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After four years of searching, friends and family haven’t given up hope for the safe return of missing teen Yasmin Acree, and tonight their prayers will receive national attention when her story airs as part of the 10-episode docu-drama series, Find Our Missing.
Yasmin was 15 and a freshman honors student at Austin Polytechnical Academy when she disappeared Jan. 15, 2008. Her loved ones have continued to encourage the community and police to keep looking until she is is found.
Find our Missing, launched Jan. 18, was designed to put names and faces to people of color, like Yasmin, who’ve disappeared without a trace. Each episode tells the story of a missing person or persons, beginning with the day they vanished and the frantic searches by loved ones and investigators to find them.
“Nearly one-third of the missing in this country are black Americans, while we make up only 12 percent of the population. Yet stories about missing people of color are rarely told in the national media,” Wonya Lucas, president and CEO of TV One, the network airing the series, said in a press release.
The episodes will chronicle the investigations into the disappearances and why the search for them so far has only turned up dead ends. Each episode delves into the mystery surrounding one or two disappearances, and will call viewers to action, providing them with contact information for the specific police and local FBI offices handling the cases if they have any information about the missing.
“Though these victims may be gone, through this show we want to say they are no longer forgotten,” actress S. Epatha Merkerson (NBC’s Law & Order) said in a press release. “I am honored to host Find Our Missing and hope that my participation not only can help shine the spotlight on the plight of missing people of color, but that we can help uncover some answers and ultimately find justice for the sake of those missing and their families and friends.”
Viewers in Chicago can watch Yasmin’s story at 8 p.m. on Comcast Cable channel 172.
Yasmin’s loved ones gathered Jan. 14 to mark four years since Yasmin disappeared.
Our partners at the Austin Weekly News watched as friends, family and neighbors prayed and sang in hope of her safe return. To read the story by reporter Jeramie L. Bizzle, click here.
The Chicago Police Department released a flyer yesterday from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children with information about Yasmin’s disappearance. Officials are urging residents to post it throughout the community and join the search.
The family is offering a reward of $5,000 to anyone with information that will help solve the case. Those with information should call detectives at: 1-800-843-5678.
To read past coverage about Yasmin’s disappearance published by AustinTalks, click here.