PA woman missing

[Peg]

Last seen on July 18; reward offered

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- The Philadelphia Citizens Crime Commission, with the help of a Philadelphia blogger, have launched a reward fund for information leading to Latoyia Figueroa, a 24-year-old pregnant mother of one who has been missing since July 18.

Figueroa went to a doctor's appointment with a male friend on that afternoon, police said, but did not show up to retrieve her 7-year-old daughter from day care later that day.

Stephanie Stephenson, a relative who raised Figueroa after her mother was killed when she was a toddler, told CNN that Figueroa, five months pregnant, left the friend's house in west Philadelphia "and disappeared."

Her cell phone -- a constant companion -- has gone quiet for the nine days she has been missing, and her bank has recorded no transactions.

"The Philadelphia police and the detectives are involved now, and they're making this their priority case," Stephenson said, adding that the very close family was bearing the strain "as well as can be expected."

"Her mother was my first cousin," she said. "We were raised together as sisters. ... We're holding up by the grace of God."

Philadelphia Police Lt. Frank Vanore said authorities have no suspects in custody.

"We're trying to interview everybody that she knew, but as far as leads or evidence found to show us something might have happened -- no," Vanore said.

Vanore said Figueroa was a victim of robbery in April, but police believe that was an isolated incident unrelated to her disappearance.

Santo Montecalvo, vice president of the Philadelphia Citizens Crime Commission, said the commission's reward fund had reached $10,000 Wednesday morning. And Richard Blair of Philadelphia has launched a drive for the reward fund through his blog, allspinzone.com.

"The Citizens Crime Commission does not have a way to make a donation online so we've taken up that task," he said.

Blair said he has been covering this story on his site because he does not think it has gotten the publicity it deserves.

"I just didn't feel that this story had been given any publicity -- young, black woman out of the ghetto. ... I want them to know that there's people out there thinking about them," he said.

Blair said he hopes fellow bloggers will not see this as a political issue, but will come together to increase publicity and donate to the reward fund.

"In a situation like this where you have a network of blogs working together, there's not politics to this story. This could happen to anyone of us," he said.

Meanwhile, family and friends have been searching a park near where she disappeared and passing out flyers with the diminutive, 5-foot-2 Figueroa's picture.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Philadelphia Southwest detective division at 215-686-3183.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/07/27/Phi...ing/index.html

Not quite an Amber Alert but equally important.

I was curious why this hadn't been up in here. Don't you think it's strange that the nation is awaiting news of the draining of a lake in aruba for a white girls body, and this young black pregnant woman has had very little air time. I saw this for the first time yesterday and thought it must have been a typo on the date or something..

[nvalleyvee]

It seems if you are not a child or a young white woman the media doesn't care. It's a good thing BTS is at work because the lack of this kind of coverage enrages him. I'm sure he'll have many choice words for the media's intentional disregard for anyone who isn't either a child or a young white woman. BTW - I share his anger.

[nvalleyvee]

Hey Peg - did you notice the similarity between your avatar and her picture?

My 'honest to god' first thought was that Peg would have it up here by morning, and here it was.. perhaps we should have her put in charge of media coverage nationwide on these events. might be a little more even handed, eh?

[minks]

Originally Posted by flopstock

My 'honest to god' first thought was that Peg would have it up here by morning, and here it was.. perhaps we should have her put in charge of media coverage nationwide on these events. might be a little more even handed, eh?

Ever wonder why so few missing adult males are reported like this. Anyway point in general with the vast spread of internet communication, every missing person (regardless of age, sex or race) shoud have this kind of info flogged all over the world wide web.

Sad story today out of our provinces capital. Young expecting mother was put to rest. She too went missing for days. Her husband was not allowed to attend the funeral. He is in custody, incidentally in a search party led by him, her body was found in an open field.
It is becoming epidemic these kinds of awful crimes.

[robinseggs]

Seems there are not enough details about the last time she was seen. I have read she was dropped off by boyfriend and I have also read that she was leaving a friends house....walking home alone..so which is it? My theory is that the April robbery IS related to this incident. I believe the boyfriend's ex-girlfriend robbed and hit her in the stomach or had some friend do it....(in April it reported) because she was hoping to make her lose the baby. If she is 5 months now, then she would have been newly pregnant/just announced it at that time.....It would have been the ex's first line of attack. When she didn't lose the baby, I believe the ex started hatching a plan to make this girl disappear.... from what missing girl's father says, the boyfriend has stayed involved w/ his ex. Well............... just a theory?? What do you think Ladycop??

[lady cop]

i am still reserving my opinion, i don't know enough about the players. i watched with great interest today as a large contingent of police academy cadets performed a grid search in a park...no word yet on whether anything found. but there had to be a reason they were in that location.

'Out of Thin Air'

[Peg]

Originally Posted by nvalleyvee

Hey Peg - did you notice the similarity between your avatar and her picture?

That's just spooky.

As far as I can tell, she has not been found yet. Anyone hear any different?

[lady cop]

8-15....still no clue. no body. no arrests.