“Glitch” May Have Impeded Police Alert on Missing Girl

Funeral services for Jahmeshia Conner scheduled for Dec. 12

Police say a "media glitch" could have prevented a missing persons flier for a missing 12-year-old girl from being distributed to local media.  Human error also hasn't been ruled out.

Chicago Police News Affairs Dir. Roderick Drew said Thursday that there have been ongoing problems with the department's e-mail system.

“We have had e-mail issues in November, including an instance where we sent a media advisory for a press conference that wasn’t received," Drew said in an e-mail. "Therefore no media showed up to the event."

Drew said that incident happened Nov. 18, the same day the critical reach flier was sent to the office regarding Jahmeshia Conner.

The girl was found strangled to death Monday in a South Side alley.

Relatives had held out hope for the girl, who relatives last saw alive on Nov. 15, when she boarded a westbound bus at 63rd and Racine.

Her body was discovered shortly before 7 a.m. Monday in an alley on the 6400 block of South Marshfield.  A man walking with his young daughter found the body near trash cans.

Police said Tuesday that Conner had been seen by witnesses in her neighborhood while she was classified as a missing person.

Funeral services for Conner have been scheduled for Dec. 12 at 11 a.m. at New Covenant Baptist Church, 754 E. 77th St., according a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.). Rush also announced a $10,000 reward for anyone whose information leads to the arrest and conviction of Conner's killer.
 
Anyone with information should contact Wentworth Area Detectives at 312-747-8380.

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