On Nov.
30, 2009, 12-year-old Jahmeshia Conner's -- an O'Toole Elementary School
5th-grader -- body was discovered in a South Side alley, near her home in the
6500 block of South Marshfield Avenue, weeks after her family had reported her
missing. The case remains unsolved.
U.S. Rep.
Bobby Rush, D-1st, issued a $10,000 reward for “anyone who helps bring the
killer to justice.”
The
congressman expressed outrage at the slaying, and made a rallying plea for the
community to help solve the preteen's “mysterious strangulation” murder case.
“Someone
out there knows who killed Jahmeshia and they must muster the moral fortitude
and courage to come forward with what they know,” Rush said in a written
statement at the time. “Ten thousand dollars should be a large enough incentive
to loosen lips and open some mouths. We want justice for Jahmeshia so this
family and our community can move toward closure. None of us should rest until
the person who took her life is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Conner
was leaving church heading home on a Chicago Transit Authority bus Nov. 15, and
her family never saw her again.
The next
day they reported her missing.
The
Chicago Police Department's News Affairs office said the body was found on that
November morning behind the 6400 block of South Marshfield Avenue, a block away
from her home.
Days
later the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed the body was
Conner's, and that she had been strangled to death.
Police
faced criticism for their handling of the girl's disappearance, with family
members saying the CPD didn't do enough to get the word out that Conner was
missing.
Anyone
with information about Conner's death, please call Area 1 at 312-747-8380.
Copyright
2011 Chicago Defender
