Into thin air

Starnes and her family filed a formal complaint against the police in Yasmin’s case, contesting CPD’s claim that she was a runaway. About a year later police admitted they mishandled the initial investigation, but asserted de department had been pursuing the case. Starnes said she often wonders if her niece could have been found if evidence—like a broken lock—had been collected immediately, but said police since have had weekly contact with her about the status of the case.

For Starnes’ cousin, the Rev. Ira Acree, the Cleveland kidnappings and the grisly details surrounding them have given him mixed emotions about the search for Yasmin.

“Quite frankly, the way these girls in Cleveland were held hostage and violated sexually, for me, I have nightmares about that being the scenario and context in which she is living,” he said, adding that he still dismisses suggestions that she had run away. “Something in my spirit is not allowing me to conclude that she’s dead. This is 2013; nobody is able to just disappear into thin air.”

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