Comic Champions 'Forgotten' Lost Kids

Sept. 30, 2002 -- Thanks to one comic book writer-activist, superheroes are coming to the aid of "forgotten" missing children.

Alonzo Washington, a Kansas City father of seven and creator of comic hero Omega Man, has been appalled at the lack of national attention some missing children have received. Elizabeth Smart, Samantha Runnion, and Danielle van Dam all became household names this year as their tragic disappearances made frontpage headlines and received almost daily coverage from all the major national news organizations.

But what about Diamond and Tionda Bradley, two Chicago girls who have been missing since July 2001? Or Laura Ayala and Jahi Turner, a Houston-area girl and San Diego boy whose disappearances have been a mystery since March and April? And what about Dannarriah Finley, a 4-year-old Texas girl whose abduction from her home and slaying this past July remains unsolved? Or Alexis Patterson, the Milwaukee girl who has been missing since she disappeared while on her way to school in May?

The list goes on and on, and unless you live in Texas, Illinois, or Wisconsin, these missing children may not be so familiar. Both Alexis Patterson and Diamond and Tionda Bradley received some limited national coverage, but not the daily updates that surrounded the van Dam and Smart cases. Jahi Turner also received some initial attention but his case has stalled and been all but forgotten in the national headlines.

Washington hopes to both revive — and in some cases spark — national interest in these lesser-known missing children through his comic hero creations. He is including their pictures and profiles in his independent comic book Omega Man, in his trading cards and in a line of his superhero action figures.

"I was appalled at the lack of coverage some of these missing African-American children were getting compared to some of these missing white children," said Washington. "Children like Elizabeth Smart, Samantha Runnion, Danielle van Dam — people know who they are and they have remained in the American people's consciousness," Washington continued. "But I would be willing to bet no would know who the Diamond and Tionda Bradleyes or the Alexis Pattersons or the Dannarriah Finleys are unless they're following the cases. For some reason, these children's names do not remain in the American public's consciousness, and I'm trying to change that."

A Socially Conscious Hero

Washington created Omega Man 10 years ago to give African-American readers a positive, socially conscious black superhero, which he said had been lacking in the comic book industry. Omega Man has tackled issues such as drug abuse, gang violence, black-on-black violence and racism over the years. It seems only natural that the superhero and Washington, who has been a community activist in his resident Kansas City since he was 16, would take on missing children.

However, "forgotten" missing children like Alexis, Dannarriah and Jahi would not be featured in Omega man storylines. Their pictures and profiles, along with law enforcement contact information and child safety tips would appear in the centerfold pages of the comic books and on trading cards.

Washington hopes to have a comic book dedicated to Alexis Patterson out next month. Trading cards featuring Omega Man and Alexis and Jahi and other missing children are in production, and Washington will also have their pictures and case profiles on the back of packages holding action figures of Omega Man and another superhero, Original Woman, expected in stores in time for the Christmas shopping season.

Washington has already dedicated trading cards and one issue to two missing children: in July, Omega Man focused on "Precious Doe," an unidentified girl whose gruesome beheading has baffled Kansas City authorities for more than a year because no one has claimed her remains, and Rilya Wilson, the 5-year-old Florida girl who was missing for more than a year before the state's Department of Children and Families [DCF] even noticed. At one point, authorities suspected Precious Doe and Rilya were the same child but palm prints failed to match the two girls. Rilya remains missing today.

"I was one of the first people who started rallying for Precious Doe and I helped get 5,000 signatures to get media attention for her," Washington said. "Our goal was to get Precious Doe the kind of attention that a JonBenét Ramsey received, but that didn't turn out that way. She only really started to get attention when the Rilya Wilson case came up. I thought to myself that more people seem to care about a couple of white students cheating on an exam in Kansas than a black child decapitated in Missouri."

Getting Attention By Being Ignored

Washington's campaign does not mean that he believes the van Dam, Smart and Runnion cases should not have received the attention they did. He just believes the media should be more fair and balanced in its coverage of missing children.

"I applaud the media's efforts. I know the media has a job to do and that they can't follow everything," Washington said. "But I've had white parents come up to me and tell me how appalled they were that they didn't know about the Alexis Patterson case … that they had no idea about the case. I think the American public is more open-minded than the national media gives it credit for."

The irony of the Alexis Patterson and Rilya Wilson cases is that they have received national attention for being overlooked by the media and a negligent foster care system, respectively.

"And that's a problem," said Washington. "Even with Rilya Wilson, most of the stories did not focus on the search for this little girl or who she is but the failure of the DCF and how children were slipping through the cracks."

Giving Stalled Cases a Jump-Start

Experts have said that the amount of coverage of a missing children depends on a variety of factors, including the circumstances surrounding the disappearance, whether a killing is suspected, how other competing news organizations are covering it, and often the grieving parents' media savvy and economic resources.

"The cases we tend to see [in the media] involve young children, usually white. … The families are usually articulate because the more articulate you are, the more effective you are in telling your story and the more effective the law enforcement response," said Georgia Hilgeman, executive director of the Vanished Children's Alliance. "Part of it is having the resources [to attract continued media attention]."

Washington hopes to change the course of various stalled missing children's cases — and breathe new life into them — one comic book, one card and one action figure at a time.

"The way a case is covered affects the way a case is investigated," he said. "The more media attention a case receives, the more tips that are phoned in. The tips are not always good, but they come in. More media attention may even make a suspect feel more pressure and slip up. The less media attention a case receives, the quicker the tips trail off."

Omega Man comic books and trading cards featuring missing children can be found at various comic book specialty stores. The action figures will be sold at Wal-Mart, Toys 'R' Us, Osco Drug stores and Kaybees. More information about Washington's campaign for missing children can be found at www.omega7.com.