This week’s Flashback Friday is Jeanine Camille Barnwell. Her case kind of sticks in my craw; I even dreamed about it five years ago. I think the reason it bothers me so much is that she was so little and I have almost nothing on her. I do have two photographs, neither of which are the greatest quality, though I’ve seen far worse. She had a lovely smile.
I added an updated age-progression of Jeanine in June but beyond that I’ve got zilch. She disappeared from Philadelphia and the NCMEC poster says she was “last seen by her mother.” What does that mean? Also, it says foul play is suspected. That’s all it says. She was three years old, almost four, when she vanished from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 15, 1985.
If Jeanine is still alive, she would turn 33 years old this year. I would love it if anyone who knew her, or knew her family, or is her family, or knows anything about the case would either comment on this entry or send me an email. She deserved better than this.
The Charley Project Blog 
As always, my friend, ty for all you do (kept you in my good thoughts during your recent upheavals w/ computer, illness, like so)!!! You are right – she has vanished also from being published … did you see an article – http://www.smugtownbeacon.com/news.php?viewStory=720 – that uses her case as its beacon article for “white girls are noticed and published about, but black girls are not”??? Sad to say, it is one I have often heard about and read about myself over the years …
She seems older for three years old. She looks as old as nine.
I agree with Jose. Even if we say that she’s four, as she was less than a month away from that age, the black and white photo looks like a child several years older. She’s taller and heavier than an average four-year-old girl as well. I don’t know what, if anything, this means. Maybe a UID wouldn’t be considered if the age seems far off? In any event, it’s very sad when a little kid’s disappearance gets such scant coverage. I hope this blog post can generate some more info or interest.
I wonder if her height and weight might be off. A lot of the listed heights and weights for small children on posters seem to be like wild guesses.
Could it be that her race/the fact that she’s black played the role in scant amount of coverage?
I agree. 4’0″ is hugely tall for a 3-year-old. The average 3-year-old is less than 3 ft tall according to charts I found online. I think it took me until age 8 or 9 to reach four feet. Did law enforcement screw up yet again and write her birthday wrong or something?
I was somewhere over four feet before I started first grade (i know this because of a trip to a water park, and no you don’t want to know).Maybe she was just a big kid.
Jeanine was about 3 weeks shy of turning 4 y/o at her disappearance. The photo the Center used she had just turned 3. The information about height and weight was taken from medical records. The only issue I have with law enforcement at Jeanine’s disappearance is the laws on the books at her disappearance and other legalities. involved in this case.
The Philadelphia police, especially off. Griffo (not sure if spelled correctly) were most helpful during this time. Really the relevance is Jeanine Camille Debnam Barnwell, which was her name at the time of disappearance has not been seen by her paternal family since 1985. The date of disappearance is the last date the father saw her, she was with her mother.
later court records revealed she, the mother, sold the child yet not in Pennsylvania courts, in North Carolina courts which is where she returned too. (I would like to say fled to)