Stepha Henry 22 NY last seen FL 5/07-Man chgd w/ murder waiting for trial

[bleachedblack]

Family Of Missing N.Y. Woman Suspects Foul Play

POSTED: 6:59 pm EDT June 8, 2007

MIAMI -- The family of a New York woman who has been missing since Memorial Day weekend is holding out hope she will come back home alive.

Stepha Henry, a 22-year-old honor's graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, was in South Florida to celebrate her younger sister's 16th birthday. She was last seen at Peppers Cafe in Sunrise on May 29.

Miami-Dade County police are focusing their investigation on a dark-colored Acura that Stepha Henry rode to the club.

Investigators said they have questioned the man who picked up Henry at her aunt's house in Miami Gardens. He reportedly said he and Henry separated at the club and she was there with other friends. He is not a suspect but police are trying to figure out why the Acura is missing.

Authorities, family members and Henry's friends at John Jay College said they suspect foul play. They said Henry is not the type of person to just run off without telling anyone.

Henry was preparing to apply to law school, while working as one of two interns with the president of the college.

Police told NBC 6's Amara Sohn that the last cell phone signal from Henry's phone came from the area of the club at around 4:13 a.m. Tuesday.

Anyone with information about the dark-colored Acura or Stepha Henry is asked to call Crimestoppers at 305-471-TIPS.

http://www.nbc6.net/news/13471433/detail.html

Edit to add to subject line : "Man chgdw/murder waiting for trial


edited to re-add photos

[klaasend]

Such a beautiful young lady.  I found her myspace site but it's set to private.  Looked for a facebook site with no luck.  I was hopeing to see if there was anyone leaving her messages about meeting in Miami.  I'll keep looking.

[MuffyBee]

I was thinking the same thing that Klaas posted:  What a beautiful young lady...And it appears she has worked hard to get an education, and it doesn't seem she would be the type to just take off on a lark.

[bleachedblack]

http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/

[sharon]

Can't find any updates on Stepha  

But I wanted to make sure that you all are aware that this extremely large and somewhat 'wild' event was beginning to get underway at the same time.

(It was really horrible the first year, has calmed down a bit in subsequent years. Good ol' Miami Beach )


Posted on Sat, May. 26, 2007

URBAN BEACH WEEK
On the beach, a hip-hop holiday

ALTHOUGH SMALLER CROWDS ARE EXPECTED, MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND WILL DRAW CAREFUL SCRUTINY FROM POLICE, ACLU

BY JOHN W. COX
jcox@MiamiHerald.com

As the daylight slipped behind the hotels, restaurants and neon-lit clubs in Miami Beach, Naomi Martin and Tamara Scott sipped at what remained of their strawberry daiquiris, eager for this weekend's swell of Urban Beach Week.

Scooters and policemen on bicycles zipped by, while the occasional Rolls Royce or Ferrari rolled down Ocean Drive. Instead of the salsa music that normally trickles out of Rumba Palace near Seventh Street, a disc jockey blasted hip-hop tracks from Jay-Z and Lil Jon.

''I've heard it's a wild weekend,'' said Martin, a graduate student at the University of Houston. She and Scott are among the throngs expected for the annual Memorial Day weekend that celebrates primarily hip-hop music and culture.

This year's partying is being closely scrutinized after last year's events resulted in more than 1,000 arrests -- most for misdemeanors.

Martin and Scott said they knew about Urban Beach Week's reputation but still decided to make their first trip to Miami Beach for Memorial Day weekend.

''Our friends said you haven't lived until you come here,'' said Scott, a nurse in Atlanta.

''We just came here to relax and have fun,'' she added.

As evidence of the city's efforts to avoid a repeat of last year, new police signs warn visitors to not double park, play loud music or carry open alcoholic beverages.

Although Miami Beach officials say they are still expecting perhaps as many as 200,000 Urban Beach Week visitors, crowds may be somewhat thinner this year.

''According to a survey conducted earlier this week, we're just a little behind last year at the same time,'' said Ginny Gutierrez of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Unlike in past years, when Miami Beach has tracked more than 100 events at dozens of venues connected with Urban Beach Week, this year only nine clubs have reported related bookings.

