Wednesday, December 13, 2023

NBC Finds #645

 What the hell is going on in Hinds County? Apparently Dexter Wade was not the only one who disappeared".  NBC News reported: 

Jonathan David Hankins’ mother and teenage daughter were accustomed to his leaving for a few days at a time; he suffered from meth addiction, and knew not to enter their house when he was using. But this time, something had clearly gone wrong.

Gretchen went to the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office, where an investigator took a missing persons report. The sheriff’s office announced the search for Jonathan on Facebook, shared the case with local media and posted his information to a national law enforcement database. A group of volunteers combed nearby waterways.

Every few weeks for more than a year, Gretchen said, she contacted the sheriff’s office for news. Each time, they told her they had nothing. And the anguish dragged on....

But for investigators, the answer was always in reach.

NBC News solved the mystery this fall in a matter of minutes. As part of an investigation into people being buried in a Hinds County pauper’s field without their families’ knowledge, reporters examined a register of all the recent burials and compared it with a publicly available list of missing Mississippians. Jonathan’s name was on both.Rest of article.

After obtaining documents through public records requests to confirm the match, NBC News visited Gretchen at home in Florence, Mississippi, on Dec. 4 and shared what reporters had learned: Jonathan had been found dead on May 23, 2022, three days after leaving home, in a hotel room in nearby Jackson. Investigators quickly verified his identity. But the Hinds County coroner’s office and the Jackson Police Department, which both responded to the scene, failed to tell his family, and the county buried him in a grave marked only by a number: 645

The family retained attorney Ben Crump. 


So what is going on? Conspiracy? Laziness? Overworked investigators? What do the readers think? 


28 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's Hinds County, Mississippi. That alone explains everything.

Oh, and the JPD sergeant his killed the other poor soul with a patrol car wasn't "off duty." Yes, he was en route home, but an officer isn't "off duty" while driving a patrol car. If he had been injured in that fatal accident he would have been covered by worker's comp, etc. That is "on duty."

I suspect that we will never learn the rest of that story. Was he texting?

Anonymous said...

The one guy who was responsible for making the calls quit. Management did not fill the position.

Everyone Else: It's not my job.

Note: "It's not my job" is a perfectly acceptable excuse in the government sector and the fastest way to get fired in the private sector.

Anonymous said...

There is a culture of incompetence in Jackson government. It’s never been great, but under the current mayor’s example why would anyone on the city payroll think they actually have to DO a job. Under the mayor’s leadership you only have to be able to TALK about doing your job.

Anonymous said...

Laziness and incompetency. It is everywhere in Jackson and Hinds Co. They ran off all of the good employees.

Anonymous said...

The NBC article says the Hinds county coroner investigator said he notified a Jackson detective of the victim’s identity so JPD could notify next of kin.

Wasn’t there an article on this site stating JPD was down to only one detective for the entire city? If that’s how understaffed they are, the lack of follow through isn’t surprising.

Anonymous said...

Ben is being called the new "One call, that's all" king! Ho ho ho.

Anonymous said...

"There is a culture of incompetence in Jackson government." So true.

For those that don't know, culture is determined from the top down.

Anonymous said...

My primary problem with the film, 'Idiocracy', is that things run too well in that future dystopia. Vehicles are still operable. Scanners still scan. Brawndo still comes out of the water fountains. Things are simply too functional, for the movie to be plausible. One has only to drive across the border into Hinds County, to get a glimpse at what TOTAL DYSFUNCTION will really look like.

Anonymous said...

There have been three so far. Three buried and families found out later. This is dumbfounding to me.

Anonymous said...

It is interesting to see residents of Jackson be painfully forced to admit that Chucky is not the second coming.

So many residents defended him endlessly based on his charming lies, but even the village idiots can see he's a useless empty suit now.

It's a shame it took so long.

Anonymous said...

How is it possible that HC Law Enforcement and the HC Coroner could oversee recovery of a dead body that obviously had no identification on it without checking missing persons records or alerts? How is that possible? Even for incompetent Hinds County?

Anonymous said...

@ 2:34 - I spent some time a week or so ago showing you that's not universally true, although in this case, it is. Quit preaching that bullshit.

Anonymous said...

Don’t lay lol the blame on JPD, the Hinds County Coroner shares equally in this mess.

Anonymous said...

Incompetency, say some here, and they are correct in that assessment, leaving out though they did the smidgen of graft and a
soupçon of corruption. But "incompetent" why? Well, it's happening across the once great fruited plain, a veritable alphabet of failure: Atlanta, Baltimore (or Birmingham, take your pick), Chicago, Detroit, East St. Louis, and on and on, and I leave it to you, Dear Reader, to solve for the answer.

Anonymous said...

"It's Hinds County, Mississippi. That alone explains everything."

Yep.

No other placec/local government repeatedly generates stories like this.

"The fish rots from the head" - great Italian phrase.

Anonymous said...

