Jackson State University student missing

JACKSON, MISS. – As Jackson State University students, parents and alumni geared up to celebrate the annual Capital City Classic football game Saturday, family and friends of Latasha Norman gathered Friday to pray for her safe return during a candlelight vigil.
Norman, 20, of Greenville, Miss., has been missing since Nov. 13, just one day after her ex-boyfriend, Stanley Cole, was arrested for allegedly assaulting her in the parking lot of a restaurant. Cole, 23, was arrested for the crime and is scheduled to appear in Pearl City Court in Pearl, Miss. on a simple assault charge on Nov. 29.
According to a statement on the in JSU Web site, Norman “is of medium-brown complexion, stands approximately 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs between 115 and 120 pounds. She was last seen wearing a white shirt and blue jeans.”
Stephen Wells, a detective with the Jackson Police Department’s Special Victims Unit on Monday, Nov. 19, told Black College Wire the investigation was underway but had not turned up a suspect.
“The case is ongoing. We’re still in the initial stages of it,” Wells said. “Of course, there’s not much to work with, but we’ve accumulated as much information as we can.”
According to an article published in the Clarion-Ledger, Danny Bolden, Norman’s father, admitted that the relationship between Cole and Norman had been rocky.
“She’s been trying to break it off with him,” Bolden stated in the article.
Jackson State University officials confirmed that Cole is also a student at the university, but due to federal disclosure guidelines, no further information could be released.
Anthony Dean, director of university communications, said JSU’s police department is highly trained and that campus security is the university’s chief concern. Cole said that no arrests have been made and that there are very few details available.
“All I can tell you is the case is being investigated by [the JSU police department] in conjunction with Jackson Police Department’s Missing Persons division,” Dean said.
Jackson State University has had few incidents of violence in the past two years. According to the Office of Postsecondary Education Campus Security Statistics Web site, JSU had two incidents of aggravated assaults in 2006 and five in 2005. The city of Jackson, however, has seen a dramatic increase in its crime level in recent years. According to CityRating.com, Jackson’s rate for all violent crimes is 1.52 times the National Average. The murder rate is 3.24 times the National Average.
Anyone with information regarding Latasha Norman’s whereabouts is asked to contact JSU’s police department at (601) 979-2580 or the Jackson Police Department at (601) 960-1210.