As protests against racial injustice continue in Georgia and around the nation, Tyler Perry is speaking out about a case he’s been backing for years.
The Atlanta-based media mogul on Sunday posted a video of a CNN story about Marcia Williams. She’s the mother of Terrence Williams, who went missing in Naples, Florida, in January 2004. Former Deputy Steven Calkins is believed to be the last person to have seen him.
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In 2012, Marcia Williams appeared on “Anderson Cooper 360” and spoke about her missing son.
“I don’t believe that Terrence is alive,” she said. “At this point, I have to find out what happened to him.”
"This story made me just as outraged as the George Floyd video and yet, nothing's ever been done about it," Perry wrote on Instagram, referring to the recording of a police officer who knelt on the Minneapolis man's neck. Floyd ultimately died.
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"I've been fighting and standing with Marcia to get justice for Terrance for 7 years now," Perry continued. "It's so sad that one horrible murder will push the last murder out of the news cycle when all of them point to a collective problem. All black lives matter. All these cases matter. And now Rayshard Brooks in the city that I call home."
Amid the protests, Perry called for people to “keep fighting for what is right. And at the same time we must vote!”
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The filmmaker initially learned about Terrence Williams’ disappearance on Investigation Discovery’s “Disappeared,” when the story got national attention in 2012.
A year later, Perry offered a $100,000 award for information on Terrence Williams' disappearance and that of Felipe Santos. Santos disappeared in October 2003 and also had a last-known encounter with Calkins, according to The News-Press.
Terrence Williams' estate filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Calkins, but in 2019, a judge dismissed the case but gave the plaintiffs 20 days to file another amended complaint, Naples Daily News reported.
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