I had a close friend pass away at home in Jackson in 2018 and the HC Coroner showed after a few hours, I’m told. Even though the grown daughter gave the relevant information to the DC that showed up, the death certificate named me as the informant. I’m a guy and was out of state at the time. Never did speak with anyone from the coroner’s office and daughter’s name wasn’t on related documents.

Anonymous said...

This is literally the Mayor hiding the bodies. Short and simple. Cornorer or whoever else, he still runs the show. Once is a mistake, twice incompetence. Three or more is a coverup.

Anonymous said...

December 13, 2023 at 4:21 PM, I'm not on this message board, every day, all day long, so I didn't see what you refer to.

What I do have is many, many years of dealing with various industries across this country. What is posted, by me, is from personal experience. If the top of the organization runs a tight ship, it flows through the entire company. If the top of the organization is sloppy, that also flows through the entire company.

I'll quit preaching, that bullshit you call it, when it is no longer true. Have a good evening.

Anonymous said...

Is every commentator on hear slow? She contacted the Rankin SO not the Hinds SO or JPD. Did they not think to ask the coroner? Check the pauper field burial records in the area? Of course not. NBC news did. I have people call me all the time needing help with something. Though incompetence is rampant in Hinds County, they don’t have a monopoly on it.

Anonymous said...

Not really hard to understand. As long as no one in the family claims the body the state or county assume the burial costs and trust me, these people know this. Wait a few months and claim you didn't know you had a family member to have died and also not notified. Get a lawyer, get on TV, and try for some settlement money.

Anonymous said...

A close relative passed away at home on September 3 of this year. In order to take care of all the necessary matters fowling a death a death certificate is needed. After numerous calls to the funeral home we contacted the Hinds County Coroners Office.
We finally received the much needed certificates yesterday 12/12, just over 3 months after the date of death.

Anonymous said...

@7:44 - Then you should have used the word sometimes, or often. Instead, you shotgunned your theory across the entire spectrum of business and industry.

I gave you, in an earlier discussion, examples of situations where a rotten culture exists that was NOT initiated 'from the top' and was outside the ability of management to control.

We can match 'dealing with many types of industries' any time you like.

Anonymous said...

You're incorrect, 1:13. An officer involved in an accident after his shift ends, even though in a 'company' vehicle, is not covered by workers' compensation.

If the officer either physically clocked out or went 10-7 over the PD radio system (and those are logged by dispatch), he is off the clock and on his own time. It matters not that the PD allows him to use the PD vehicle to get home. He is not covered by comp in this situation, nor should he be.

Anonymous said...

It would seem a statewide database that keeps track of all deaths within the state might be good idea. Then, anyone could access the records and check this online.

Of course if the death is never reported by the county coroner then it would not show up.

Anonymous said...

4:38 and they've ALL been run by Democrats for at least 2 DECADES. Check out the 15 most crimes ridden cities in America.

THIS IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE.

Law of Attraction.

You pay $120,000 mayor's salary. That's what you get. He graduated from one of the bottom 4 law schools.

Anonymous said...

The role of the coroner/chief medical examiner in this story is being ignored in the media.

The " qualifications" are a high school diploma and being at least 21.

Having worked in a funeral hope is seen as added " qualification".

It is the coroner or the State Medical examiner (same qualifications) that makes identifications and confirms cause of death.
They are supposed to notify the police.

The State Medical Examiner might could get by with being a good administrator if she could hire highly trained people and pay them and make sure they have the equipment they need

The important part of the story that the moment a body is discovered those who find the body, who identify the deceased and confirm the cause are overwhelmed, understaffed,under trained, poorly equipped and so underfunded that even the channels of communication in government break down from being outdated and useless.

It's amazing that if there is lack of identification on or near the body, that the deceased ever get identified.

And, I doubt very seriously the state or county is paying for increased training or continuing education for coroners or county law enforcement.

We are thrilled however with how many new and renovated buildings there are at Southern! The change is stunning...truly. We are thrilled with the improved roads to places that those we elect frequent.

Anonymous said...

7:44pm and 5:55 am

Government and industry are not the same. The " top" in a government agency has rules and regulations implemented from the legislature or someone appointed with zero knowledge of " making the widget".

The similarity is both are tormented by internal politics and often haven't a clue what is being experienced by those workers to implement nor or they do they know with certainty how qualified or experienced beyond the general job description they may be.

5:55 am has a "clue" and if 7:44 took business courses at all, he missed that the " lessons" were primarily based on business failures. Indeed, he'd know that successful CEO's elected to the same positions at other corporations nearly always fail and that's because he didn't acquire the same level of respect or excellent people he found rising through the ranks or didn't take time to get to know the new operating environment well enough to succeed.

CEO's and their yes man boards, like more than a few politicians. with their also dysfunctional boards, these days seem too often to believe they alone were the reason for success and dismiss the importance of the expertise of others who smoothed his path. They seek those who will fan their egos. The story of Blackberry might give 7:44 a hint or even documentaries sports franchises that failed. Too often now, CEO's steal the work product of others and claim it as their personal "genius".And, when they crash and burns they take many with them.


Anonymous said...

9:31 is the only person who gets this. Quit making everything a Hinds County rant.


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