Our efforts to provide our readers with more complete information about the tragic death last Friday of Corvettea Spears have been unsuccessful to date. We have attempted to contact the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation with voicemails left at the number of its Northern Regional Commander, an email to the Mississippi Highway Patrol public affairs officer and emails to the Troop E public affairs officer. None has responded. Local officials have said only that the MBI is in charge of the investigation.
Into the vacuum left by this dearth of information from an authoritative source have swirled rumors and innuendo fueled by social media and Memphis TV stations trying to out-sensationalize each other. Much misinformation has stoked emotions and no doubt made the family’s suffering more difficult to bear.
MBI owed it to the people of this county to, for instance, at the very least acknowledge that they are handling the investigation, that it is incomplete and that results would be released when the investigation is finished. Even that small crumb of information from the respected investigative agency might have helped curb some of the rampant speculation we have heard.
We have seen MBI’s work in solving the Jessica Chambers’ murder and countless other lower profile cases where they work seamlessly with local and federal law enforcement agencies to create a synergy of compounded talent. They have earned respect for being deliberate and methodical, not rushing to judgment to make arrests.
But in a society that increasingly rushes to judgment with greater speed and fewer facts, MBI’s policy on dissemination of information needs to catch up, even if only acknowledge early during an investigation: “We’re here, we don’t know yet, but we’re going to find out.”