In Memory of Damon White, University of Missouri Legion of Black Collegians President

The body of Iota Phi Beta, Damon White (a.k.a. “Sermon” #1 Beta Tau, Spring ‘95), a former University of Missouri student who disappeared in March 1999, was positively identified by Jackson County medical examiners in November, 2000.

 When Damon White disappeared in May 1999, he left behind a sizable legacy on the MU campus.

White had twice been elected president of the Legion of Black Collegians at MU and was instrumental in the construction of the university’s Lloyd L. Gaines/Marian O’Fallon Oldham Black Culture Center. He spoke at the center’s groundbreaking in 1997, regularly weighed in on race issues at the university and was a founding member of the Iota Phi Theta fraternity. A memorial scholarship was created in his memory.

White had transferred to the University of Missouri-Kansas City shortly before he disappeared to re-take a math course, but planned to return to MU in the fall of 1999 and graduate in December, his family said.

Following White’s disappearance, vigils were held in Kansas City and Columbia. Students gathered at the A.P. Green Chapel, next to Memorial Union, to pray for his safe return. White’s mother, Janet, and his two sisters pleaded with local media to print and broadcast information about his disappearance.

“We hired private investigators, we were going on searches, we were on television,” Damon White’s older sister, Shonte Dulin, said.

Years went by with no arrests and no leads. Meanwhile, Janet White’s health gradually worsened.

“She always held out hope that Damon would be found,” Phire White said. “When we found him, she lost that fight.”

She suffered a heart attack and died in 2002. She was 47.

“The police are now investigating it as a murder, even though a cause of death has not been determined,” Kansas City City Councilman Alvin Brooks said.

White, former president of MU’s Legion of Black Collegians and the Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Inc., was last seen at his family’s Kansas City apartment at 1 a.m. on March 2, 1999.

“I felt for a long time that he was most likely dead,” said Tim Wilson, former assistant director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs. “It only confirms what I’ve thought for a long time.”

Two hikers and their children found White’s skeletal remains in a wooded area near Interstate 470 and Raytown Road in Kansas City on Saturday afternoon. Dental records were compared before a public identification was made Wednesday.

White’s body was found about six miles from where a car he had borrowed on March 2 from his sister, Phire, was found four days after his disappearance. The car contained blood stains believed to be White’s, Brooks said.

“It seems weird to me that the body was found so close to where the car was,” said Kenyon Railey, a friend of White’s and current president of LBC.

A spokesman for the medical examiner’s office said no cause of death is known at this time and that there is no projection for when a cause of death will be announced. If a cause of death cannot be determined by the medical examiner, the skeletal remains will be sent to a forensic anthropologist for further analysis.

The case is being investigated by the Kansas City Police Department homicide division, which could not be reached for comment.

“The body being found so close to where the car was kind of makes me question what kind of investigation force they had out there looking,” said Ebonie Cunningham, a friend of White’s. “It kind of makes me wonder how important this case was to the police department.”

White was the victim of a severe beating several weeks before his disappearance, Brooks said. He also said police are considering the option that the beating and the disappearance are related.

“Simply based on the circumstances in which he disappeared, it seems like there may be some sort of foul play involved,” Railey said.

White was a political science major at MU and was taking classes at University of Missouri-Kansas City at the time of his disappearance. He served as the president of MU’s chapter of LBC from 1996 to 1997.

Many of the people who knew White while he was an MU student have graduated. Those students who do remember him said they are glad the body was found.

“Of course, this is not the best of news, but it does bring closure,” said Mack Williams, a friend of White’s.

The discovery has prompted LBC and other campus organizations to again focus their attention on White.

“We don’t know what steps we want to take, but we definitely want to do something in his memory,” Railey said.

Friends of White’s have already received word from the family that plans for a funeral are in the works, but no definite plans have been made, Cunningham said.

“As for a memorial service, I think there should be; there damn well better be,” Wilson said.•

Story from APWire

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