Abby Connolly
This story of a Chicago teenager’s disappearance is especially disheartening, given her complicated life story and difficult past, which she had overcome before vanishing.
Yasmin Acree was 15-years-old when she went missing from her home in Chicago, Illinois, over 15 years ago. Even today, no one knows exactly what happened to her.
Yasmin was a bright young girl who had gone through a lot as a child. After being removed from her late mother’s care in her home state of Kentucky alongside her older brother when they were only toddlers, they spent several years in the foster care system.
In 2001, Yasmin and her brother were sent to live in Chicago with their aunt, Rose. By 2006, Rose adopted them as her own. Yasmin developed emotional and behavioral issues from spending so much time in the foster care system, where she was allegedly abused, and Rose often struggled to deal with them.
Despite it all, Yasmin was a hard-working middle school student, but her grades dropped upon entering high school. This could have been because she was coping with her brother getting kicked out of their home when he was 16 in 2007, making her an only child before she disappeared.
Yasmin was last seen on January 15th, 2008. That day, she went to school at Austin Polytech Academy, where she was a freshman. Then, she allegedly spent some time at the North Lawndale YMCA, where she played sports. Later that evening, Yasmin made her way home, did some laundry, and went to bed in her basement bedroom at her aunt’s house.
The following morning, Yasmin wasn’t in her room. Her aunt was allegedly not alarmed at first, as she figured Yasmin was at school. However, after noticing that the outside locks to the basement door had been cut and there were signs of a break-in at the home, Rose panicked when Yasmin didn’t return home from school and reported her missing.
Yasmin’s family has been very upset with the local police investigating her disappearance, as they allegedly were quick to label Yasmin as a runaway and dismiss any suspicions of her being abducted during the break-in. There were reportedly no signs of struggle in Yasmin’s bedroom, and her glasses had been left behind.
Still, Yasmin was due to start a new job soon and had shown no signs of being a runaway before vanishing, leaving family and some investigators to believe foul play was involved in her disappearance.
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