The family of an Escambia County girl who has been listed as a missing person for more than three years wants to make sure her case has not been forgotten.
The family of 13-year-old Jadekiss McNeal says she was reported missing Dec. 21, 2015. Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan, however, told media that Jadekiss was not reported missing until March 15, 2016.
The two parties held separate press conferences Thursday afternoon.
Despite the discrepancies in the date and details surrounding Jadekiss’ disappearance, both family and law enforcement say they want to find her and bring her back home.
How did Jadekiss disappear?
Jadekiss and her sister, Jasmine Forney, now 18, had been living with their grandmother, Frances Mosely, after the girls’ mother had died.
Forney said she was one of the last people to see Jadekiss the night she vanished. She said she had been doing dishes that night in her grandmother's kitchen when her little sister walked outside to sit on the front porch.
According to Forney, McNeal never came back inside. But about 10 days later, a mysterious bag appeared on the family’s front porch. The bag, they claimed, contained the exact clothes that McNeal had worn the last time she was seen Dec. 21, 2015, as well as several cellphones.
The family claims they reported Jadekiss missing that night, and the bag as soon as it was found.
Sheriff Morgan, however, said Jadekiss was not reported missing until March 15, 2016, during a standard welfare check by the state Department of Child and Family Services.
The mysterious bag
Morgan said the bag of clothes and cellphones had not been delivered to investigators as case evidence until years later. He said it was only in 2018 that Milton Search and Rescue delivered a bag of clothing and several phones to the Sheriff’s Office.
McNeal’s family had reached out for help from Milton Search and Rescue, a nonprofit without any affiliation to Santa Rosa County government services or any local law enforcement agency.
When ECSO investigators questioned McNeal’s grandmother about the bag, Morgan said they were told by the grandmother that the clothing in the bag was just some of Jadekiss’ old clothes — not the clothes she was wearing the night she disappeared.
Morgan also claimed that the family has yet to send investigators a DNA sample, which his office requested to further their case.
“I want to find her as much as anyone else,” Morgan said. He added that the ECSO has followed all of the standard procedures when investigating the case.
Steve Williams, of Milton Search and Rescue, said he and the organization had been working their own investigation for the past three to four months.
“In my experience, in search and rescue, if you are a white female and you live at the beach in Gulf Breeze in a million-dollar home, you are going to be on the news every night. There are going to be organizations far and abroad looking for you,” Williams said in an interview. “But if you are a poor white girl in a mobile home park or a poor black girl, don’t expect much cooperation.”
Williams' credentials have been called into question in the past. He was canvassing an apartment complex for information about a different missing woman in 2018 when he was arrested on suspicion of impersonating a Pensacola Police Department officer.
A woman at the complex told PPD that Williams was knocking on doors in the apartment complex trying to find the woman and he identified himself as being with PPD.
In July 2018, the state dropped its case against Williams after another witness came forward to dispute the claim that he told residents he was a police officer.
What’s next?
There are no suspects in Jadekiss’ investigation, and Morgan said investigators have no reason to believe the girl's family had anything to do with her disappearance.
He said ECSO has done all it can with the case, given the information law enforcement has so far.
"She is a missing person, and she will be in a cold case, if you will, until we get confirmation about what finally happened to Jadekiss," he said.
Despite criticism by the family, Morgan said the case has not been closed.
“I appreciate their anxiety,” Morgan said. “I appreciate their angst and what they are doing. Why wouldn’t we want to find this child? I mean, why would we be dragging our feet trying to find this child? And the answer is, we wouldn’t. No one would love to hold a press conference tomorrow standing next to Jadekiss more than I would.”
Searching for Jadekiss: Family still looking for girl who went missing three years ago
Odd the family wouldn't want to give a DNA sample, as well as the discrepancies between the family's account and PD.
