The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages. Listener discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin -Sulkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Sulkowski. And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases. Hello, everyone,
and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your host, Ali, and it will just be me coming to you this week. Eli is tied up in some other projects,
but I still wanted to bring you an episode. I know we've been a little sporadic this summer because our dog was going through some health things and then he had to have some surgery, but he is doing... much better he almost has us all clear from the vet so thank you if you've been thinking about him about us sending us warm wishes we see it all we appreciate it all so thank you so much for that but in light of that I wanted to bring you another case we are on
episode 134 this week and it is a missing person case and I think we should just go ahead and get into it. So just as a bit of a content warning at the top, this case does involve a young person, and there are mentions of sexual assault and child abuse. Today, we are talking about the missing person case of Yasmin Acree, and this takes place in January of 2008 in Chicago, Illinois. But first, a little bit about Yasmin. Yasmin
Acree is 15 years old in 2008. She lives in the North Austin neighborhood on Chicago's West Side. She lives there with her adoptive mother, Rose Starnes. Rose was her aunt by marriage and had taken Yasmin in and her older brother, Demarcus, after pressure from the family. Yasmin and Demarcus had been born in Kentucky, but their birth mother had suffered from drug addiction and the two of them were neglected. and therefore removed from the home. They both were sent into the foster
system, and they both suffered abuse there. Once Yasmin had been adopted and was living in Chicago, she seemed to find her footing for some time. She was the star at her spelling bee and the salutatorian of her 8th grade class. In January of 2008, she was a freshman at Austin Polytechnical Academy, and she was starting to struggle in school more than she had before. Yasmin loved to read. She would devour books one right after the other. She was also active at her local YMCA
and was in the mentorship program there. She was excited at the Y. She was going to take part in their new job initiative, and she would be taking part in their summer trip. She was looking forward to a lot of things. In the months leading up to the timeline, we know that Demarcus, Yasmin's older brother, was kicked out of their home in Chicago. Yasmin and Demarcus both had rooms in the basement, and this left Yasmin by herself in the basement. And now, a timeline of events.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008. We know that Yasmin had a pretty normal day at school. After school, she went to the YMCA and spent time there. Her mentor dropped her off at her home around 8 p .m. Her adoptive mother, Rose, was not home. She had gone to spend time with her daughter in Elgin, Illinois. Rose's live -in boyfriend, Charles Burt, who rented a room in Rose's house as well, was left home with Yasmin. When Yasmin got home from the YMCA, she did a load of laundry
and got ready for bed. She was last seen around 9 .30 p .m. wearing pajamas. The next day, Wednesday, January 16th, 2008, in the morning, Charles is getting ready for work. Before he leaves, he takes the trash out, and when he heads out to the bins, he notices something strange. The lock on the basement scissor gate had been cut, and the basement door was busted open. Charles goes down into the basement and looks for Yasmin in her bedroom, but she's not there. He assumes
that she went to school early. Her bed appeared to have been slept in. But even this was strange. Yasmin made her bed every single morning, so it was strange that it was left unmade. Charles gives Rose a call, but she says she never got the phone call. Her phone was broken. Charles says he left a message saying that the basement door was busted wide open, and then he left for work. When Rose got back to Chicago, she heard from her niece that her home had been broken
into. When Rose gets to the house, she sees the basement for herself and Yasmin's unmade bed, and she starts to worry. She tells Charles to fix the basement door. At 5 p .m., Rose says that she remembered that Yasmin had a half day of school, so she should have been home already. When Yasmin still fails to arrive, she calls the police at 5 .31 p .m. It takes the Chicago police a little over 90 minutes to respond. During
that time, Rose kept calling 911 back. When police finally do arrive just a few minutes after 7 p .m., they suggest that maybe Yasmin stayed late at school since there was a sporting event happening that evening. The police ride over to the school to check, but Yasmin is not there. They do talk to some classmates. The classmates try to be helpful and tell police that Yasmin
ran away and that she had called them. Later in the investigation, the classmates will recant the story, and their phone records will prove that it was a lie. Yasmin never called them. That evening, police return to Rose's home, and according to the family, police tell them that they think that she's a runaway, based off of this information coming from the school friends. The family says that the police don't even go into the basement or take the cut lock as evidence.