While most hotel managers said they were booked for the weekend, some have noticed a slip in business.

Marvin Sifontes, a manager at the Waldorf Hotel on Ocean Drive, said for the first time in five years the hotel isn't full for the weekend. He said he heard the area might have lost some of its usual urban crowd due to activities in Las Vegas.

Because of past issues, Sifontes said when the hotel is full they normally bring in extra security for the holiday weekend. Some hotels have taken the unusual step this year to offer free lodging to police officers as a visual deterrent to rowdy crowds.

''We usually have problems,'' Sifontes said. ``The crowd is very demanding. The volume of people has been ridiculous up to now.

``It's very common to see fights, and it's very common that people run out of the restaurant without paying.''

Arrests during last year's weekend nearly doubled from 2005 -- and represented 10 percent of Miami Beach arrests for all of 2006.

Some visitors last year charged that the increased arrests were also related to the largely black makeup of the crowds and alleged police engaged in racial profiling. Most early visitors this year seemed either unaware of the issue or were unconcerned.

Because of last year's arrests, the American Civil Liberties Union made several suggestions to the city about better ways to deal with this weekend's crowds.

ACLU members will observe police activity in the areas where most of the arrests took place last year, said Carlene Sawyer, president of the Greater Miami Chapter of the ACLU.

''We've had an experience over and over that when we show up as objective observers, police on the street check back with their managers and make sure that everything's being done right,'' Sawyer said. ``It's kind of like a watchdog type thing.''

Miami Beach will spend more than $1 million on programs that include about 100 Goodwill Ambassadors -- volunteers to serve as conflict buffers between visitors and the city -- said Miami Beach Assistant City Manager Hilda Fernandez. The city also eliminated street parking in the busiest parts of South Beach to give pedestrians more room and extended the hours of the city's answer center.

''Our priority is making sure that nothing happens and that people come and have a good time,'' Fernandez said.

Leon Williams, a middle-school teacher from Buena Vista, Ga., said he was here during last year's Memorial Day weekend, and he wouldn't change a thing. This year he flew down with seven of his friends on Wednesday and plans to stay for a week.

''I came down because I work hard hours,'' Williams said, ``and this is the perfect way to end my year in paradise.

[bleachedblack]

Foul play likely in missing NYC girl's case

(Miami - WABC, June 12, 2007) - As the parents of a missing New York woman search for clues in Florida to find their missing daughter, a family pastor arrived their today to lend his support.
Police say 22-year-old Stepha Henry was last seen getting into a car outside of a club over the Memorial Day weekend.

Eyewitness News reporter Kemberly Richardson is in Miami with details.

Investigators now tell Eyewitness News everything about this case wreaks of foul play, that Stepha Henry would not simply get up and take off. And there's another big missing piece to this puzzle -- something deeply troubling to her family.

During these trying times, Pastor Jeffrey Hayslett is a pillar of support for the Henry family. He came here to Miami from Heavenly Ministries in Brooklyn where he regularly holds service.

He's known Stepha's parents for years and watched her grown into a confident young woman -- a 22-year-old now missing for 15 days.

"She's very persistent. She would never give up faith, she would never give up hope," Pastor Jeffrey Hayslett said.

The investigation now involves dozens of officers from Miami-Dade County and areas north. Detectives from the aviation and homicide units are canvassing a several hundred square mile splice of South Florida.

"This is any parent's nightmare," Miami-Dade Police Commander Linda O'Brien.

Commander O'Brian says because of the circumstances surrounding Stepha's disappearance, foul play is likely.

"We have a tremendous amount of water in southern Florida so we're checking the canals and lakes and those sorts of things," she said.

The John Jay College graduate was last seen leaving her aunt's home with a male friend around one in the morning on May 29th. They came to a club in Ft. Lauderdale. An image was captured of Stepha inside.

She did check her cell phone voice mail around four that same morning. Her male friend told police he left the club early without Stepha.

