Body found is confirmed to be missing girl: Phylicia Barnes.

For several months you may have noticed that we featured an advertisement on the front page which contained the image of a young black girl smiling at the camera.  This beautiful  black girl  had gone missing since December, and like many other pretty black girls who suffered the same fate as being abducted in America, the story was mostly ignored by the media for some time until many of us complained and took mainstream media to task for it.  Rather than simply beg other media outlets to take the story seriously, Beth, Amber, Lo, Folk, and the rest of the OHN staff decided that we should keep her face in the forefront each and every day in hopes that someone somewhere will find Phylicia and reunitie her with her family.
Unfortunately… it will never happen in the way we wished it would.

The body found in a Maryland river has been determined to be that of  Phylicia Barnes, a missing teenager with metro Atlanta ties.

The chief medical examiner’s office confirmed that the body found in the Susquehanna River is Barnes. Maryland State Police and Baltimore Police will hold a briefing at 8 p.m. tonight.
Two Maryland State Troopers recovered a body of an unidentified woman around 10 a.m. Wednesday and then were contacted about a second body, this time of an unidentified male, around 2 p.m., state police said.  Troopers were alerted to the area by some people who were working on the dam, state police said.

Maryland State Police homicide detectives are investigating the deaths of both people.
A forensic examination was scheduled for today.

Barnes, whose 17th birthday was in January, was visiting her half-sister in northwest Baltimore. She was visiting from Monroe, N.C., a city outside of Charlotte where she was preparing to graduate from high school a year early.

Barnes’ father, Russell Barnes of Riverdale, spent time in Baltimore after his daughter disappeared. Her mother, Janice Sallis, also went to Baltimore but then moved back to Atlanta in January at her family’s urging.

More than 100 detectives — including half of the Baltimore police’s homicide unit — – as well as Maryland State Police and the FBI had been assigned to Barnes’ case. Authorities were using helicopters, cadaver dogs, and other investigative tools to try and find her.

Authorities have interviewed more than 25 so-called “persons of interest,” but no one has risen to the level of a suspect, said Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, speaking to the AJC in March.

Investigators are pursing the case as an abduction and as a homicide, he said.
Authorities had gone to North Carolina and other areas to interview people but had found no reason to go to Atlanta, he told the AJC.

Barnes left her 27-year-old half-sister’s apartment on the afternoon of Dec. 28. Her debit card hadn’t been used, her cell phone was turned off, and her Facebook page wasn’t updated. She also missed a flight home to North Carolina. [source]

Our hopes and prayers go out to the family of Ms Barnes, and may the person or persons involved in this horrible act, come to justice in some way shape or form.
Rest In Peace…..