Rose also insists to the police that it is unlike Yasmin to run away, and the only things missing from her bedroom were her pajamas, her coat, and her boots. The next day, Thursday, January 17th, police return to the house and collect the cut lock as evidence. They'll also dust for fingerprints, but at this point, the scene had been compromised. Charles had fixed the basement door and people had been in and out of the basement and Yasmin's room. Weeks pass, and then months.
As July of 2008 rolls around, Yasmin's family still firmly believe that she didn't run away. Family and friends gather outside of the police department to try to get more attention on her case and put pressure on the police to investigate. Community leaders think that Yasmin's case isn't getting attention because she's a young black girl from the west side of Chicago. The police push back and say that they have logged hundreds of hours on the case, but they still don't have
any leads or suspects. Police also say that they are not getting full cooperation from people who may have knowledge of her whereabouts. By October of 2009, so just shy of two years that Yasmin has been missing, her bedroom remains untouched. Stuffed animals are still gathered at the head of her bed, and her clothes are still neatly folded in the dresser, clothes that she
would have likely outgrown at this point. In an extraordinary move, the Chicago Police Department acknowledges that the initial investigation was mishandled. A letter from the Internal Affairs Division confirms misconduct by department members. Despite this, Police maintain that delays in evidence collection haven't slowed down the investigation at all and hasn't hampered the integrity of it. But still, they don't have any leads or suspects in the case. In 2011, the Chicago Tribune starts
digging into Yasmin's disappearance. While interviewing Rose, reporters discover a diary that Yasmin kept until a month before she vanished. In it, Yasmin mentions Jimmy Terrell Smith, a 35 -year -old ex -con who at one time lived in the upstairs apartment of the two -flat that Yasmin's family lived in. Smith lived in the upstairs apartment after serving time on an attempted murder charge.
He had moved out of the upstairs apartment prior to Yasmin disappearing, but according to family friends, Smith had seen Yasmin at a barbecue in the neighborhood shortly before she disappeared. People say that Smith gave Yasmin a beer and told her that she looked like a Playboy model. Smith will later be arrested on charges of kidnapping and raping multiple women. When confronted in jail by the Chicago Tribune reporters, Smith says that he knows what happened to Yasmin, but
doesn't give specifics. He says that he hid photograph negatives in an attic vent at his ex -girlfriend's house on the south side of Chicago. and that in the backyard, there was a dog tether that Smith claimed he used on humans. When the Tribune go to the house, it's abandoned, but they do see a dog tether in the backyard. Armed with this information, the Tribune goes to the police. They show police the diary, something that police had never collected before that, and reveal the
Jimmy Terrell Smith connection. After getting this information from the Chicago Tribune, Police secure search warrants for the Southside home, and during their search, police do collect evidence, including that dog tether that they found in the backyard. But they're never really specific about what else they find there. Also through the Tribune's reporting, we learn more about Yasmin's life. She was often left alone, and
at times unprotected. She had survived previous sexual abuse which deeply impacted her self -worth. When she acted out, Rose sometimes locked her in the basement or beat her with a belt. Rose later admitted, quote, Her brother, DeMarcus, adds that the truth about Yasmin's life is complicated, but necessary to understand what might have happened to her. Her diary is a time capsule. There are parts of it that are like any other teenager's
diary. She's a smart, vibrant teenager. writing about Black History Month essays, her favorite singer, and the pressures of body image. In other parts of her diary, she talks about the abuse that she suffered. In her diary, there are two mentions of Jimmy Terrell Smith. In both of the mentions, Yasmin talks about him affectionately. In 2014, six years after Yasmin vanished, Rose passes away without ever finding out what happened
to the niece that she raised. Over the years, Yasmin's case will appear in the media, but there are no new updates or suspects named in the case. Her brother Demarcus and other siblings are still championing her case and want answers as to what happened to their sister. As of today, Yasmin's case remains unsolved. Police have never officially
named a suspect in Yasmin's case. So if you know anything about the disappearance of Yasmin Ackrey in January of 2008 or her whereabouts today, please call the Cook County Sheriff's Office at 773 -674 -9490 or the Chicago Police Department at 312 -744 -8266. So that is the case of Yasmin Ackrey. This is a case that locally in Chicago I think did get a lot of coverage, but nationally it never really got beyond the city limits of Chicago, even though Yasmin had grown up in Kentucky.
