Jill Hankemeier vanished the day before St. Patrick’s Day, and there is one single mainstream news report covering her disappearance. Meanwhile, the missing Chicago woman’s family is taking to social media in hopes of getting the attention this case deserves.
It has been several days since this Fox 32 Chicago News report was published. Since then, no other mainstream news sources have picked up this missing person’s story. Could it be because Jill Hankemeier is a member of the LGBTQ community? For years it’s been observed that mainstream media shows biases in their reporting on missing and murdered people. For example, people of color are often ignored when it comes to their unsolved cases. Straight people are also given more thorough coverage — and public interest seems to coincide with this. In 2018, GLAAD made a public plea for more the mainstream media to give more fair and balanced coverage of LGBTQ issues — especially news of murdered transgender people.
While the mainstream media largely ignores the disappearance of Jill Hankemeier, her loved ones are active on social media — as is the public. Her sister has shared multiple pleas on Facebook and other platforms, begging for more attention to the case. Meanwhile, police aren’t really sharing whether or not they’ve found anything in the search for Jill — or even if they’re actively searching for her.
Chelsea Hoffman is a true crime writer with over a decade of professional writing experience. She is best known for her coverage of missing people including the tragic disappearance of Madeleine McCann as well as the heartbreaking cases of Dylan Redwine, Heather Elvis and many others.
