Sarah Townsend, age 18, suicide, cocaine abuse, missing white woman syndrome Holly Jo Glynn

FLORENCE TWP., N.J. - May 10, 2011 (WPVI) -- A $10,000 reward is being offered as the search continues for a young woman from Burlington County, N.J. whose car was found near a pond.

Sarah Townsend, 18, was reported missing at 10:00 a.m. Monday by her boyfriend, Matt Welsh, who spotted her car near Sherman's Pond in Green Acres Park in Burlington Township.
The reward is being offered by Townsend's family for information leading to the location of their daughter.
Police have been searching for the Allentown (NJ) High School senior from Florence Township with no luck. Chopper 6 HD was over the scene on Tuesday and rescuers could be seen continuing the effort.
Police say at this time, they have no reason to suspect foul play.
Her purse and cell phone were still inside her car, police said. Sources say there was also a note found in her vehicle that lead authorities to believe she might harm herself.


Scared, worried and choked with emotion Roy and Laurie Townsend, Sarah's parents, were barely able to speak on Tuesday.

"We want you to come home, we want you to know we love you. You are not in trouble. Just please come home Sarah," Laurie Townsend said.
"Just come back. Anybody knows where she, bring back her safe. Please, we love her. We miss her and we just want her home," said Roy Townsend.
Sarah's boyfriend, Matt Welsh, also spoke to reporters.
"Sarah, baby, I know you're out there just come back, please," he said.
Townsend, who is about 5'4 and weighs about 105 pounds, was last seen by her parents when she left for school at 7:00 a.m. Monday.
Anyone with information about Sarah Townsend is asked to contact Burlington Township Police at 609-386-2019.

For the latest news about Sarah Townsend, please go to...
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=8122396

BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP – Sarah Townsend, the 18-year-old Florence girl who went missing in May for five days before her body was discovered in a Burlington Township pond committed suicide by drowning and had "significant levels of cocaine in her system," a medical examiner has determined.

Burlington County authorities also said today for the first time that Townsend left a suicide note in her car, which was found abandoned near Sherman's Pond on May 9.

Burlington County Medical Examiner Ian Hood performed the autopsy and toxicology tests. The results were released today following an Open Public Records Act request by The Times of Trenton.

Townsend, a senior at Allentown High School where her father worked, was the subject of a massive search in Green Acres Park during the five days following her disappearance. Police divers found her body on May 13 after several efforts to search the lake.

“Out of respect for Sarah and her family, this is the extent of the information that will be released concerning Sarah’s death,” said Joel Bewley, a spokesman for the prosecutor. “Our office will not be providing any further information or comment and we consider this matter closed.”

Townsend was the subject of a five-day search after she went missing in Burlington on her way to school in Allentown. Her body was discovered May 13 in Green Acres Park.

the2011crimewave
Jul 27, 2011

Not too much sympathy for her She was 18 and an adult. If you use drugs all day long this is what happens.

newprovidence1
Jul 27, 2011

Shame someone so young would become a crackhead

doublej
doublej
Jul 26, 2011

I cannot understand the obsession this country has with drugs! So many of our problems stem from drug abuse. Is living in what is still the best country in the world so miserable that so many people need the "escape" that drugs offer?

We're in the rally!
Jul 26, 2011

doublej,

Watch the news on TV, endless commercials for "legal" drugs. "Side effects may include increased risk of suicide."

Watch sports on TV, endless commercials for beer. The Bud Bowl, whose going to win? Regular Bud or Bud Lite?

imadeitthisfar
Jul 26, 2011

The young developing brains and bodies cannot tolerate substances like adults can. There are different reactions that take place and are unpredictable. what a shame...she was so pretty.

svenghali
svenghali
Jul 26, 2011

many drug addicts are very, very good at hiding it.

