For nearly three years, the family of Kierra Coles have fought to raise awareness of their daughter, who was pregnant when she went missing in 2018.
After intense media attention and then a manhunt led to the discovery of the body of Gabby Petito, family and friends of people missing locally are calling for renewed efforts to find their loved ones.
The case of Petito, who’s white, made national headlines and triggered a nationwide search to find her, which ultimately proved successful when her remains were found in Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest.
But the nonstop news coverage of her disappearance raised questions as to why missing Black or Indigenous people aren’t always given the same kind of attention as Petito.
That included questions from advocates for pregnant postal worker Kierra Coles, who on Friday called on police to put a similar amount of energy into finding Coles. Coles, then 26 and three months pregnant, went missing on Oct. 2, 2018. She was last seen that day leaving her apartment near 82nd Street and Coles Avenue, according to a missing person alert from Chicago police.