Lisa Michelle Hatchell, a 37-year-old mother of two, has been missing since July 19, 2003. Police say that she was last seen that night on the street outside her Philadelphia rowhome she shared with her boyfriend. The couple had been in an argument over money, according to witnesses, and it was the last time anybody saw her. Read the rest.

 More than 150 police officers combed through the early-morning dense fog of Southwest Florida Tuesday, searching for a 6-year-old, developmentally disabled boy who went missing over the weekend. Read the rest here.

The death toll from last week’s earthquake in Costa Rica has risen to 34 people, and 64 people are still missing, said a government official. The 6.1-magnitude quake, slammed the nation Thursday suddenly, and resulted in landslides and collapsed buildings that devastated the area, reports CNN. “I saw how the Earth moved and how it took my family – my aunt, my cousin and her babies,” one witness told Teletica TV. “It was very hard because I wanted to save them but I couldn’t.” Over 1,000 people are still stranded, unable to leave their towns, and another 1,000 people are living in shelters, said Milton Chaverri, a Red Cross official. Many of the stranded don’t have access to water or other necessities, said a government official. Some areas have to rely on aid delivered via helicopter. The Red Cross has 400 volunteers delivering aid in 15 communities, said Chaverri.

Runoff set for Ghana’s presidential election. Since neither candidate was able to get more than 50 percent of the vote, Ghana will have to hold a presidential runoff election, announced the country’s electoral commission. The runoff, between Nana Addo Danguah Akufo-Addo (of the ruling New Patriotic Party) and John Evans Atta Mills (of the opposition National Democratic Congress), is set to happen on Dec. 28. Sunday’s vote was peaceful and voter turnout is estimated at 65 percent, reports CNN. Even though the election didn’t result in a winner, observers are impressed with how calm and orderly the voting process was in the west African nation. “All of us agreed that these were high-quality, very transparent, orderly, peaceful, patient, fine elections,” said an observer with the Carter Center. “My colleagues with more experience than I have thought these were probably the best elections they have observed.”

Brazilians claim 9,000 people have vanished in just two years. Brazilian protesters hit the country’s Copacabana beaches earlier this week to bring light to their claim that 9,000 people have gone missing in Rio de Janeiro since 2007, reports CNN. Demonstrators, from the group ONG Rio de Paz, illustrated their point by building a cemetery in the sand using mannequins to represent people who were killed and buried, and building fake ovens that death squads reportedly used to cremate bodies. “In general, they are assassinated by police … police acting outside of their regular work hours. They are also assassinated by narco-traffickers. The bodies are disposed of in secret cemeteries in the metropolitan Rio de Janeiro area or incinerated alive by narco-traffickers in what they call ‘microwaves,;” said president of ONG Rio de Paz, Antonio Carlos Costa. He also claimed that no one has said anything about the 9,000 disappearances since most of the people are poor. A majority, about 6,000, were killed by drug dealers, while the rest were killed by hit men and off duty police, Costa said. They came up with the figure using official documents from the Rio de Janeiro governmental Institute of Public Safety, says an investigator from Candido Mendez University.

Quarterback doing well after being reported missing

Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young is safe and sound after a brief incident when his family reported him missing. Young’s relatives were concerned that the recently injured star “abruptly” left home Monday evening without his cell phone, says Nashville Metro Police spokesman Don Aaron. The Titans also requested police assistance after the family showed concern about Young’s “emotional well-being,” Aaron says. The player was found later the same evening at a friend’s house. He spoke with police and team reps, telling them he was OK. Young was booed this past weekend after throwing his second interception in the Titans’ season-opening win versus Jacksonville. He injured his knee in the game and is expected to miss two to four weeks of play while recovering.

He says that the media and police are transfixed on finding White females.
Nine months have passed since a 16-year-old Black girl was reportedly kidnapped from her southern California high school, but there has been no massive public outcry from law-enforcement agencies or the media like that afforded missing White females, an NAACP official said Thursday. Find out more about her disappearance and what you can do at BET.com/News. Anyone with information about Chimoa should contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.

Parents of missing teen say Chicago Police don’t care
The parents of a 15-year-old Chicago girl say police are not putting energy into finding their daughter because she is Black. Yasmin Acree’s mom, Rose Starnes, dismisses the assumption by police that her daughter ran away, pointing to the locks on two gates that were cut and the door to the basement, where her room is located, that was forced open. Starnes also notes that Yasmin, who has been missing since Jan. 15, was excited about starting a new job. Starnes says she discovered Yasmin, an African-American honor student from the West Side, missing when she returned from visiting her grandchildren in Elgin. Joseph Salemme, the grand-central commander with the Chicago Police, says that the family’s charge of racism is ridiculous and insulting.

Louisiana cop arrested for robbing Hispanic motorists
A 25-year-old police officer in the small southeast Louisiana town of Slidell is being accused of stopping Hispanic drivers and stealing their money before sending them on their way, The Times Picayune reports. The officer, Jonathan M. Lutman, handed in his badge and gun Friday, after a short two-year stint, and was booked on one count of theft over $500, eight counts of theft under $300 and four counts of malfeasance in office, Slidell Police Chief Freddy Drennan told reporters. “Anytime we have to arrest one of our own, it’s a blemish on our department,” Drennan said. “It’s a blemish on everybody here. It’s a blemish on law enforcement as a whole. And it’s not something we relish at all. It’s a very sad day when I, as the chief of police, have to tell the citizens of this city and the people of this state that we arrested someone that we put our trust and faith into.” Drennan said it was difficult to know whether Lutman actually stole more than the $3,000 he’s accused of taking during at least four traffic stops between April and June, the Picayune reports. Drennan said that Lutman apparently believed that the language barrier would keep the victims – he targeted Hispanics – from speaking out about the thefts. His theory backfired when two Latinos went to police, who initiated an internal investigation, according to the Picayune. The department then combed Slidell’s Hispanic community and found more victims. “We have gone above and beyond to reach these people out there to determine if other people were victims,” Drennan said. They found four victims, who picked Lutman out of a lineup, he said.

The jazz world loses another giant
Bobby Durham, one of the jazz world’s most recognized drummers, died of lung cancer and emphysema July 7 at a hospital in Genoa, Italy. He was 71. Durham spent many years backing such notables as pianist Oscar Peterson and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, and appeared on a number of television shows, including The Tonight Show, the Merv Griffin Show and the Mike Douglas Show. He lived in Philadelphia for many years and also resided off and on in Europe, most notably in Italy. Durham, known for virtuosity as a percussionist, was also an accomplished vocalist. His last recording, Domani’s Blues, featured his lush voice on the standard “I should Care.” Following a 1968 concert with Peterson, the late New York Times jazz critic John S. Wilson once referred to Durham’s embellishments on drums as “remarkable displays of technical virtuosity.”