Search for Missing D.C. Woman Enters 3rd Week as Community Members Rally for Answers

 By Sam P.K. Collins

The Washington Informer

The search for Chyna Danielle Crawford recently entered its third week with family, friends and community members passing out flyers and scouring wooded areas and abandoned buildings along Suitland Parkway.

Before launching their search party Saturday, a multigenerational group of more than a dozen family members, public officials and violence interrupters once again converged on the corner of 16th Street and U Street in Southeast to ask community members for information leading to Crawford’s safe return.

Crawford, 25, was last seen on Oct. 23 on the 1600 block of Good Hope Road in Southeast. She’s 5 feet, 7 inches tall and 120 pounds with Black locs and brown eyes. Family members said she was likely wearing a Black top, Black leggings and red Jordans. Distinguishing marks include a scar on her torso and a tattoo of a heart with devil’s horns.

On its most recent flyer, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) included a photo of Crawford’s vehicle, a gray 2012 Mercedes Benz CL550 bearing Virginia temporary tags, as it was last seen driving along Good Hope Road.

The missing woman’s mother, Elisa Crawford, told The Informer that she last spoke to her daughter for a few minutes during the early afternoon of Oct. 23 about weekend plans.

As a sibling told The Informer, Crawford’s friends called her mother a day later, concerned for her safety, when they hadn’t heard from her. They’ve since circulated photos of Crawford on social media and launched a GoFundMe to raise reward money.

Their first search for Crawford during the last weekend in October took them through Anacostia Park near the skating rink and railroad tracks and the Fairlawn community.

As each day passes, however, family and friends circle back to the 1600 block of U Street in Southeast, what they describe as Crawford’s stomping grounds.

“This is the neighborhood she frequents and we believe that [the people here] know what happened the day she went missing,” Elisa Crawford said.

Surrounding Elisa Crawford on Saturday were Chyna Crawford’s three older siblings, her cousin Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Erica Green, and Henderson Long, a search and recovery specialist, among other people.

“It’s an ongoing investigation,” the mother added. “MPD advised me that they’re working the case and I do trust that they’re doing that. I truly believe that Chyna would’ve told me [if] she would be on vacation. She doesn’t have the money to go on vacation for days. It’s hard for me to believe she would be.”

A Larger Phenomenon

An MPD spokesperson declined to specify the operations, tactics and staffing dedicated to finding Crawford. They told The Informer, however, that officers and detectives have been actively searching for her since receiving a report about her disappearance on Oct. 26.

Crawford counts among 37 people — including Relisha Rudd — currently reported missing by MPD. Since her disappearance, the department released additional notifications about 14 youths between the ages of 1 and 17 who’ve disappeared.

Despite representing less than 13 percent of the population, Black people account for more than one out of three people reported missing in the U.S. last year, according to figures compiled by the FBI in 2021.

Black women meanwhile account for 20 percent of missing persons cases. Research shows disparities in media coverage that jeopardize their safe return.

Earlier this year, Minnesota created its Office of Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls, which is dedicated to solving open and cold missing persons cases involving Black women and girls. Officials in Illinois and Wisconsin are also exploring a similar scrutinization of its response to missing Black women and girls.

In October, California Gov. Greg Newsome (D) signed a law that launches an emergency alert system to find Black women and youths between the ages of 12 and 25.

Meanwhile, D.C. residents continue to ask what happened to Relisha Rudd and other girls and women who’ve gone missing.

March marked nine years since Relisha Rudd, age 8, disappeared. Long counts among those who’ve kept her name ringing in the D.C. streets. In years past, he has also encouraged community members to, as a preventative measure, enter their fingerprints and DNA into databases.

As it relates to the hurdles of publicizing the disappearance of Black women and girls, Long attributed the lack of attention to those cases to a number of factors, including prevailing narratives about Black women in low-income communities.

That didn’t stop him from compelling community members to take a grassroots approach when searching for their loved ones.

“We need to educate ourselves on what should happen when someone goes missing,” Long said Saturday. “Like paying attention to the investigation. Chyna’s mom is doing a good job taking the investigation seriously. A reward would be very helpful.”