Community mourns death of Mississippi missing persons advocate Ellen Leach
Ellen Leach, founder of Mississippi Missing and Unidentified, died this weekend after a battle with cancer, a Facebook post on the group’s page said. The post said Leach split her time between working at a Hobby Lobby store in Gulfport and running the online effort aimed at finding missing people and identifying remains in unresolved cases.
By day she worked at Hobby Lobby in Gulfport, the post said, and by night she used her computer to post about missing persons and assist with identification efforts. Her page built a following of 65,000 people, the post said, reflecting broad community engagement with her work.
Mississippi Missing and Unidentified is known for using social media to share information about missing people and unidentified remains, helping families, volunteers and sometimes law enforcement spread leads and keep cases in public view. Community-run pages and nonprofit groups have become important in many jurisdictions for maintaining attention on cold cases and connecting people with resources.
The Facebook post said Leach did her work “purely out of the kindness of her heart” and called her loss deeply felt. Photo credit: Amanda McCoy, Sun Herald. We will provide more information as it becomes available.
