One Cleveland man’s mission is to help find the lost and the missing

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Runaways, kidnappings, and human traffickings are all on the top of Tyrone Hill’s hit list.

He’s alarmed at the number of missing Ohio people, and he’s doing something about it.

When families are left crying out for some kind of answer; some kind of relief, Hill is one man who — despite the odds — is never giving up.

For more than 10 years, this has become the norm for the Cleveland native: He walks several city blocks posting signs and posters of people missing or killed looking for any clue that could help find a missing person in our community or bring a family peace.

“I’m the member of an organization that’s called Who Killed Our Kids,” said Hill. “What we do is that we keep an eye on the unsolved homicides that happen in the city.”

Hill’s burning desire to help was a flame lit inside him years ago, after one of the most infamous murders in Cleveland history.

“What really got me into it was Shakira Johnson, the little girl who came up missing from one of the events I was doing for the kids and that’s what motivated me to get into this,” said Hill.

Some alarming statistics paint a picture of the devastation here in Ohio and nationwide.

There are currently 90,000 people considered missing in the U.S., according to FBI figures. Kids under the age of 18 account for 35% of the records, and 44% of the missing person are under 21.

If success is in numbers, then Hill’s organization has had its share.

“In Cincinnati, it’s about 300-to-400 people on the flyers and about 87 of them have been solved,” said Hill.

Copyright 2021 WOIO. All rights reserved.