And this is a case that I think could really benefit from national attention. In case Yasmin is anywhere else in the U .S., this could get out to her. This could get to her. Someone who knows her could hear this. So I think this is a case that could really benefit from that. I was also really just for lack of a better word disappointed whenever I learned about Yasmin's case. There were just so many adults in her life
that failed her over and over again. From the time that she was a baby she was abandoned and neglected and then suffered abuse and trauma in the foster care system and then when she's finally adopted out she still is unprotected sometimes left to herself and her best interests aren't always at the forefront of the adult's minds who are charged with taking care of her and that's just really disappointing there were so many chances for this young girl to have a
normal life and nobody could like step up and give her the life that she deserved and her brother you know her siblings as well nobody gave them the life that they deserved and that's just really disappointing and you know this is a case that didn't happen that long ago 2008 still feels very recent and it's very heartbreaking that Children are still being failed so greatly to this degree in this day and age. It's the 21st century. Like, children should have a better
shot at life no matter what. And I'm so sad that that didn't happen here in Yasmin's case. It really breaks my heart for her. This case has a lot of questions. I want to give a shout out to the Chicago Tribune because they really did do a lot of the heavy lifting in Yasmin's case. Even the police work, the legwork, they were uncovering evidence and interviewing family and friends for hours to get details about Yasmin's life. And that's just something that it looks
like the police didn't do here. The fact that the Chicago Tribune reporters found Yasmin's diary in her bedroom, tells me that police didn't really search that bedroom. Otherwise, that diary should have been taken as evidence if they saw it. So that brings to question, what have the police done in this case? We know that the night that Yasmin is reported missing, they show up and, you know, go to the school, talk to some kids there. And based off of what the kids say,
They think Yasmin just ran away. So we know they don't take the cut lock, and we know that they don't do any fingerprinting that night. They come back the next day to get the lock and to fingerprint, but at that point, everything had been touched. Everything had been compromised. So I would be curious if the police have any physical evidence in this case from the lock, from fingerprints. Is there anything that they've
been able to use? I know I already touched on this, but it's the adults in this case, the fact that, you know, the live -in boyfriend saw this basement door busted open, busted open, cut lock. Like these, this, you know, that's not like a child left to go to school early. Like they wouldn't do all of that. They would just go out the front door. Like to see these signs, to see Yasmin gone and just think, well, she must have gone to school early. And then this happened, like.
That is just crazy. Like, I don't know if it's denial of saying, like, that couldn't happen. You have to put it so far out of your mind that, like, the next logical thing would be that she went to school. Or if it's just, like, carelessness. Or if it's more nefarious. Like, there's all the, like, why? You know, if I am living in my
city. two flat walk up and the basement door leads to the outside and it's busted open and the child that normally sleeps in the basement also isn't there when she normally would have been. I'm raising the alarm. If I can't get a hold of her mother, her adoptive mother, then I'm calling the police. I'm going to keep calling people until I raise the alarm. I wouldn't be able to just go to work. So again, Yasmin just being failed by the adults that were supposed
to be taking care of her. And then, to me, it seems like while police have officially never named a suspect in Yasmin's case, I would say that a person of interest is Jimmy Terrell Smith. We do know that years later, I think it was 2016, If I'm not mistaken, he did plead guilty to the kidnapping and rape charges against four women. And the details from that case are pretty horrific. You know, he kept these women, tortured them, raped them. He also, they said, would play Russian
roulette with them. So he would, you know, put one bullet in the gun, spin it and then point it at them. and fire. So just tortured. These women were absolutely tortured. And we know he pleads guilty to this and he gets over a hundred year life sentence, you know, effectively a life sentence. It's over a hundred years he has to serve. And while he's in prison, we also know that he attempts to set up a hit on a judge and
I think a prosecutor as well. So this is a violent man who has a criminal track record of attempted murders, of kidnapping, and of sexual assault and rape. So to me, this is a suspect and he was having inappropriate contact with Yasmin because giving a 15 -year -old a beer and telling her that she looks like a Playboy model from a 35 -year -old to a 15 -year -old is inappropriate.
