Yesterday's episode of Nancy Grace featured three missing girls from Florida. One of them, Yansis Massiel Juarez, is one of the missing persons whose cases I follow. I was happy that she was featured since it does not seem to me like she gets much media attention.The photos come from The Charley Project and show Yansis with differing amounts of make-up.
From the online transcript (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0602/20/ng.01.html):
GRACE: Another girl missing in the Sunshine State out of Florida, nowYansis' Charley Project profile (http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/j/juarez_yansis.html):
unsolved. This young girl, Yansis Juarez, missing since May5, 2002. Last seen
by her own sister leaving her own home. Welcome back, everybody. Won`t you help
us tonight? Straight to investigative reporter joining us out of
Miami, Florida, Ismael Cala. Thank you for being with us, Ismael. Bring us
up-to-date.
ISMAEL CALA, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: My pleasure, Nancy. And as
you said, almost four years has passed since the last time we saw -- or the
family saw Yansis Massiel Juarez leaving her own house here in Miami. Yansis was
then 15 year old, and she`s born -- she was born in Nicaragua. And all what we
know so far until today is that she left the house. And a few days later, the
police learned about a farewell note that she left in the house. The family said
that they didn`t find the note until probably three or four days later after she
disappeared. The note was written in Spanish and has been translated into
English by Fernando Fernandez, the detective in charge of Yansis` case. And what
to say? It`s a Nicaraguan girl. She`s not an American, Caucasian, white female
girl. She was born in Leon, Nicaragua. And as I said, she came with her father
and siblings to the country claimed by Elda Rodriguez (ph), her mother, under
the Nicaraguan adjustment and Latin American Relief Act signed by...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: OK. OK. OK. OK. OK. OK. I get it. She`s not born
here. Don`t care! I want to hear the circumstances surrounding her disappearance
and what has been done to find her. Can you give me that, Ismael, in a nutshell?
CALA: Yes. Well, you know, the family called the police. Probably they lost
the first window, according to what the police told us. You know, they were
trying to search on their own, called the friend that she said that she would be
visiting. And probably five, six hours later, they made the first call to the
police, so that first window was lost to search for Yansis. And the police, the
city of Miami police detective who started handling the case. And of course,
they treated at the beginning as a possible runaway. A few days later...
GRACE: Oh, uh-oh. Go ahead.
CALA: A few days later, they learned some
pieces of information that got to them that were important to the case,
according to what they released on a news release on May 22, 2002. According to
sources, 15-year- old Yansis Massiel Juarez is part of gothic, a lifestyle that
includes devil worship...
GRACE: OK. OK. Got you.
CALA: ... witchcraft,
so they...
GRACE: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I`m not going to ruin this
girl`s chances of ever being found by labeling her as a Goth. Half the kids in
this country claim they`re Goth. That has no bearing unless it can be connected
to someone that was going to meet her, take her somewhere. In fact, it disturbs
me, Renee, that her case may be shoved aside because some people think Goth is
bad.
ROCKWELL: Yes, Nancy. And with the lack of resources with the police
department, when you have a police department that founds out somebody has run
away, sometimes they don`t put the attention needed.
GRACE: Man, you`re not
kidding. And to Detective Fernando Fernandez, he`s with the Miami P.D. in the
missing persons unit, Detective, thank you for being with us. What can you tell
us about the status of the case of Yansis Juarez?
DET. FERNANDO FERNANDEZ,
MIAMI POLICE: The case is active. We are constantly supervising the case. I`m
trying different ways...
GRACE: Well, what are you doing? What are you
supervising?
FERNANDEZ: Well, we supervise, for example, if there is an
application for a Social Security number, an application for an I.D. in another
state, a driver`s license. We are constantly sending the flyers through the
locator system, which is a network of police enforcement, that directs a flyer
directly to different law enforcement agencies throughout the country.
GRACE: Detective, Detective, where was she going when she left the house?
FERNANDEZ: She was going to a friend`s house, according to the
statement...
GRACE: OK.
FERNANDEZ: ... released by her sister.
GRACE: What would her route have been? Was she walking or driving?
FERNANDEZ: She would be walking.
GRACE: OK. How far away was it?
FERNANDEZ: No more than a mile.
GRACE: OK, a mile. And where was it exactly? Was it in Miami?
FERNANDEZ: In the city of Miami, yes.
GRACE: OK. What part of the city?
FERNANDEZ: In the south end of the city.
GRACE: And how long before police started serious searching for the girl?
FERNANDEZ: Well, the report was not given to us until hours later. And
after a report is taken, the first step is to put the information into the NCIC
system...
GRACE: Right.
FERNANDEZ: ... which is a system that takes the information...
GRACE: Right.
FERNANDEZ: ... nationwide.
GRACE: I just wanted to know how much time passed. And, Detective, thank
you for the information regarding NCIC.Rosie, could you put up this girl`s
picture again? Yansis Juarez, just 15 years old, a beautiful girl. Hey, hey,
hey, the other picture. I don`t want her all Gothed up. Maybe somebody can
recognize this. I doubt she`s wearing the Goth makeup today. To Dr. Robi Ludwig,
take a look at this. This is a gorgeous girl. Do you think this gothic lifestyle
had anything to do with her disappearance?
LUDWIG: Not necessarily. I mean, being Goth means you have an affiliation
with a melancholic view of the world. Having said that, any time...
GRACE: I thought it meant you`re mad at your parents so you wear black
lipstick.
