Missing Hunter Student Case Reopened Five Years after Her Death
Tatyana Gulko
Issue date: 5/14/08 Section: News
Almost exactly five years ago, Romona Moore, 21, a Hunter College student and child of a Guyanese immigrant was raped and murdered. Moore spent four days locked in a basement only a few blocks from her home and was beaten to death by two men on the same day that the police began their search. Moore was discovered as a result of her family's own investigation, before the police found her.
Now, according to the Village Voice, a Brooklyn federal judge has, "reopened the case in a historic ruling about racial bias in the search for missing New Yorkers."
"I don't see any other reason but race and class," said Elle Carmichael, Moore's mother, about the NYPD's initial lack of involvement in her daughter's case. "If this was a white kid, they would never had done this. I had to say to the detectives one day: 'You know, I feel the same emotions and pain as a white person,'" she told Sean Gardiner of the Village Voice.
Carmichael recalled the earlier incident of Svetlana Aronov, the white wife of a doctor, who went missing on the Upper East Side when she left to walk her dog. The police immediately launched a full-blown investigation one day after the woman was reported missing.
It took calls from local politicians demanding action from the police before the police opened Moore's investigation. And by then, it was too late.
Carmichael is now able to proceed to trial with a civil-rights lawsuit, in which she claims that the NYPD has a "practice of not making a prompt investigation of missing-persons claims of African Americans, while making a prompt investigation for white individuals," according to the Voice.
Soon after Moore's death, City Councilman Charles Barron led a group of politicians in proposing "Romona's Law." The law would require that police immediately open an investigation of the disappearance of anyone younger than 25 years old who is reported missing. Currently, the NYPD's patrol guidelines only order immediate investigations if the missing persons are physically or mentally disabled, or under the age of 16.
Now, according to the Village Voice, a Brooklyn federal judge has, "reopened the case in a historic ruling about racial bias in the search for missing New Yorkers."
"I don't see any other reason but race and class," said Elle Carmichael, Moore's mother, about the NYPD's initial lack of involvement in her daughter's case. "If this was a white kid, they would never had done this. I had to say to the detectives one day: 'You know, I feel the same emotions and pain as a white person,'" she told Sean Gardiner of the Village Voice.
Carmichael recalled the earlier incident of Svetlana Aronov, the white wife of a doctor, who went missing on the Upper East Side when she left to walk her dog. The police immediately launched a full-blown investigation one day after the woman was reported missing.
It took calls from local politicians demanding action from the police before the police opened Moore's investigation. And by then, it was too late.
Carmichael is now able to proceed to trial with a civil-rights lawsuit, in which she claims that the NYPD has a "practice of not making a prompt investigation of missing-persons claims of African Americans, while making a prompt investigation for white individuals," according to the Voice.
Soon after Moore's death, City Councilman Charles Barron led a group of politicians in proposing "Romona's Law." The law would require that police immediately open an investigation of the disappearance of anyone younger than 25 years old who is reported missing. Currently, the NYPD's patrol guidelines only order immediate investigations if the missing persons are physically or mentally disabled, or under the age of 16.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Alice Blaker
posted 3/16/09 @ 9:01 AM EST
That looks like lots of fun. When I was in college we didn't had so many fun activities.
Mandy Ackers
posted 3/20/09 @ 11:38 AM EST
Wait for next writes!
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