Mississippi Cops Buried a Missing Man. His Family Only Found Out When NBC News Revealed It.
An NBC investigation revealed how Jackson, Mississippi, police keep burying people in pauper's graves after failing to inform their families about their deaths.
Jonathan David Hankins died in a Jackson, Mississippi hotel room last May. Even though police were quickly able to identify the body of the 39-year-old, they failed to inform his family—even after his mother reported him missing.
Eventually, Jonathan was buried in a pauper's grave on the grounds of a nearby penal farm. His family didn't know what happened to him until an NBC investigation revealed the misconduct.
"It feels like they threw him away like trash," Jeannie Jones, Jonathan's aunt, told NBC. "No caring. No feeling."
According to Gretchen Hankins, Jonathan's mother, he left her Florence, Mississippi, home on Friday, May 20, 2022, telling her he was planning on meeting some friends and promising to return for Sunday dinner.
Gretchen told NBC that she was used to Jonathan, who was addicted to meth, leaving for days at a time. But when he didn't come back that weekend, she became alarmed. After calling nearby jails and hospitals in search of her son, she reported him missing to local police in July.
While no news immediately came, Gretchen says she regularly contacted the Rankin County Sheriff's Office for over a year, hoping for news about her son, only to be continually told there was no new information.
However, Jonathan had in fact been found dead in a Jackson, Mississippi, hotel room just three days after he left home—before his mother even reported him missing. Law enforcement swiftly identified his body. But despite being present at the scene, neither the Hinds County coroner's office nor the Jackson Police Department informed Jonathan's family. In September, the county had him buried at a Jackson area penal farm.
"That's ridiculous," Gretchen told NBC. "Going that dang long and not calling people, that's just inhumane. It's wrong. It's just wrong."
This isn't the first time Jackson, Mississippi, police have buried someone in a pauper's grave after failing to inform their family of their death. In March, 37-year-old Dexter Wade was struck by a police cruiser just hours after leaving his mother's house. Law enforcement failed to inform his family for seven months—allowing his body to go unclaimed and eventually burying him in a penal farm.
Following Wade's death, NBC launched an investigation into other individuals buried on the same penal farm, which is how they found Jonathan Hankins—and were finally able to notify his family about his death.
"What if there wasn't a Dexter Wade?" Brooks Davis, who runs the website MissingSippi, told NBC. "What if his mama didn't figure out what she figured out and exposed these problems? How much longer would this family be going through this? Would they have ever found out?"
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That MI6 agent that hacked Bill Clinton was found dead, stuffed into a locked duffel bag. Apparent suicide.
We need a special hashtag or category of news story where “family of long-time homeless meth addict upset when something bad happens at the very, very, very end and there’s a big-money lawsuit to be filed.”
#FuckedAroundFoundOutNowMomma’sGonnaGetPaid?
Nah, too long.
#BabyMommaDeadPoolWinners?
Found the bootlicker. It always amazes me that you guys can defend the most evil and corrupt acts imaginable.
I’ve known a couple ex cops who quit the in part job because they didn’t like being the bearers of bad news.
Looks like these guys solved that problem by just keeping the bad news to themselves.
That Dexter Wade case from March, wasn’t it the case that they at least attempted to inform the mother and she didn’t answer her phone or return their call?
Considering that the link provided to the story is also Reason’s, the comments are there to say “Yep”.
The cops tried _one_ phone call, and gave up. IMHO, only sociopaths do death notices by telephone when it’s only a drive across town to go there in person.
Gretchen told NBC that she was used to Jonathan, who was addicted to meth, leaving for days at a time.
He was gonna OD at some point. I don’t know why she’s upset she found out about it late.
“It feels like they threw him away like trash,”
So, WAS he trash?
“…Jonathan, who was addicted to meth, leaving for days at a time.”
I’m guessing yes.
AFAICT, they disposed of the clump of cells after a 156th trimester abortion. #MyBodyMyChoice
The actual facts, clearly stated in the very NBC report that Ms. Camp links, are that the police didn’t identify this guy (he had no ID on his body), and the police didn’t bury this guy. The Hinds County coroner’s office made the identification after his body was removed from the scene and no police were around, and the Hinds County coroner’s office discharged him for burial, again with no police involved.
So, the headline, the subhead, and the first paragraph of this story are all blatant, explicit falsehoods, either with the purpose of deliberate deception or with reckless disregard for the truth.
If we’re lucky, the Jackson Police Department will sue Ms. Camp and Reason for libel, and we will finally be rid of this absolute dumpster fire of an “assistant editor” when it becomes clear she’s not merely an incompetent who does nothing but paraphrase news reports and press releases, but an actual liability.
Will suck a lawsuit pass the Sullivan threshold?
I mean, I guess she could claim that she is so stupid that she was unable to understand that what she wrote was in direct contradiction to what was said by her sole source, and that therefore she did not harbor any doubts about the truth of a proposition she personally invented and failed to check against her sole source.
In which case, it would be nice to have that on the record, so that if Reason publishes her in the future, it would clearly be reckless disregard if they didn’t double-check her first.
“It feels like they threw him away like trash,” Jeannie Jones, Jonathan’s aunt, told NBC. “No caring. No feeling.”
Oh man, that’s terrible. Absolutely heartbr…
Gretchen told NBC that she was used to Jonathan, who was addicted to meth, leaving for days at a time.
…and you lost me. Sorry not sorry.
When your kid is on drugs GET HIM OFF DRUGS. Period. End of sentence. If you can’t be bothered to gather every resource, pull up every stake, and do everything possible to get your kids off drugs – then you don’t actually care about your kids. Don’t expect to be believed otherwise when they’re finally found under a numbered grave.
“That’s ridiculous,” Gretchen told NBC. “Going that dang long and not calling people, that’s just inhumane. It’s wrong. It’s just wrong.”
No, what’s inhumane is watching your own child get addicted to drugs, not giving a crap, and then crying foul when nobody else does either when they come across his junkie corpse. What’s wrong is expecting cops to subordinate their much higher priorities to some junkie loser having rode the junkie train to its final destination in some hotel room.
How much longer would this family be going through this? Would they have ever found out?”
Who cares. When you don’t care about drugs and their unredeeming absolutely destructive effect on society, this is the world you ask for. The world you demand, good and hard.
I absolutely believe that the hand of mercy and compassion should be extended to those who struggle with or whose kin struggles with addiction. I also believe that those who ignore it, slap it away, or otherwise choose not to take it – well, don’t act shocked and offended when efforts are turned toward people they have a better chance of helping.
When your kid is on drugs GET HIM OFF DRUGS
I wonder why no one ever thought of this elegant solution before.
Pssh, right?
Instead it’s always a bunch of highly dubious arguments about why they can’t, shouldn’t, or won’t.
Unfortunately, the services of funeral companies are something that none of us can avoid in life, and I believe that it is better to be prepared in advance. Especially if there are elderly people or people with health problems in your family or friends. Visit the website of Newrest Funerals, which provides a low cost funerals service and a wide range of other services that will be more or less budget friendly.