LUDWIG: Which can make you sad. You know, right, I mean, adolescents flirt
with so many different roles that it doesn`t mean that she brought it on
herself. If anything, just being a adolescent, a beautiful girl, can make you
vulnerable to crimes and people who can`t help themselves with assaulting young,
vulnerable women.
GRACE: And to Marc Klaas, president, Beyond Missing, five hours passed.
Look, cases have been solved when a lot more time has passed than five hours
before the person`s reported missing. But in those five hours, what are the
stats, Marc?
KLAAS: Well, 74 percent of the children that are murdered as a result of an
abduction are murdered within the first three hours. But I think that this case
has some other interesting issues. First of all, there`s very little resource
for Spanish-language missing -- for Latina missing girls. You don`t find the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children with a mirror site in
Spanish. You have to depend upon the Spanish-language resources. It`s even
difficult to get a Spanish-language flyer made. What I would suggest is, if they
do that, and if they start passing that around in the Gothic section of Miami,
because there very well may be a connection between the things that she was
interested in then and the things that she`s doing now. There have been
sightings. I would inundate that area with Spanish- and English-language flyers.
GRACE: There have been sightings, correct?
KLAAS: As I understand, there have been sightings, and they come in on
rather a regular basis.
GRACE: This case is not over yet. Remember, when this girl went missing,
she`s just a little girl, 15 years old. She should be on the cheerleading team
and baby-sitting. Please help us tonight find Yansis Juarez. We`ll be back with
everyone on Yansis` case.But quickly to tonight`s "All-Points Bulletin." Law
enforcement across the country on the lookout for Lawrence William Fishman,
wanted in connection with the 1980 Maryland shooting death of his own father,
Frederick Fishman, a judge in the U.S. Department of the Interior.Fishman now in
his 50s on the lam, 5`11", 170 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes. If you have info
on Lawrence William Fishman, call the FBI, 410-265-8080.Local news next for some
of you, but we`ll all be right back. And, remember, live coverage of the
sentencing of the young man, Cody Posey, the New Mexico teen convicted of
gunning down his family, 3:00 to 5:00 Eastern Court TV. And tonight please stay
with us as we stop to remember Corporal Brett L. Lundstrom. He`s just 22, a real
American hero.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I have this other one here. It
makes me remember many things, and I feel really sad when I see her in this
photo. This is all the family, her cousin. This is her cousin who was with her
when she went missing. This was the last Christmas that we were all
united.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Won`t you help us find this 15-year-old young girl? Her name is
Yansis Juarez. She`s only been missing since 2002. There have been sights of her
in and around Miami. To Ismael Cala, he is an investigative reporter out of
Miami, Ismael, what can you tell me about this international cable show called
"Chat" that she actually was on?
CALA: Well, the show is about the Gothic movement and how teenagers get
into that. And Yansis was particularly asked about if she had been in connection
with the rituals, you know, those satanic rituals, let`s say sacrifices of
animals, self-mutilation...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Well, of course this girl had not been in a satanic ritual. That`s
insane.
CALA: No, no, she said -- exactly. She said that she hadn`t done it.
GRACE: She just celebrated Christmas.
CALA: Exactly. She said, "I haven`t done it, and I`m interested in learning
about them." That was the only things that she said on the show.
GRACE: But wait a minute, wait a minute. Very quickly, Detective Fernandez,
if this shows with this little girl was seen all across the world, this is an
international cable channel, what does that mean for your investigation as to
who took this girl?
FERNANDEZ: Well, we had to keep all our options open. So with the
information that we received, we have to investigate it, whether it is that
she`s involved in a Gothic or that she`s (INAUDIBLE) taken by somebody, we have
to make sure that we investigate every aspect of possible information...
GRACE: Well, did you? Did you investigate the show and leads from the show?
FERNANDEZ: Yes, ma`am. We investigated. We went to different locations
where the Gothics gather.
GRACE: Right.
FERNANDEZ: And different locations for dancing and things like that. And we
were able to determine that the majority of the Gothics are just there for the
style, the style of clothing.
GRACE: Right.
FERNANDEZ: And just to group themselves, just like hip-hops, or rappers, or
rockers in school, will gather, you know?
GRACE: To identify.
FERNANDEZ: Identify themselves.
GRACE: Detective Fernandez, thank you. And thank you to Ismael Cala.
CALA: Thank you.
GRACE: But I want to thank all of my guests tonight. Our biggest thank you
on my behalf and our staff is to you for being with us tonight, inviting us into
your homes again with our legal stories, our missing people stories. Coming up,
headlines from all around the world. I`m Nancy Grace signing off. See you here
tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp. And until then, good night, friend.
END
Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: May 5, 2002 from
Miami, Florida
Classification: Endangered Runaway
Date of Birth: August
16, 1986
Age: 15 years old
Height and Weight: 4'10 - 5'0, 90 - 110
pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Black hair, brown eyes. Juarez has
several piercings, including her ears, right eyebrow, and tongue. She speaks
little English.
Clothing Description: A black sweater and shirt.
Details of Disappearance
Juarez was last seen leaving her home in
Miami, Florida on May 5, 2002. She carried a small backpack at the time. She
said she was going to a friend's home, but never arrived there. Juarez has never
been heard from again. She is believed to have left of her own accord and may
still be in the Miami area. There have been several sightings of her around
Miami's Metro Rail train stations. Juarez is affiliated with the gothic
sub-culture and frequently wears all black, gothic-type clothing. Her case
remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency If you have any information
concerning this case, please contact: Miami Police Department 305-579-6111
You can also contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
You can print a poster of Yansis here.
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