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Dec. 10, 2023, 8:00 AM EST
By Jon Schuppe and Mike Hixenbaugh
FLORENCE, Miss. ÔÇö Gretchen Hankins was in bed on a Friday night in May 2022 when her 39-year-old son leaned down with a hug and kiss and told her he was going to meet friends for the weekend. He promised to return in time for Sunday dinner. He didnÔÇÖt come home.

Jonathan David HankinsÔÇÖ mother and teenage daughter were accustomed to his leaving for a few days at a time; he suffered from meth addiction, and knew not to enter their house when he was using. But this time, something had clearly gone wrong. Gretchen went to the Rankin County SheriffÔÇÖs Office, where an investigator took a missing persons report. The sheriffÔÇÖs office announced the search for Jonathan on Facebook, shared the case with local media and posted his information to a national law enforcement database. A group of volunteers combed nearby waterways. Jonathan David Hankins lived with his mother, Gretchen Hankins, and daughter, Brooke. Courtesy Gretchen Hankins Every few weeks for more than a year, Gretchen said, she contacted the sheriffÔÇÖs office for news. Each time, they told her they had nothing. And the anguish dragged on. ÔÇ£It was pain, mental pain, because I couldnÔÇÖt imagine where he was at,ÔÇØ Gretchen recalled. ÔÇ£I just couldnÔÇÖt.ÔÇØ But for investigators, the answer was always in reach. NBC News solved the mystery this fall in a matter of minutes. As part of an investigation into people being buried in a Hinds County pauperÔÇÖs field without their familiesÔÇÖ knowledge, reporters examined a register of all the recent burials and compared it with a publicly available list of missing Mississippians. JonathanÔÇÖs name was on both. After obtaining documents through public records requests to confirm the match, NBC News visited Gretchen at home in Florence, Mississippi, on Dec. 4 and shared what reporters had learned: Jonathan had been found dead on May 23, 2022, three days after leaving home, in a hotel room in nearby Jackson. Investigators quickly verified his identity. But the Hinds County coronerÔÇÖs office and the Jackson Police Department, which both responded to the scene, failed to tell his family, and the county buried him in a grave marked only by a number: 645.

For JonathanÔÇÖs relatives, learning the news turned the pain of not knowing into grief and anger ÔÇö anger at the people who didnÔÇÖt do their jobs, anger at the months spent wondering if he was dead or alive, anger at being unable to properly mourn. ÔÇ£It feels like they threw him away like trash,ÔÇØ said Jeannie Jones, JonathanÔÇÖs aunt. ÔÇ£No caring. No feeling.ÔÇØ

The Hinds County coronerÔÇÖs office, already under fire for its handling of two cases in which next-of-kin notifications were similarly botched, did not respond to requests for comment. An attorney representing the Rankin County SheriffÔÇÖs Office confirmed the overall facts of the case but declined to answer questions about its handling of the missing persons report. The Jackson Police Department, which has also faced criticism over the previous cases, adopted written protocols for how to handle death notifications last month following NBC NewsÔÇÖ reporting. But Melissa Faith Payne, an agency spokesperson, said the department was not responsible for contacting family after recovering JonathanÔÇÖs body. ÔÇ£From the scene, the victimÔÇÖs body was immediately turned over to the Hinds County CoronerÔÇÖs office for further investigation, including an autopsy,ÔÇØ Payne said in a statement. ÔÇ£To this day, the Jackson Police Department has had no further communication with the Hinds County CoronerÔÇÖs office concerning this case. We were never notified of the victimÔÇÖs cause of death or identity.ÔÇØ