As for the four-door dark colored Acura Integra they came to the club in, Commander O'Brien says "Their origination of the car they came in was unclear to us. The gentleman who picked her up, who is an acquaintance of hers, tells us that the car was borrowed, so we are still trying to get information on that."

For now, friends say it's not if Stepha comes home, rather when.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=5390027

[bleachedblack]

Family Hopes Missing N.Y. Woman Will Be Found

POSTED: 4:07 pm EDT June 13, 2007

http://www.nbc6.net/news/13497571/detail.html

[Karo]

This is a sad case, yet has not been covered much in the news.

Stepha's been added to America's Most Wanted:

http://tinyurl.com/2vdge6

[bleachedblack]

Car sought for clues to woman's Florida disappearance
POSTED: 1644 GMT (0044 HKT), June 16, 2007

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/06/15/florida.missing.woman/

[sharon]

Item in bold refers to previous post I made about 'hip hop weekend' on South Beach.


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cstepha15jun15,1,2368860.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Miami-Dade homicide unit enters search for missing New York woman

By Sofia Santana
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted June 14 2007, 9:33 PM EDT

 
As one of the biggest tourism weekends for South Florida wound down last month, Stepha Henry disappeared, likely after leaving a Sunrise nightclub.

Two-and-a-half weeks later, the search for the young Brooklyn woman has grown grim.
 
Miami-Dade homicide detectives recently took over the case from their missing persons unit, which began investigating after Henry's aunt in North Miami-Dade County reported her missing since the end of the Memorial Day Weekend on May 29.

Detectives have looked at cars that have been dumped in canals and traced the signal on the 22-year-old's cell phone.

But the widespread effort has yet to lead to Henry or clues to her whereabouts.

"I'm trying to stay positive," her tired mother, Sylvia Henry, said by cell phone while posting missing-person fliers in Broward on Thursday night.

She has temporarily relocated to South Florida from Brooklyn to look for her daughter, who is known for her big smile and bright attitude.

Stepha Henry had recently graduated from John Jay College in New York and was preparing to enter law school, relatives said.

"She is a happy person," Sylvia Henry said, meaning to explain that to her, happy people like her daughter just don't run away.

The case is very slowly beginning to garner national attention, with police saying it's possible that tourists who have since left South Florida may have valuable information without even realizing it.

Sylvia Henry has appeared on the Today show with a Miami-Dade police spokesman and the case also has been featured on MSNBC.

The crime show America's Most Wanted this week posted the details of Stepha Henry's case on its Web site and news outlets in New York are following the situation.

Still, police say all they have to go on is bits and pieces of information, including:

She was at Pepper's Café, in the 3800 block of North University Drive, Sunrise, on May 29, the night she vanished, wearing a black dress with a white T-shirt underneath.

She left with a man in a dark-colored Acura Integra.

Someone checked her cell phone voicemail around 4 a.m. the next day.

The cell phone now goes straight to voicemail, the signal practically untraceable.

Stepha Henry is black, about 5-foot-2 and 110 pounds. She has brown eyes and red hair that falls just past her shoulders.

Anyone who remembers seeing her on May 29, who has seen her since or who knows what happened to her is asked to call Detective Tom Romagni at 305-471-2400. Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous can dial Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.

[bleachedblack]

Brooklyn woman prays for niece gone missing on Fla. family visit

http://tinyurl.com/2o3fsa

[sharon]

http://www.miamiherald.com/772/story/143857.html


No clues in missing NYC woman's case
By MARCUS FRANKLIN
Associated Press Writer

Miami-Dade Police Dept. / AP Photo

This undated flyer provided by the Miami-Dade Police Dept. shows Stepha Henry. Henry, was last seen by relatives at their South Florida home on May 29 getting into a black sedan with a man. Henry, who was visiting the area with her 16-year-old sister, said she was going to a nightclub. Miami-Dade County police have said they don't know if foul play is involved and Henry's case is under investigation.


NEW YORK -- Police have tracked cell phone signals and examined abandoned cars, yet there's no trace of a woman who vanished last month after going to a Florida night club.