So we know that there was inappropriate contact, inappropriate interactions, and if that's just what people saw, then I can only imagine what else might have gone on, especially when he was
living at the house. We also know that Jimmy Smith tells the reporters at the Tribune that he knows what happened to Yasmin and kind of claims her disappearance as, you know, he was involved in it or he knows what happens, but doesn't give any details beyond, you know, the dog tether thing and the pictures in the attic. There's no reports of police did end up finding pictures in this house. We don't know. Maybe
they did find that. But I personally would be very interested to know what came about when police did interview Smith. We know that police interviewed him at least twice. And one of the
interviews was several hours long. So I would be very interested to... read that transcript to to see what he was said and to if police were able to verify anything or to rule him out because i think if he didn't have anything to do with this he's just a disgusting man and you know is serving the rest of his life in prison then police kind of need to come out and clear him because he's been so closely associated with it that it's hard to imagine anybody else involved
in the crime. But, you know, there's still a lot of different avenues that could have happened here. And even though I think Smith is a really great person of interest and I wouldn't rule him out until I had very clear evidence that he had nothing to do with it. I would be interested to know what other scenarios police think could have happened here, if any other information has come in, any other tips. Yasmin has been missing for 17 years, 17 and a half years at
the time of recording this. And my hopes for her case is that the Chicago Police Department puts resources and time and energy into her case
and into questioning Jimmy Smith. police do think he had something to do with it or think that he's responsible that they don't just you know kind of say well he's in prison for the rest of his life so you know what's the point of that because I think the point is that her family needs answers he should have to answer for what he did to her if he's involved in it and Yasmin deserves to come home If she's still here, if she's still with us, if she's still alive, which
her family does still have hope that she could be, then she deserves to come home and to reunite with them and to spend years with them. She's been gone longer than she was with her family at this point. So she deserves that time back with her family. And if she's not with us, she deserves to come home. She deserves to be... put to rest, and in a place where those who love her and care about her can come and pay respects.
But again, if you know anything about the disappearance of Yasmin Ackrey in January of 2008 or her whereabouts today, please call the Cook County Sheriff's Office at 773 -674 -9490 or the Chicago Police Department at 312 -744 -8266. On our Instagram, at coldandmissing, we will have pictures of Yasmin at the time that she went missing, but we'll also have her age progression to 30 years old. So she would be in her early 30s today. So if you can go take a look at that, share them if
you're able to. Let's get her picture out there, especially her age progressed pictures, so that way if someone recognizes her or thinks that they know her, they can call that tip in. Again, that's... Cold and Missing, you search us on Instagram. We should pop right up. And please follow us there if you're not already. We're really close to 2 ,000 followers on Instagram, which is mind -blowing. And then we also are
always sharing active missing person cases. So as I see things, I always post them on our story. And if we're ever needing to take a week off, we will always post it there to keep you in the loop. So please follow us at coldandmissing .com. Or please follow us at Cold and Missing. Coldandmissing .com is our official website where we have our official transcripts. So if you or someone you love is hard of hearing, you can find all our
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doing it. Thank you if you're going to do it. I appreciate you so much. But that is all I have for you today. Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing. It means so much to be a part of your week. I'm your host, Ali. Have a good week and stay safe, y 'all.