LaToyia Figueroa (January 26, 1981 – August 2005) was an American woman of
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
and
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
descent who was murdered in 2005. Figueroa, who was five months pregnant at the time, was reported missing on July 18, 2005 after she failed to show up to work. She was later found strangled to death after being featured on ''
America's Most Wanted
''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of i ...
''.
Police discovered Figueroa's remains in a grassy, partially wooded lot in
Chester, Pennsylvania
Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area, it is the only city in Delaware County and had a population of 32,605 as of the 2020 census.
Incorporated in 1682, Chester is ...
, located 13 miles south of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. They arrested Stephen Poaches, the father of her unborn child, on August 20, more than a month after she was reported missing. On October 17, 2006, Poaches was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Figueroa and her unborn child.
The disappearance and murder of Figueroa sparked
controversy about media coverage because cable news channels, such as
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
,
MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...
, and
Fox News Channel
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
, neglected to cover her story while focusing most of their attention on the case of
Natalee Holloway Natalee is a female given name. It is a variant of the name Natalie, though uncommon according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Notable people with the name include:
*Natalee Caple (born 1970), Canadian author of novels and poetry
*Natalee Holloway (born ...
, a
Caucasian
Caucasian may refer to:
Anthropology
*Anything from the Caucasus region
**
**
** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region
*
*
*
Languages
* Northwest Caucasian l ...
teen missing on the island of
Aruba
Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...
. Some observers protested that Figueroa's case was similar to the
Laci Peterson
The ''lac'' repressor (LacI) is a DNA-binding protein that inhibits the expression of genes coding for proteins involved in the metabolism of lactose in bacteria. These genes are repressed when lactose is not available to the cell, ensuring that ...
case (which also covered the same timespan) and thus deserved greater attention, implying that race was a factor in the lack of coverage.
Disappearance
On July 18, 2005, 24 years old and five months pregnant, LaToyia went to a
prenatal checkup with the father of her unborn child, 25 year old Stephen Poaches. Afterward they went to his apartment. Poaches later stated that LaToyia had left his home "peaceably" around 5pm however, LaToyia did not pick up her 7-year-old daughter that evening nor did she show up for her shift at the restaurant where she worked.
After she was reported missing, Poaches told police that he knew nothing about LaToyia's disappearance and did not participate in any search efforts. Poaches then called a radio station to defend himself against suspicion.
Investigation
In the weeks following her disappearance, detectives searched Poaches's home and car and found no evidence of a crime. Police also did not find any evidence of credit card use or cellphone activity by Latoyia and thus she was categorized by police officials as a missing person. Her father, Melvin Figueroa organized on his own, search teams throughout the city for weeks following her disappearance. As relatives and friends papered the city with flyers, a reward for information reached $100,000 which included donations from the restaurant where she worked and Philadelphia rapper,
Beanie Sigel
Dwight Equan Grant (born March 6, 1974), better known by his stage name Beanie Sigel, is an American rapper from South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He first became known for his association with Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella Records, releasing his debut ...
. It was reported that police and the media took almost two weeks to focus any meaningful attention to her case prior to TV host
Nancy Grace
Nancy Ann Grace (born October 23, 1959) is an American legal commentator and television journalist. She hosted ''Nancy Grace'', a nightly celebrity news and current affairs show on HLN, from 2005 to 2016, and Court TV's ''Closing Arguments' ...
began to do nationally televised reporting on her disappearance.
Well over a month after her disappearance, police detectives received a tip from an acquaintance of Poaches stating that he had contacted them the evening prior asking to borrow a truck and inquiring about a
body bag
A body bag, also known as a cadaver pouch or human remains pouch (HRP), is a non-porous bag designed to contain a human body, used for the storage and transportation of shrouded corpses.
History
In the United States, the apparent first docum ...
. Police then followed Poaches from his home to a grassy, partially wooded lot in Chester, 13 miles outside of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. He was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a gun. There police discovered LaToyia's remains. Poaches was arrested and a judge ruled that prosecutors had enough evidence to try him on 2 counts of 1st degree murder for Latoyia and their unborn child. Police stated that Poaches had strangled Latoyia hours after returning from the pre-natal appointment.
As of 2010 Stephen Poaches,
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PADOC) is the Pennsylvania state agency that is responsible for the confinement, care and rehabilitation of approximately 37,000 inmates at state correctional facilities funded by the Commonwealth of P ...
#GV2311, is located in the
State Correctional Institution – Houtzdale
State Correctional Institution – Houtzdale is a 1500-bed correctional facility located outside Houtzdale in southern Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, along Pennsylvania Route 153.