Miami-Dade County police have said they don't know whether foul play was involved in Stepha Henry's disappearance, but family members think something happened to the 22-year-old honors graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Henry was visiting relatives in the area with her 16-year-old sister and made plans for a friend's brother-in-law to pick her up on May 29, her aunt Daffodil Samuel said Sunday at the family's home in Brooklyn.

Relatives saw Henry get into a black sedan with a man. There is video of Henry at a Sunrise nightclub and police have said they have questioned a man who told them he left her at the nightspot.

No one has seen or heard from her since. Her cell phone goes straight to voicemail.

"She was a fighter," Samuel said of her petite niece. "I know they didn't take Stepha easily."

Samuel, who is the sister of Henry's mother, said her niece is fascinated by criminal cases and aspires to be a lawyer.

"She always wanted to be the lady Johnnie Cochran," Samuel said, referring to the late attorney who became nationally known after winning an acquittal of murder charges for O.J. Simpson.

Samuel said her niece often resisted her mother's tendency to inquire about her whereabouts and who she was with and once asked a relative to ask her mother to ease up.

"We just pray that whoever has her will release her so that she can come home and continue her life," Samuel said just before bursting into tears. "We're trusting in God and believing that He will do what He says He will do."

Henry's mother and father have been in Florida since the week their daughter went missing. Her mother has posted fliers seeking information and plans to stay there to keep searching; her father returned to New York on Sunday night.

"She is not going to leave Miami until we know what happened to our daughter," Steve Henry said of his wife, Sylvia.

[bleachedblack]

New Witness Comes Forward In Case Of Missing Woman

http://www.nbc6.net/news/13534976/detail.html

[festa]

According to investigators, the honors graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice and her friend went to a club where the two were captured in a promotions company video that authorities are now using as evidence in the case.  In the video, Henry is seen interacting with other people in the club who detectives are now interviewing, The Associated Press reports.  As for the man Henry was with, witnesses say at the end of the evening, he left without Henry and the car.

"The car is still missing. He tells us that he borrowed the car. So we're still trying to check the origin of the car, find out where it originally came from, who originally had the car, where the car is registered and, of course, we're still trying to find the car," said Linda O'Brien of the Miami-Dade Police Department.


OK, right now, I'm not liking the acquaintance - I don't get it, it's a borrowed car and it's not known the "origin" of the car - This guy, acquaintance "borrowed" the car, right? so "who" did he borrow it from? that's simple, right? he left without her?? in the car? come on?  and why don't we have a name here? why is he the "acquaintance?

She's missing, car's missing, someone got rid of this poor girl and the car.

Reverand Al wants more help, from the black community - I don't usually see eye-to-eye with him on everything - but he's right, the squeaky wheel gets the grease...you got to keep her name alive
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/06/24/2007-06-24_do_more_to_find_missing_says_rev_al-7.html

[Sleeks]

I agree with you on that one also Festa.  Rev. Al should FINALLY get involved in something positive!!!  Something doesn't sound right about that 'borrowed' car either.  I am thinking the same thing.  Something happened there.  And really are we talking borrowed or stolen???   I hope they are really looking into this and keep on that individual.  Don't let up for one second!!!

[SteveDinMD]

As relating to the case of Stepha Henry, it doesn’t seem that it should be so difficult to solve. She was driven to the nightclub from which she disappeared by a “friend.” When interviewed by police, the “friend” claimed to have left the club without Stepha and without the car. Police have yet to locate the car or determine who owned it. The “friend” claimed that he borrowed the car from a “friend of a friend.” Ok, who believes this nonsensical story??

It should take at most 20 minutes for investigators to trace ownership of the vehicle, assuming the “friend’s” story were true. That they have been unable to do so invites further questions:

1) “If you abandoned the car at the club, how did you get home?”

2) “Having supposedly abandoned the car where you parked it that night, what ever happened to it?”

3) “What did you do with the car keys?”

4) “Who lent you the car in the first place?”

5) “Weren’t you concerned about being unable to return the car to the friend whom you borrowed it from?”