goodnews
goodnews
Jul 26, 2011

Cocaine can cause suicidal depressions in some susceptible people. Blaming the dealer of the drugs is a stretch...unfortunately you can get drugs anywhere....I do firmly believe that we need a better mental health system in America, absolutely....in fact they cut the money for school based services..many schools no longer even have drug and alcohol counselors or social workers...the kid goes into the guidance counselor's office and says they have some sort of problem and the guidance counselor basically sees if they are covered by health insurance and tells the kid how to contact their insurance to get help`...the problem is ..it is the parents health insurance so they will find out...if the kids problem is the home environment or what not..or if they don't want the parents to find out..then they will not want to notify insurance....however school based counselors can lend you an ear for an hour and it is nobody's business but your own...sometimes that is all kids need

DaTruthUnvarnished
Jul 26, 2011

It's too easy for kids to get cocaine because it's illegal. Perhaps they should legalize it so we can keep it out of children's hands? Kids have no problems getting drugs because they are illegal.....alcohol is much more difficult for children to get their hands on because it is legal.

deltasigpb
Jul 29, 2011

Dealers don't push drugs.. They sell or deal with drugs.. I agree that blaming the dealer is pointless and this tragedy wouldn't have been avoided if the dealer decided not to sell. Another dealer or friend would.
Also it wasn't the cocaine that made her kill herself. It was her decision. Take it from someone who has done drugs in the past and attempted suicide several times when I was young.

This is a sad tragedy and I only wish the best for the parents and the love ones of this girl. We have alot of avenues to try and stop child suicides but this girl didn't take them or they didn't help fast enough.

Asking for help is a HUGE step and is not a step that is done easily.

aeasmmikey
aeasmmikey
Jul 26, 2011

You don't think every kid at Allentown High doesn't know where that cocaine came from? Maybe it's time for them to start talking.

Missing white woman syndrome is a phrase used by social scientists[1] [2][3] and media commentators to describe the extensive media coverage, especially in television, of missing person cases involving young, white, upper-middle-class women or girls.[4] The phenomenon is defined as the media's undue focus on upper-middle-class white women who disappear, with the disproportionate degree of coverage they receive being compared to cases of missing women of other ethnicities and social classes, or with missing males of all social classes and ethnicities.[5][6]

The PBS news anchor Gwen Ifill is said to be the originator of the phrase.[6] Charlton McIlwain, a professor at New York University defines the syndrome: "White women occupy a privileged role as violent crime victims in news media reporting."[7] Although the term was coined to describe disproportionate coverage of missing person cases, it is sometimes used to describe the disparity in news coverage of other violent crimes. Missing white woman syndrome has led to a number of tough on crime measures named for white women who went missing and were subsequently found harmed.

Media coverage
United States

With regard to missing children, statistical research which compares national media reports with FBI data shows that there is marked under-representation of African American children in media reports relative to non-African American children. A subsequent study found that girls from minority groups were the most under-represented in these missing-children news reports by a very large margin.[8]

A report that aired on CNN noted the differences between the level of media coverage given to caucasian women like Laci Peterson and Natalee Holloway, who went missing in 2002 and 2005 respectively, and LaToyia Figueroa, a pregnant Black/Hispanic woman. Figueroa went missing in Philadelphia the same year Holloway disappeared. Figueroa and her unborn daughter were found murdered.[9] The San Francisco Gate published an article detailing the disparity between the coverage of the Peterson case and that of Evelyn Hernandez, a Hispanic woman who was nine months pregnant when she disappeared in 2002.[10]

Kym Pasqualini, president of the National Center for Missing Adults, observed that media outlets tend to focus on "damsels in distress" – typically, affluent young white women and teenagers.[11]

Dr. Cory L. Armstrong pointed out in the Washington Post that "the pattern of choosing only young, white, middle-class women for the full damsel treatment says a lot about a nation that likes to believe it has consigned race and class to irrelevance".[6]

Other alleged cases of disproportionate media interest
Jessica Lynch

Social commentaries pointed to media bias in the coverage of soldier Jessica Lynch versus that of her fellow soldiers, Shoshana Johnson and Lori Piestewa. All three were ambushed in the same attack during the Iraq War on March 23, 2003, with Piestewa being killed and Lynch and Johnson being injured and taken prisoner. Lynch, a young, blonde, white woman, received far more media coverage than Johnson (a black woman and a single mother) and Piestewa (a Hopi from an impoverished background, and also a single mother), with media critics suggesting that the media gave more attention to the woman with whom audiences supposedly more readily identify.[18][19]

