GUILTY OR - Yashanee Vaughn, 14, Portland, 19 March 2011

pdxmama

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I just saw this on KATU as a reader submitted story, haven't seen any reports in local news.

"She is 5'2’, African American and weighs about 115lbs. Her hair is usually shoulder length and she has a “bold bright smile,” her family says.

She was last seen Saturday, March 19, getting onto a TriMet bus headed for Vancouver to visit a relative, wearing yellow sweats, navy blue converse, and a black leather jacket."

http://www.katu.com/younews/118620449.html#commentform
 
A quick Google search shows her story has been submitted to several blogs, Facebook, etc. but I haven't found her on NCMEC or any other major missing persons site. I have also seen comments under blog posts and reader submitted stories about the lack of coverage of this case. I hope she is safe somewhere.
 
http://lostnmissing.amplify.com/2011/03/24/missing-yashawnee-laface-vaughn-14/
Poster:

Family and friends of a missing 14-year-old are desperately looking for information that might lead them to the whereabouts of the young girl.

Yashawnee Vaughn, a student at Helensview School, was last seen at around 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 19, at the number 72 TriMet bus stop at Thompson Street and 82nd Avenue near Madison High School.

She is an African American about 5’2” tall, weighs 115 pounds and her hair is usually shoulder length.

Her mother Shaquita Louis told The Skanner News that she was on her way to visit with a close friend, but failed to show up. In the hours before her disappearance, she had met with a male friend at the Taco Bell at Thompson and 82nd Ave., eaten dinner and departed the restaurant.

She said family friends saw her waiting at the bus stop minutes before she made her last phone call.
 
I got a press release from the Portland Police in my email today and then noticed that there is finally some news coverage. From KPTV.com:

"Officers say Yashanee Vaughn was reported as a runaway March 21.

Detectives say they now consider this a missing person’s case because she is not showing up at her regular hangouts."

http://www.kptv.com/news/27351652/detail.html

I see now that she was reported as a runaway 2 days after the original reports we saw said she went missing (on March 19th.) I understand that this was the reason for the delay in reporting this story. That being said, this is a 14 year-old child and the fact that she has been gone for a week before she got any media coverage because it was felt she had run away makes me crazy.

A 14 year-old who has run away is very likely in danger also and we need to be out looking for them. It terrifies me that children can be out on the street with no one trying to find them because assumptions are made about their ability to take care of themselves.

I am praying for this sweet girl and hope she comes home safely.
 
Police search for missing girl heats up after family phones city leaders, papers city with fliers

shawneejpg-cde6263c142e3f53.jpg


After learning later that weekend that Vaughn had never connected with her friend, Louis called Portland police to report Vaughn missing. But the officer who took down the missing person report classified her as a runaway, instead of as missing.

The family thinks police made that decision because Louis reported Vaughn as a runaway the year before. In that instance, Vaughn climbed out a window and ran to her father's house after an argument with her mother.

Hayes said no matter what the history, Vaughn would not just vanish. "Even if there was a warrant, she wasn't going to run from that," Hayes said. Vaughn's record consisted of theft and fighting counts -- "It wasn't like she murdered anyone or anything like that," Hayes said.

The family contends that police wasted valuable time when her granddaughter first went missing.
 
Do we know where Yashawnee's friend's house was that she was going to visit?
 
Is that area of 82nd still considered... not the best side of town? Its been almost 3 years since I lived in Ptown... But then, it wasn't the safest neighborhood. :twocents:
 
Is that area of 82nd still considered... not the best side of town? Its been almost 3 years since I lived in Ptown... But then, it wasn't the safest neighborhood. :twocents:

It is a place I wouldn't want to be out at night. My friend lives right near 82nd and Thompson and she says there is always police activity around there, drug deals, prostitution. It's not the worse part of town but not the best by far.
 
Portland is one of the largest sex trafficking areas in the US.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/28/portlands-dark-world-of-child-sex-trafficking/
State police report encountering three to five trafficking victims a week. Although the Sexual Assault Resource Center, an advocacy group that offers services to Portland-area victims, estimates that it handled 75 cases in 2009, it also says that for every girl in its system 10 more are still being exploited.

http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Portland-takes-on-child-sex-trafficking-106890533.html
The FBI says it recovered three girls in a child sex trafficking sting operation that resulted in prostitution charges against 19 adults in the Portland area.


I don't know if this is what happened or not,but it is a possibility.
 
It is a place I wouldn't want to be out at night. My friend lives right near 82nd and Thompson and she says there is always police activity around there, drug deals, prostitution. It's not the worse part of town but not the best by far.

Then that is exactly how I remember it. Not the worst, but def not a place to be alone at night, espescially being a 14 yr old girl. I think it is a high probability that she ran into trouble at the bus stop, or soon after boarding a bus. Do the trimet busses have cameras? I know the max does, but not sure on busses.

It could have been someone she knew, or a stranger, you just never know.... :twocents:
 
Per FB missing page,
Sat., 4/2/11, 9a to 12pm
Search , Powell Park - Hoyt Arboretum Steven Pavillion,, SE 26th and Powell Blvd
Searchers needed.

4/2/11, candlelight vigil, 7pm to 9pm, Powell Park
==

4/3/11, search, 9am to 11am, Powell Park
 
How sad, rest in peace Sweetheart....

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/03/portland_police_say_yashawnee.html

Portland police say Yashawnee Vaughn, a missing Southeast Portland girl, is dead; teen arrested, accused of murder


"Portland police have arrested a 16-year-old boy on an allegation of murder in the disappearance of 14-year-old Yashawnee Vaughn.

Evidence suggests Vaughn was killed on Saturday, March 19, the same day she was last seen and two days before her mother called Portland police to report her daughter missing.

Police arrested 16-year-old Parrish Bennette in connection with Vaughn's death earlier today. He has been charged with one count of murder and is lodged in the Multnomah County Juvenile Detention Center....."

more at link
 

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