Jonathan David Hankins died last May in a hotel room in Jackson, Mississippi. Although police were able to quickly identify the 39-year-old’s body, they failed to notify his family – even after his mother reported him missing.
Ultimately, Jonathan was buried in a pauper’s grave on the grounds of a nearby penal farm. His family didn’t know what happened to him until one NBC investigation exposed the misconduct.
“It feels like they threw him away like trash,” Jeannie Jones, Jonathan’s aunt, told NBC. ‘No problem. No feeling.’
According to Gretchen Hankins, Jonathan’s mother, he left her home in Florence, Mississippi, on Friday, May 20, 2022, told her he planned to meet some friends and promised to return for Sunday dinner.
Gretchen told NBC that she was used to Jonathan, who was addicted to meth, leaving for days at a time. But when he didn’t return that weekend, she became concerned. After calling nearby jails and hospitals looking for her son, she reported him missing to local police in July.
Although no news was immediate, Gretchen says she regularly contacted the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office for over a year, hoping for news about her son, but was continually told there was no new information.
However, Jonathan had in fact been found dead in a hotel room in Jackson, Mississippi, just three days after he left home – before his mother had even reported him missing. Law enforcement officials quickly identified his body. But despite being on the scene, neither the Hinds County coroner’s office nor Jackson police notified Jonathan’s family. In September, the county had him buried at a penal farm in the Jackson area.
“That’s ridiculous,” Gretchen told NBC. ‘To continue for so long and not call people is simply inhumane. It’s wrong. It’s just wrong.’
This isn’t the first time police in Jackson, Mississippi, have buried someone in a pauper’s grave after failing to inform his family of his death. 37 years old in March Dexter Wade was hit by a police cruiser just hours after leaving his mother’s house. Police failed to inform his family for seven months, resulting in his body going unclaimed and him eventually being buried in a penal farm.
After Wade’s death, NBC launched an investigation into other individuals buried at the same penal farm, which is how they found Jonathan Hankins – and were finally able to inform his family of his death.
“What if there was no Dexter Wade?” Brooks Davis, who runs the website MissingSippi, told NBC. “What if his mother didn’t figure out what she was up to and expose these problems? How long would this family have to go through this? Would they ever have found out?’