Find Our Missing, TV One's new show focusing on missing African Americans premiered last week. Episode 2 airs tonight and the hosts of The View interviewed a grieving mother.
Find Our Missing host S. Epatha Merkerson, a veteran of "Law & Order" appeared this morning on The View along with Ayanna Patterson, who spoke about her daughter Alexis who went missing in 2002. Video of the interview posted below.
Alexis Patterson would be 17 years old now and her mother still holds out hope she will once again see her child. Although the case remains open, it is considered a cold case.
Find Our Missing's mission is to get national attention on the plight of those left behind with the hope that the American public can provide clues to their whereabouts in a similar way to "America's Most Wanted."
The difference is that the show concentrates on the African American community that the network and producers believe is underserved by national media. "The local and regional press does a good job. The national press doesn't really cover these stories to the extent that they should, and that's a void that TV One will now fill."
Background: Find Our Missing to shed light on missing black Americans and the network explains why.
During last week's premiere of the show, we learned about the cases of 47 year-old divorcee Pam Butler and 5 year-old Hassani Campbell, who was diagnosed with autism. Both stories present mysterious circumstances and seemingly inexplicable reasons why Pam and Hassani are among the missing. Read: Where in the world is Pam Butler
Alexis Patterson's case involves the second grader walking to school as she did each morning. Her mother Ayanna said the only difference on that sad day in 2002 was that Ayanna's stepfather took her there.
It is a one minute walk at most, Ms. Patterson said and she was unaware that anything was amiss until it was time for her daughter to return at the end of the school day.
When she went looking for an explanation from Alexis' teacher, she found out her daughter never made it to school that day.
What occurred next added to the shock and fear. The police were called but treated the case as if Alexis were a runaway, even though she was only seven years old. They suggested they wait a couple of days, over the weekend to see if she found her way home.
There was no Amber Alert ten years ago and precious time was wasted that could have been used to follow a trail that would have been less than 6 hours old
In the same year as Ayanna disappeared, both Elizabeth Smart and Lacy Peterson's cases made headlines and were covered daily by cable news shows. There was no such attention given to the case of Alexis Patterson.
Find Our Missing airs on TV One tonight, Wednesday at 10:00 p.m. EST. Image: Wikimedia Commons
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