HBO Sets ‘Black and Missing’ Docuseries on the Search for Missing People of Color

Black and Missing Docuseries. (Credit: HBO)

HBO has announced plans to air the documentary series Black and Missing, highlighting The Black And Missing Foundation’s efforts to locate missing people of color.

The four-part documentary series from Emmy Award winner Geeta Gandbhir and journalist, author and activist Soledad O’Brien will premiere on Nov. 23, the premium cable network said Wednesday in a press release.

The series follows Derrica and Natalie Wilson, sisters-in-law and founders of the Black and Missing Foundation, as they fight to bring awareness to Black missing persons cases that have been ignored by the national media. The series, which was three years in the making, takes on new urgency given the renewed conversation on “missing white woman syndrome.”

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Driven by a desire to bring attention to forgotten missing women, former law enforcement officer Derrica and public relations expert Natalie operate a grassroots organization that raises awareness, alerts media outlets to the plight of thousands of women and children; and presses police departments to allocate more resources to the problem.

Participants in the series include John Walsh, founder of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; Vince Warren who is executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights; Dr. Renee Murrell who is an FBI victim specialist; Glenn Kirschner, former Assistant D.A.; Debra Sines, former Assistant U.S. Attorney; and Thomas Stack, Baltimore’s head of trafficking.

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The docuseries from SO’B Production is directed by Geeta Gandbhir, Nadia Hallgren, Samantha Knowles and Yoruba Richen; supervising producer is Julie Anderson; executive producers include Soledad O’Brien, Geeta Gandbhir, Jo Honig and Patrick Conway. For HBO, executive producers are Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller and Sara Rodriguez.

Black and Missing kicks off a collection of four documentary titles about crime-related issues that debut on Tuesdays, beginning Nov. 23. Below are details on the other programs.

LIFE OF CRIME: 1984-2020 (Nov. 30), an intimate verite documentary that spans 36 years in the lives of three friends from Newark and captures the highs and lows of the vicious cycles of drug addiction and street crime in one of the roughest parts of New Jersey. Directed by Jon Alpert.

THE SLOW HUSTLE (Dec. 7), a searing look at corruption within the Baltimore Police Department, through the prism of a veteran officer’s mysterious death, as local journalists, family and the community strive to find the truth. Directed by Sonja Sohn.

THE MURDERS AT STARVED ROCK (Dec. 14 and 15), a three-part documentary series exploring the 1960 brutal murders of three women in Starved Rock State Park in LaSalle County, Illinois, and the decades of questions and doubts that have haunted the son of the prosecutor in the case, as the man found guilty seeks to clear his name after sixty years in prison. Directed by Jody McVeigh-Schultz.