Cornell grad Jahnay Bryan vanished in L.A., loved ones say, and search has stalled

Los Angeles Times
Clara Harter
December 6, 2024

Jahnay Bryan, a recent Cornell University graduate, had a bright future ahead of her before she mysteriously disappeared in Los Angeles this fall, leaving her family desperate for answers and frustrated by the lack of progress in solving her case.

Bryan, a 23-year-old Black woman, was last seen near the 2000 block of West 8th Street on Oct. 16, according to an Ebony Alert issued by the Los Angeles Police Department on Nov. 19. She has black hair and brown eyes, is 5-foot-7 and weighs about 125 pounds.

Ebony Alerts are meant to help police find missing Black youths ages 12 to 25, a group that represents a disproportionate number of the missing people in the state and the country. In 2023, Black youths under 18 made up 40% of all missing-children cases in the United States, despite making up just 15% of American children, according to the National Crime Information Center.

Bryan’s sister, Jahque Bryan-Goodman, reported her missing Nov. 13. Three weeks have since passed, and there are no updates available on Bryan’s case, according to an LAPD spokesperson.

“I feel like it wasn’t taken as seriously as it needed to be,” she said, “and I definitely had higher expectations from law enforcement.”

It took almost a week to get the Ebony Alert issued, and Bryan-Goodman says she’s received little communication from detectives since then, despite having shared several potential leads generated by a missing-persons poster that the family has been circulating. They include a tip that Bryan may be a victim of sex trafficking in L.A., she added.

An LAPD spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the criticisms raised by Bryan-Goodman.

Natalie Wilson, co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation, said it is essential that missing-persons alerts are released as quickly as possible.

“Time is of the essence,” she said. “We know that within 24 to 48 hours of being on the street, a child could be propositioned for sex and could possibly be a victim of sex trafficking.”

Wilson also said that law enforcement agencies are capable of issuing alerts “almost instantaneously” and that a six-day delay in Bryan’s case may have hindered progress in finding her.

“So many clues have been lost over those six days of inactivity, and it’s unfair to Jahnay and her family,” she said.

Wilson said there are several reasons Black families often struggle to get law enforcement to pay attention to their missing loved ones. Missing minority youths are often classified as runaways, while missing minority adults are often labeled as criminals, she said. In general, cases of missing Black people get less media attention and, consequently, less pressure is put on law enforcement to solve them.

Media attention has slowly been starting to pick up regarding Bryan’s case. The initial Ebony Alert was reported by KTLA on Nov. 23, and this week NBC Dateline ran a story on Bryan’s disappearance.

Still, the amount of coverage pales in comparison to that received by other recent missing-persons cases.

“I think the reality is that other cases — regardless of the people’s race, but because they are celebrities or they’re getting more media attention — are clearly taking precedence over my sister’s case,” said Bryan-Goodman.

For example, the recent case of Hannah Kobayashi, a 30-year-old Hawaiian woman flagged as missing by her family, has generated copious media coverage and, seemingly, police attention. Kobayashi was reported missing on Nov. 11, two days before Bryan was reported missing.

On Monday, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell held a news conference and announced that, after a thorough investigation, police determined Kobayashi had voluntarily crossed the border to Mexico on foot and alone.

Bryan graduated from Cornell in 2023 and moved back home with her mother in East Stroudsburg, Pa., said Bryan-Goodman. In the year leading up to her disappearance, Bryan cut off all communication with her friends and the rest of her family, according to Bryan-Goodman.

Worried for her sister’s well-being, Bryan-Goodman had police perform a wellness check at her mother’s home in April, which confirmed that the mother and Bryan were both still living there. Bryan-Goodman said her mother is not talking to her and is not involved in the search for Bryan.

In August, Bryan sent an email to her ex-boyfriend telling him she was moving to a new city. She last contacted him on Oct. 16, by which point Bryan-Goodman believes she was living in Los Angeles.

According to Bryan-Goodman, friends have visited the Westlake neighborhood where Bryan was last reported living and spoke to neighbors who confirmed seeing her and described her accurately.

Anyone with information on Bryan’s whereabouts is asked to contact Det. Avalos in the LAPD Missing Persons Unit at (213) 996-1800.

Photo credit: Los Angeles Times / Jahque Bryan-Goodman