Pregnant woman's remains found near Philadelphia

[Greylyn58]

Police arrest former boyfriend

Saturday, August 20, 2005; Posted: 2:40 p.m. EDT (18:40 GMT)

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Police found the remains of a missing 24-year-old pregnant Philadelphia woman and arrested her former boyfriend, authorities announced Saturday.

The suspect, Stephen Poaches, is a former boyfriend of 24-year-old LaToyia Figueroa, who has been missing for a month. When Poaches, 25, was arrested in nearby Chester, police said he was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a pistol.

...snip...

Figueroa, who was five months' pregnant when she disappeared and the mother of a young girl, was last seen on the afternoon of July 18 in West Philadelphia.

Philadelphia police recovered her remains early Saturday in nearby Chester, located about 13 miles southwest of Philadelphia.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/20/Philadelphia.missing.ap/index.html


Finally some closure for this woman's family. I'm surprised CNN even reported this much. She wasn't blond, or white, and the MSM didn't spend all their time talking up her disappearance like the girl in Aruba, but she deserved to have her story told just as much as any other human being.

I hate that it ended this way. This sucks.

[hallc]

1. Aww...

I really didn't have any hope for her anymore...but its still sad to see it turned out this way. I live in Philly, and they found a body in the back of a limo earlier this week right across the street from my grad school (Arcadia University)...until we found out it was some weird guy living in his limo, we all thought they had found her. Crazy news copters and everything were all around. I'm glad her story can be put to rest and that her sleeze ball ex is now in jail.

[babylonsister]

2. Saw extended coverage on MSNBC this a.m. on

Ms. Figueroa. I think the MSM was embarrassed into reporting on her.

[susanna]

19. They were...

Dateline or one of those "in-depth" shows had a piece on how her aunt had been feverishly calling the networks to help in getting more attention and publicity during the first days of her disappearance. Her aunt was very clear in pointing out that the MSM did nothing. She was also very articulate as to why she thought that was so (she wasn't a pretty white girl).

So I think you're right: the MSM were finally shamed into reporting something about this case. Too bad they couldn't have reported earlier in her disappearance; if they had, maybe this woman would be alive today.

[EST]

3. Really, really, really sucks.

When will we heal the human race?

[Judi Lynn]

4. What a shame. Some important media attention on this could have

at least gotten a much earlier conclusion, I'll bet.

So sorry for her heart-broken relatives. She seemed like someone who was a very bright light around other people.

[DS1]

5. A pregnant American Female has been missing for a month

and this is the first I've heard of it.

Hmmm, I wonder why that could be

[xultar]

6. Hummm I wonder too.....

:wow:

[SheilaT]

8. This story has been getting

some coverage for about a week, mostly the "If she were a white woman it would be all over the media" kind.

The sad truth is that people go missing every day. Sometimes the media jumps all over it, sometimes not.

[LisaL]

9. It's a load of bull-that if she was white, they would report on it.

Plenty of white women go missing, and nobody ever reports on them. There is a pretty young white girl missing in my town, and I bet nobody here ever heard about it.
Media picks one or two cases and runs with it.

[bpilgrim]

11. the M$MWs, pick 1 or 2, white women cases, and runs with them...

too much work to go beyond that.


http://media.globalfreepress.com

peace

[seriousstan]

12. Columbus? From Ledo's?

[SouthernDem2004]

13. Do you watch main stream news? Fox speaks of her daily.

[DS1]

18. Everything but Fox

[idiosyncratic]

7. The leading cause of death for pregnant women is murder

One more to add to this horrible statistic.

[Straight Shooter]

10. More likely to be murdered by BF or domestic partner if pregnant.

Right wing doesn't harp on that, though, do they? Safer to go after the abortion issue, where they don't have to deal with domestic violence and the poor.

When is the last time a fundie trotted their pasty white a** into a slum to preach about saving the unborn by protecting the pregnant women from their violent significant others? Yeah, right.

[seriousstan]

14. Do you have a link to that stat? I would have thought car accident.

[idiosyncratic]

15. Yes. Here is a link from 2003 around the time of Laci Peterson's

disappearance.

[seriousstan]

16. Nationally, homicide is a leading killer of young women—pregnant or not.

I didn't know that.

[mixedview]

17. hmmm - two counts of murder - does that mean the fetus is a person?

District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham said Poaches, 25, would be charged with two counts of murder and related offenses for the deaths of Figueroa and her fetus.

if found guilty, of course this individual should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, but IMO this is a slippery slope..