Building SCI Houtzdale
The facility cost $70 MillionGoogle New ...
.
Response
Figueroa's family stated that the lack of media coverage of her disappearance only brought more tragedy to an already troubled search. Figueroa's mother, Ann Taylor, was murdered when LaToyia was a
toddler
A toddler is a child approximately 12 to 36 months old, though definitions vary. The toddler years are a time of great cognitive, emotional and social development. The word is derived from "to toddle", which means to walk unsteadily, like a child ...
. Figueroa had a seven-year-old daughter. Joseph Taylor, Figueroa's uncle and family spokesman, has actively criticized the media.
America's Most Wanted
''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of i ...
and the Philadelphia Citizen Crime Commission teamed up with police to aid in the search. A $100,000 reward was funded by rap stars
Beanie Sigel
Dwight Equan Grant (born March 6, 1974), better known by his stage name Beanie Sigel, is an American rapper from South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He first became known for his association with Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella Records, releasing his debut ...
(while in a prison) and Damon Dash, Beneficial Bank, T.G.I. Fridays, local philanthropists Joe Mammanaand, Kal Rudman, and Internet bloggers to help the family in the search for LaToyia.
Media coverage controversy
The disappearance of Figueroa has spawned controversy about media coverage of missing people and how cases get national attention, with the terms "
Missing White Women Syndrome."
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
journalist
Gwen Ifill
Gwendolyn L. Ifill ( ; September 29, 1955 – November 14, 2016) was an American journalist, television newscaster, and author. In 1999, she became the first African-American woman to host a nationally televised U.S. public affairs program ...
referred to the phenomenon as "The Missing White Woman Syndrome" at the Unity Convention of Journalists in 2004 This phrase was invoked by Professor of American Studies
Sheri L. Parks on March 13, 2006 during an interview with American news reporter,
Anderson Cooper
Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is an American broadcast journalist and political commentator from the Vanderbilt family. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news broadcast show ''Anderson Cooper 360°''. In addition to his duties at C ...
to describe a phenomenon characterized by critics as a short and cynical equation: Pretty, white damsels in distress draw viewers; missing women who are black, Latino, Asian, old, fat, or ugly do not. Critics accused major news outlets of ignoring Figueroa's disappearance to focus on cases involving young, usually attractive,
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
women like
Laci Peterson
The ''lac'' repressor (LacI) is a DNA-binding protein that inhibits the expression of genes coding for proteins involved in the metabolism of lactose in bacteria. These genes are repressed when lactose is not available to the cell, ensuring that ...
who was also pregnant when she was reported missing.
Several internet
bloggers
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
began writing about the inadequate coverage cable news networks gave to missing people of color and pressured them to give equal coverage of non-white young American women like
Natalee Holloway Natalee is a female given name. It is a variant of the name Natalie, though uncommon according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Notable people with the name include:
*Natalee Caple (born 1970), Canadian author of novels and poetry
*Natalee Holloway (born ...
and
Jennifer Wilbanks
The runaway bride case concerns Jennifer Carol Wilbanks (born February 28, 1973), an American woman who ran away from home on April 26, 2005, to avoid her wedding with John Mason, her fiancé, on April 30. Her disappearance from Duluth, Georgia, ...
; they succeeded in gaining attention and Figueroa's case received coverage by major news outlets such as
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
,
MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...
, and
Fox News Channel
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
.
Conservative blogger
Michelle Malkin
Michelle Malkin (; Maglalang; born October 20, 1970) is an American conservative political commentator. She was a Fox News contributor and in May 2020 joined Newsmax TV. Malkin has written seven books and founded the conservative websites Twit ...
, referred to this phenomenon as "Pretty Girl Syndrome" and said, "I'm embarrassed that there's so much air time absorbed by the latest missing-girl story."
The Figueroa case bears a similarity to the case of Laci Peterson, who was found dead and whose husband,
Scott
Scott may refer to:
Places Canada
* Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec
* Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380
* Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Saska ...
, was found guilty of her murder. The Peterson case was covered heavily throughout 2004 and led to
public consensus that Scott Peterson was guilty of the murder.
References
External links
*
CNN coverage of LatoyiaPoliticsPhilly.com Reports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Figueroa, LaToyia
2005 murders in the United States
American people of Puerto Rican descent
People from Philadelphia
People murdered in Pennsylvania
Murdered African-American people
Deaths by strangulation in the United States
2005 in Pennsylvania