, 15, went missing from her West Side home four year ago this month. Her case garnered little national news coverage until now. Acree's case will be featured on 'Find Our Missing' Jan. 25. The docu-drama series is hosted by award-winning actress S. Epatha Merkerson

Acree, an honor student at Austin Polytech High School, never made her bed the day she was went missing, a huge red flag to her mother. What became a bigger issue in the girl's disappearance was a padlock that was cut off the home's basement door, the police leaving it behind and her immediate classification as a runaway, according to relatives.

"I'm a strict parent and that was one of the main priorities when you got up in the morning. You had to make your bed before you left the home. There wasn't a day that went by when Yasmin didn't make her bed. When I saw it not made up that day, I knew something was wrong," said her mother Rose Starnes.

Her mother called the police three times, she said, before an officer arrived. When they left from taking the report, they left the lock at the home.

"When I came back to the house a few days later, I asked why the police didn't take the lock. That was a missed opportunity to dust for fingerprints and everything else they needed to do," said Rev. Ira Acree, Yasmin's cousin.

Acree immediately called for the police to come back to the home to collect "the evidence" that should not have been left behind, he said.

The Chicago Police Department publicly admitted it initially mishandled the case.

According to the National Center For Missing & Exploited Children and the Department of Justice: 2,000 children are reported as missing to local law-enforcement daily; ff those children who are abducted, females, aged 11-17, are most likely to be victimized.; minorities equaled 65 percent of the total Non-Family Abductions; 42 percent were African American (24,444); and 23 percent were Hispanic (13, 386).

Let's move to the South Side in 2001 when the Bradley sisters disappeared.

Diamond and Tionda Bradley went missing from their South Side home in 2001. They were ages 3 and 10 respectively. They would now be 13 and 20 years old.

The sisters' mother, Tracey Bradley, went to work as usual the morning of July 6, 2001. She returned home a few hours later to an empty apartment on East 35th Street and Lake Park Avenue. Chicago police were called a few hours after family and friends conducted a private search, to no avail.

The immediate neighborhood, the Dan Ryan Woods, Washington Park and more than 5,000 abandoned buildings across the city yielded no results.

Their case initially garnered national attention and sparked the largest hunt in Chicago Police Department history.

The HLN's “Nancy Grace Show” often features the sisters' case on her show and also did a one-hour special about their disappearance. Their case was also featured on “America's Most Wanted's” website.

The Bradley sisters' case is scheduled to be featured on 'Find Our Missing' on Feb. 8. (Disclosure: The Chicago Defender contributed to the episode.)

Their family continues to keep their case in the spotlight by holding prayer vigils and marches every July 6, the day they disappeared 10 years ago.

"We're very grateful. It's just the tip of the iceberg for these cases to get the needed national coverage," said the girls' aunt Shelia Bradley-Smith, who has become a national advocate for the missing.

Bradley-Smith said keeping their case in the national spotlight helps tremendously in keeping the girls' disappearance case from going stale.

While there's promise the show could bring fresh leads, she's a little disappointed another cable channel for the Black community, which has been on air before TV One, didn't think of the idea years ago to do a feature on cases on missing persons of color.

“I've been screaming for this since the babies (Diamond and Tionda) went missing. Nancy Grace, America's Most Wanted, they all stepped up,” said Bradley-Smith, who started a weekly podcast last August, The Shelia Show, geared toward helping families of missing persons.

Thirty-year-old Latasha Nevitt, a wife and mother of three, has been missing since Oct. 15. She was last seen walking to a convenience store less than a mile away from her home in the vicinity of 107th and Loomis. Relatives said it's out of her character to simply walk away from her family. Friends, family and community leaders scoured the South Side neighborhood, passed out flyers and made impassioned please for her safe return.

Brian Kelvin Andrewin, 16, was last seen July 1995 in Chicago. He was playing basketball with friends at a local park. He was never seen again.

The Black and Missing Foundation, based in Washington, D.C., partnered with TV One to help bring more awareness to the missing cases.

“The Black and Missing Foundation has provided an important service for information about missing people of color, and we are proud to work with them and help them further their work in the hope that we can draw more attention to this critical issue and bring new information to light for the loved ones of the missing featured in this series, and for others,” said TV One President and CEO Wonya Lucas.

Natalie Wilson, co-founder of BAM FI, added “Our partnership with TV One on this new series will provide extra visibility to help law enforcement and Black and Missing Foundation, Inc bring more missing persons home. Getting the message out as broadly as possible is the best way to help find our missing persons.”

For more information on the missing, visit www.blackandmissinginc.com, www.tvone.tv, www.thesheliashow.com, www.ncmec.org and www.peasintheirpods.com.

Mother of West Side teen missing 6 years dies
Family vows to continue search for Yasmin Acree

February 25, 2014
By Lolly Bowean, Tribune reporter

For six years, Rose Mae Starnes led prayer vigils and marches, hosted search parties and met with Chicago police superintendents and detectives in hopes of learning what happened to her missing adoptive daughter.

From the time Yasmin Acree went missing, Starnes sank into a deep depression, constantly worrying, losing sleep and struggling with anxiety until it caused her health to rapidly decline, her family members said.

Starnes, 57, was found dead Monday morning in her Oak Park apartment, said her cousin, the Rev. Ira Acree. The Cook County medical examiner's office ruled Tuesday that she died of natural causes related to health problems, which her family said included diabetes and kidney failure.

As Starnes' relatives and friends and West Side community activists mourned her death, they also used the occasion to call attention to the unsolved disappearance of her daughter. Starnes adopted and raised Yasmin and was the girl's biological aunt.

They said the family will continue to keep Yasmin's case in the spotlight until they find out what happened to her.

"The last six years of (Rose's) life was a living hell," said Ira Acree, who is the missing teenager's cousin. "This is not it. It is not over. We will continue our quest to find Yasmin. ... We have to hold Chicago police accountable."

Yasmin was 15 when she went missing from her family's home in North Austin in January 2008. She was an honor student who made her bed every morning and hung out at her neighborhood YMCA. Police have not made any arrests in her disappearance. At the time, they were criticized for initially casting the case as a search for a missing runaway rather than a kidnapping.

A year after Yasmin disappeared, an Internal Affairs Division letter to Starnes acknowledged there was misconduct in the investigation.

Starnes never filed a lawsuit against police but pushed for a deeper investigation that would uncover what happened to the girl. With the help of family and clergy, officials put up a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. But the case went unsolved.

In 2011, a Tribune investigation revealed that a man who lived in the apartment above Yasmin admitted to knowing what happened to the girl. Jimmie Terrell Smith moved into the same two-flat as Yasmin after serving 10 years in prison for attempted murder. He is now being held in Cook County Jail on charges unrelated to Yasmin's case.

On Tuesday, the brick two-flat in the 4800 block of West Congress Parkway where Yasmin lived stood vacant, with some of the windows knocked out. A poster featuring pictures of the girl and the writing "We miss you Yasmin" was posted in a front window.

For years, Starnes was tormented by not knowing what happened to Yasmin, said her older daughter, Shakelia Johnson. The woman spent a lot of time searching the neighborhood and city, but she also lay in bed crying, feeling helpless. Many times it seemed the case wasn't important to anyone but her, Johnson said.

"Detectives don't call no more. They don't keep you updated. They give you the runaround," said Johnson, 36.

"After Yasmin died came a period of being lost" for their mother, Johnson said.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-02-25/news/ct-yasmin-acree-mother-death-met-0227-20140226_1_yasmin-acree-rose-mae-starnes-jimmie-terrell-smith