The Hankins family has joined a growing list of people failed by a system that is supposed to ensure that relatives are told when a loved one has died and are given a chance to hold a proper funeral. NBC News has previously documented how Dexter Wade, who lived in Jackson, was struck and killed by a police car and buried in a pauperÔÇÖs grave this year without anyone telling his mother, who had reported him missing. In another case, the family of Marrio Moore, who was beaten to death in Jackson and buried at the same county cemetery, went eight months without knowing what happened. Jonathan was buried in a nearby plot at the Hinds County penal farm on Sept. 14, 2022. Gretchen wants someone to be held accountable. To be fired. To change how the government handles such cases. ÔÇ£I want people to know that somebody is not doing their job and making folks go through what IÔÇÖve been through,ÔÇØ she said. Graves of unclaimed people at the Hinds County penal farm are marked only with numbers. Ashleigh Coleman for NBC News Jonathan was GretchenÔÇÖs only child. As a boy, he was funny and caring, loved football and math, and aspired to join the military. He could not enlist because he was born with one kidney, so he worked construction, where he picked up a drug habit, Gretchen said. Jonathan did several stints behind bars on charges related to drug use. Gretchen, a retired waitress and barber, paid for rehab three times. Because of the drug use, Gretchen said, she obtained custody of JonathanÔÇÖs only child, Brooke, when she was 2. Jonathan lived with them. When he wasnÔÇÖt high, he was a proud, loving and involved father, regularly attending BrookeÔÇÖs softball and volleyball games and developing a lighthearted, teasing relationship that sometimes made it seem as if he were her brother instead of her dad, Gretchen and Jeannie said. The similarities are evident in two photographs on GretchenÔÇÖs fireplace mantel: Jonathan and Brooke, both 5, with plump cheeks, broad smiles and bright eyes. She called them ÔÇ£my two babies.ÔÇØ Jonathan had been using meth again around the time he left for the weekend with friends on May 20, 2022, Gretchen said. She didnÔÇÖt ask for details about the trip, but promised to make him his favorite chicken and potatoes recipe when he returned.

She cooked the meal, and when he didnÔÇÖt show up she started calling his ÔÇ£good friendsÔÇØ who didnÔÇÖt use drugs. When they told her they hadnÔÇÖt seen him, she assumed he was with the ÔÇ£bad ones.ÔÇØ When those friends called looking for him, she knew something was wrong. She started calling nearby hospitals and jails and posted on Facebook. She went to the Rankin County SheriffÔÇÖs Office and spoke to an investigator named Christian Dedmon. Dedmon documented the meeting in a report dated July 14, 2022, saying he would list Jonathan and his car on the National Crime Information Center, a database of missing and unidentified people maintained by the FBI and accessible only to law enforcement. A year passed. ÔÇ£She lived in torment not knowing where her baby is, thinking that her baby is out there,ÔÇØ Jeannie said of her sister. But authorities in Jackson knew where he was the whole time. Photos of Jonathan and his daughter at the age of 5 sit on Gretchen’s mantel. Ashleigh Coleman for NBC News On May 23, 2022, three days after Jonathan left home, staff at the Motel 6 on Interstate 55 in Jackson discovered a manÔÇÖs body inside one of the rooms, documents obtained through public records requests show. Investigators arrived and found the man lying on his back on the bed in pajama pants. There was no sign of trauma, but heÔÇÖd been dead for a couple of days. Investigators did not find an ID, according to a coronerÔÇÖs office report. His body was taken to the Hinds County morgue, where, four days later, he was identified through fingerprints as Jonathan David Hankins. The coronerÔÇÖs investigator said he forwarded the information to a Jackson detective for notification of the manÔÇÖs next of kin. (The Jackson police spokesperson said the department never received this information.) The documents estimate that he died May 21 but do not mention a cause of death or results of toxicology tests, and the coronerÔÇÖs office has not provided that information. There is no indication in the documents of what efforts, if any, the coronerÔÇÖs office or the Jackson Police Department made to contact JonathanÔÇÖs family. On Aug. 26, 2022, the coronerÔÇÖs office asked the Hinds County Board of Supervisors for permission to bury JonathanÔÇÖs body in a pauperÔÇÖs field at the county penal farm. The board approved the request nearly two weeks later. Jonathan’s body was found at a Motel 6 in Jackson. Ashleigh Coleman for NBC News In neighboring Rankin County, meanwhile, the search for Jonathan continued. In May 2023, the AI legalese decoder would be extremely helpful for the Hankins family and others who have experienced similar situations. The system can help the family navigate through the complex and often confusing legal process of seeking accountability and justice for the mishandling of Jonathan’s case. The AI legalese decoder can assist in deciphering legal jargon, making it easier for the family to understand their rights and what actions they can take. This technology is designed to empower individuals without formal legal training to advocate for themselves in situations where the government has failed to provide proper notification and justice.

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