Lynch herself leveled harsh criticism at this disproportionate coverage that focused only on her, stating in a congressional testimony before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:

   I am still confused as to why they chose to lie and tried to make me a legend when the real heroics of my fellow soldiers that day were, in fact, legendary. People like Lori Piestewa and First Sergeant Dowdy who picked up fellow soldiers in harm's way. Or people like Patrick Miller and Sergeant Donald Walters who actually fought until the very end. The bottom line is the American people are capable of determining their own ideals of heroes and they don't need to be told elaborate tales.[20]

Presumed kidnapping of "blonde angel" in Greece

In October 2013 a girl estimated to be about 4 years of age was found in the custody of a Roma couple in Greece and was presumed to have been abducted. The story about the "blonde angel" and the search for her biological parents received international media coverage. A Roma rights activist commented on the case to say "imagine if the situation were reversed and the children were brown and the parents were white".[21][22][23][24] The child was later identified as Maria Ruseva. Her biological mother was a Bulgarian Roma who gave Maria up for adoption.[25]
Cited instances

The following missing person cases have been cited as instances of missing white woman syndrome; media commentators on the phenomenon regard them as garnering a disproportionate level of media coverage relative to contemporary cases involving missing girls/women of non-white ethnicities, and missing males of all ethnicities. The date of death or disappearance is given in parentheses.

   Polly Klaas (October 1, 1993) – A 12-year-old girl who was found murdered. Her murderer was convicted.[26]
   Kristen Modafferi (June 23, 1997) – An 18-year-old college student who disappeared from the San Francisco Bay Area and remains missing. Her disappearance, just 3 weeks after her 18th birthday, helped to establish Kristen's Law and the National Center for Missing Adults.[26]
   Chandra Levy (May 1, 2001) – A 24-year-old intern, she was missing until her skeletal remains were found in May 2002. Her murderer was convicted.[26]
   Elizabeth Smart (June 5, 2002) – A 14-year-old girl, missing for 9 months after being in captivity. Her captor was sentenced to life in prison.
   Laci Peterson (December 24, 2002) – A 27-year-old pregnant woman murdered by her husband.[27]
   Dru Sjodin (November 22, 2003) – A 22-year-old student who was found murdered.[26] Her murderer was convicted, and the case prompted the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Registry.[28]
   Brooke Wilberger (May 24, 2004) – A 19-year-old student who was abducted and murdered. Her murderer revealed the location of her body and was convicted.[26]
   Lori Hacking (July 19, 2004) – A 27-year-old woman murdered by her husband.[9][27]
   Natalee Holloway (May 30, 2005) – An 18-year-old high school senior who disappeared in Aruba and remains missing. She was declared legally dead on January 12, 2012.[9][27]
   Taylor Behl (September 5, 2005) – A 17-year-old Virginia Commonwealth University freshman who disappeared and was later found dead. Her murderer was convicted.[9]
   Michelle Gardner-Quinn (October 7, 2006) – A 21-year-old undergraduate at the University of Vermont who disappeared and was later found dead. Her murderer was convicted.[29]
   Tara Grant (February 9, 2007) – A 35-year-old woman murdered by her husband.[30]
   Madeleine McCann (May 3, 2007) – A 3-year-old girl who disappeared from her parents' hotel room during a family holiday in Portugal.[31][32][33] Described by The Daily Telegraph as "the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history".[34]
   Holly Bobo (April 13, 2011) – A 20-year-old nursing student who went missing from her home in Darden, Tennessee. Her remains were found in September 2014. Two men have been charged with her murder and kidnapping.[35]
   Lauren Spierer (June 3, 2011) – A 20-year-old Indiana University student who disappeared after a night of drinking. She remains missing.[36]