Wentz-Graff Media

Storytelling: Missing

When two young black boys disappeared from their Milwaukee neighborhood without a trace, it united members of their community through search efforts. 

  • Angela Virginia, right, pleads for her son Purvis Virginia Parker's return, as she speaks at a press conference in Milwaukee, alongside Quentin Henning, left, whose son Quadrevion Henning is also missing. The boys, 11 and 12 respectively, disappeared three days earlier.
  • Shymeka Brown, 9, watches out the front door of her Milwaukee home as her mother gives a television interview, regarding her missing brother, Purvis Virginia Parker, 11. Parker and his neighborhood friend Quadrevion Henning, 12, were last seen Sunday at 3:30 p.m. playing basketball in the area.
  • Milwaukee Police Officer Kathy Schult leads volunteers on a search of the Lincoln Creek Parkway for signs of the boys. Police and volunteers searched by air, by land, and with divers in the waterways.
  • {quote}I just want my boy home,{quote} says grandmother and guardian of missing child Quadrevion Henning, 12. She stands for hours at the front window of her home, Quadrevion's football lying right on the couch where he left it.
  • The community continues to show support and raise funds for the search of the missing boys. Quadrevion Henning's father Quentin Henning, left, and grandfather Gary Henning, center, comfort one another as they listen to a song written by Milwaukee teen Quinlan Bishop titled {quote}Come Home,{quote} a rap about the disappearance of Quadrevion and his friend Purvis Virginia Parker. The family, including Quadrevion's uncle Trever Henning, right, attended a fundraiser for the missing children's families.
  • Shymeka Brown, 9, left, comfrots her mother Angela Virginia, right, at their Milwaukee home, as Angela updates relatives about the search for Purvis.
  • Yolanda Owten stands at the edge of McGovern Park pond, April 17, where the bodies of Quadrevion Henning and Purvis Parker were found after a four-week search. {quote}This is too sad. They are too young,{quote} says Yolanda, who did not know the boys but learned of the story through the news.
  • The African-American community turned out by the thousands for the funeral of Purvis Parker. Many had never met the young boy, or even participated in the search, but instead had grown deeply attached to his story through news reports.
  • Susi Mayer, left, Natchlyn Voegtline, center, and Mary Whitaker comfort one another while holding a photo of Quadrevion Henning at his funeral services, April 20, 2006. The three women never met the boy, but met during their volunteer efforts to find him.
  • Members of the Neighborhood Center Sports League Mighty Rams team file past Quadrevion's photos at the start of his funeral services. Quadrevion played on the team for three years.
  • As Purvis's body is taken from the funeral service, his younger cousin is inconsolable.
  • Angela Virginia can't bring herself to say goodbye to her son and oldest child, Purvis, at the conclusion of his funeral service.
  • Home
  • Storytelling
    • The Gift of Sight
    • A Love Interrupted
    • Abandoning Our Mentally Ill
    • Inside out: Transgender stories
    • Science of Gender
    • The Soldier's Child
    • Fatal Care: The state of foster care in Milwaukee
    • History in the Making: Obamanomenom
    • Missing
    • Unify
    • Deadly Delays
    • Faces Of The Recession
    • Cashing In On Kids
    • Bringing Courtney Home
    • World Naked Bike Ride
  • Faces
  • Scenes
  • Motion
  • Action
  • Edibles
  • About Kristyna
  • Contact