Two years after the brutal death of 20-year-old Mary Santina Collins, her family and supporters in Charlotte are calling on legislators to implement reforms that could help others like her.
North Carolina, they say, needs a third alert system — similar to Amber and Silver alerts for children and seniors — specifically for when an adult with a disability goes missing and may be in danger. Currently, law enforcement officials can issue a Silver Alert for non-senior adults with cognitive disabilities but it doesn’t always occur.
Collins was found dead, stabbed 133 times, and hidden in a mattress in a NoDA apartment on April 4th, 2020.
Her family had not seen or heard from her for about two days after she’d taken an Uber to a friend’s place. When they alerted police on March 30, 2020, they were told to fill out a missing persons report. The next day a detective knocked on the door of the apartment where she was last believed to have been. Four days later on April 3, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police issued a missing persons bulletin.
But her loved ones believe the lack of an extensive search for Collins might have cost her her life.
She had 22q deletion syndrome, also known as DiGeorge syndrome, the second-most common genetic disorder behind Down’s syndrome, according to the International 22q11.3 Foundation. Her family has said her cognitive abilities were similar to that of a 15-year-old.
Collins was last seen in south Charlotte on March 28, 2020, the Observer previously reported.
An online candlelight vigil is being held for Collins from March 28, the day she disappeared, through April 4, the day her body was found. To participate, post a photo or video of a candle and tag Mary’s Voice.
Four people have been charged in connection with Collins’ death, including three still in jail awaiting trial on murder charges.
“An alert should have been done for Mary but was not,” her grandmother Mia Alderman said. “We would like to see changes to the alert system. An alert system crafted for people with disabilities like Collins. Not just a piggyback on the silver alert. A system that has teeth.”
Missing persons: Mary Collins
It took five days for police to find Collins.
Her family has said the CMPD detective on Mary’s case when she was reported missing did not act quickly enough when searching for her. According to details on the website’s timeline, this came from a lack of understanding of Collins’ cognitive impairment.
CMPD declined to comment for this story.
Earlier, on the day she reported Collins missing, her grandmother had gone to the apartment of a few friends she knew her granddaughter had last been with. After hours of searching around the complex — and inside the apartment, except for the back room — she says she called 911.
Despite telling police Collins was endangered because of her disability, her grandmother says officers told her the family would have to fill out a standard missing persons report.
The day after the missing persons report, an officer knocked on the apartment door. There was no answer so the officer left, according to the family.
Her family also went on March 31, 2020 back to the apartment, where her grandmother says some of the people later arrested allowed Collins’ family to come in but assured them her granddaughter was not there.
Collins’ friends and family members also started their own search parties to find her. Five days after she’d been reported missing, CMPD detectives found Collins on a subsequent search of the apartment.
The next day, police charged Kelly Lavery, 24, Lavi Pham, 21, and James Salerno, 20, with murder and kidnapping, public records show. Pham and Salerno also were charged with concealing a death. Later, America Diehl, 18, was charged with accessory after the fact and concealing a death, CMPD officials say.
Lavery and Salerno have court dates April 21; Diehl in May; and Pham in June.
Alderman said being without Collins is like living without music or the sun.
“Like being without breath. Having your soul ripped from you and existing on another plane you cannot reach,” Alderman said. “The community should know that this happened to her. That this is her community. That she matters to so many people. She is worthy of deep mourning and outrage at what was done to her.”
Charlotte report of missing person
CMPD’s Missing Persons Unit, staffed by five detectives, one investigative technician and one supervisor, says adults can go missing if they choose to and because of this, police are limited in what they can do when someone over the age of 18 goes missing.
“They can choose to leave work, ignore friends and even family. Because of this, law enforcement is quite limited in what they can do,” the unit’s website says. “Even if law enforcement does locate the person, they can not divulge any information about that person without specific permission from that person.”
Mary’s Voice, a community made up of her family, friends and supporters, is calling for a critical code alert to be established that is separate from the current Silver Alert system, which encompasses both the elderly and individuals with cognitive disabilities who go missing.
Alderman, Collin’s grandmother, said a separate alert system for those who have mental disabilities is important because when the community learns of a Silver Alert, they automatically assume it is for an elderly person.
Alderman said they are working with state Sen. Mujtaba Mohmammed on possible legislation regarding the alert. Mohammed, a Mecklenburg Democrat, did not respond to Observer requests for comment.
Silver Alerts vs. other alerts
North Carolina’s Silver Alert system was established in 2007 as ”a statewide system for the rapid dissemination of information regarding a missing person who is believed to be suffering from dementia or other cognitive impairment,” according to the legislation establishing Silver Alerts.
Melinda Plue, director of advocacy from The Arc of North Carolina, a group that advocates for those with mental and intellectual disabilities, said having an alert system separate from Silver Alerts could be a helpful tool that would bring heightened awareness to the dangers those living with disabilities face.
Plue said those living with a cognitive impairment are at a higher risk for becoming victims of violent crimes.
Parents and family members who support loved ones with cognitive impairments lay awake at night wondering what is going to happen when their loved one is approached by someone who seems like a trusted individual but is actually dangerous, Plue said. She said people with cognitive disabilities don’t always have the same innate ability to understand when they are being taken advantage of or when they are in a dangerous situation.
In addition Mary’s Voice is advocating for an increased police response time for missing or endangered persons with disabilities.
“If a person with a disability is missing or endangered, police must respond more rapidly to this urgent emergency,” Mary’s Voice says in the goals section of their site.
Alderman said CMPD has been “extremely thorough, conscientious and professional” while working on the homicide case. However, they would like training added to the missing persons unit of CMPD, accountability for Collins and a conversation about what went wrong.
“We don’t want this to happen again,” Alderman said.
In 2020, CMPD created a “safe outcomes” program. This is a voluntary registry that enables CMPD to register their loved ones who have a cognitive impairment or disability with CMPD so the department can obtain critical information prior to an actual emergency, according to CMPD.
CMPD also has a program called Project Life Saver, and those caring for a loved one with a cognitive impairment can register a child or adult to receive a bracelet that can be tracked by police if they disappear or go missing.
Alderman said while she applauds CMPD’s efforts as especially helpful for some who have Alzheimer’s, dementia and similar cognitive impairments. But, Alderman said, this approach is not practical across the wide spectrum of the disability community.
“You cannot expect to tag people with bracelets or register them. This is offensive and Mary deserves dignity. No young person wants to wear a some utilitarian bracelet to track them,” Alderman said.
Collins had a cellphone with tracking enabled and tracking was not the issue, Alderman said. “And, evil people certainly can remove and disable a tracker as well,” she said.
This story was originally published April 01, 2022 1:55 PM.