Beyond this, who in the world borrows a car without knowing who owns it??? In all likelihood, this young woman is dead, and the odds are approximately 999 to 1 that the “friend” is either responsible or knows what happened. I don’t know, but it appears as though the investigators in this case are graduates of the Aruban Police Academy.

[mrs. red]

seems very similar to Immette St Gillen and I agree it has to be something to do with the "friend"....

that story and the fact that the car is missing is completey fishy!

I wonder why MSN refuses to cover this

[klaasend]

seems very similar to Immette St Gillen and I agree it has to be something to do with the "friend"....

that story and the fact that the car is missing is completey fishy!

I wonder why MSN refuses to cover this

It's been my observation that the family has to put themselves "out there".  If the family doesn't attempt to get the media involved it doesn't happen.  I'm sure it's very hard for some families to do though.

[festa]

I still don't get it! - why is the "friend" a mystery - no name here? - huh? - and he left without the car he "borrowed" - What did he do with the keys???? leave them with Stepha? the police aren't all over this guy?

To klaasend's point, AMW will have her as a feature tonight.  Her dad was on Greta, Reverand Sharpton has spoken out regarding this and other cases involving missing black people and the coverage and community support, and the family was out again today with flyers, but it does seem to need more coverage - and more info -

Here's the latest:

Family's Desperate Search Continues

POSTED: 10:49 am EDT June 30, 2007
UPDATED: 10:59 am EDT June 30, 2007


SUNRISE, Fla. -- A family's desperate search for a missing daughter and sister continued Saturday, with volunteers passing out flyers in the hunt for Stepha Henry.

It's been a little over a month since the 22-year-old New York student vanished from a nightclub in Sunrise. On Saturday night, her story will be featured on the popular television show, "America's Most Wanted."

[sharon]

http://www.miamiherald.com/467/story/156978.html


Missing woman's family searches, seeks closure
A month after a recent college graduate disappeared in South Florida, the woman's family and friends are keeping the search alive.

BY JENNIFER MOONEY PIEDRA
jmooney@MiamiHerald.com

Sylvia Henry came to South Florida a month ago in search of answers.

But she still hasn't found what she is looking for.

Henry's 22-year-old daughter, Stepha, has been missing since May 29, when she was last seen partying at a Sunrise nightclub.

As Miami-Dade police continue to investigate the disappearance, Henry's family and friends worry that she is going to be forgotten.

''We want to keep Stepha on everyone's minds,'' said Miramar resident Nestor Byer, a friend of Sylvia Henry.

On Saturday, a group of about 50 friends and strangers took to the street and handed out ''missing person'' fliers bearing two photos of the petite woman.

At University Drive and Oakland Park Boulevard, the volunteers knocked on car windows and passed fliers to drivers.

Sylvia Henry was leading the charge.

''I'm in agony, so much pain,'' she said.

``I just want to get my daughter back.''

After learning of Stepha's disappearance, Sylvia Henry left her home in Brooklyn and headed to South Florida. She has been here ever since.

Sylvia Henry said she will continue looking for clues about what happened to her oldest daughter, who recently graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Henry had been visiting Miami for an annual Memorial Day weekend trip. She was staying with her aunt and cousin in Miami Gardens.

The night before she disappeared, Henry told relatives she was getting a ride to Peppers Cafe, 3828 N. University Dr., from someone in a black Acura.

A videotape from the nightclub shows Henry was there. Where she went after that remains a mystery.

Her mother said Henry wouldn't just run off. Something bad happened to her, she said.

''I know that she wouldn't go with a stranger willingly,'' Sylvia Henry said. ``She would not stay away so long.''

Janet Bohair, 68, of Plantation, never met Henry, but feels connected to her because they are both from Trinidad.

Bohair spent a few hours Saturday holding up a T-shirt with Henry's photo and handing out fliers.

''It's a month since this happened,'' she said.

``We need some closure. We need to know what's going on.''

Though Sylvia Henry hopes her daughter is still alive, she knows she may not be.

''God has his way,'' she said. ``Whatever God wants for her and me, He will do.''