This is a case backed by facts, by experts and analysts, and also by a trail of anecdotes and tears. This story, told over a three-part series, sounds the alarm about missing and murdered Black and brown women in America. It is a story about the traumatic loss and journey of one family in Indiana and another born in Michigan, with ties to Illinois, where, in Chicago, the tale of at least one possible serial killer and at least 50 murdered, mostly African-American women from 2001 to 2018 remains unsolved.
In that case, the family of Linda Green grapples with her murder on the 20-year anniversary since her body was found lifeless and brutally bruised little more than a week after Mother’s Day in 2003. In the other case, the family of Jessica Flores awaits the trial of a man charged with her murder amid their hope of finally gaining some semblance of justice. This is their story and the collective case of missing and murdered Black and brown women in America.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Samantha Latson holds a master’s degree in journalism from Indiana University and earned a bachelor’s at Roosevelt University. A three-time winner of the National Association of Black Journalists’ “Salute To Excellence Award, she was a reporter and editor on her undergraduate capstone project, “Unforgotten 51,” which garnered wide acclaim. In July 2023, she won second place in the National Society of Newspaper Columnists for Social Justice commentary for her work on the project, “Invasion of Faith,” about one church’s fight to save the soul of a violent city. She is completing a reporter-internship on the Metro desk at The Washington Post as a Ben Bradlee Fellow and worked as an Ida B. Wells fellow at the Post in summer 2022 on its investigative team as an intern.
