No family should have to fight to locate evidence entrusted to public agencies. Mississippi deserves honest government, accountable leadership, and justice that continues long after the headlines fade.

Entrepreneur and Philanthropist Mary Jacqueline Levitz was 62 when she was last seen in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on November 18, 1995. More than 30 years later, her family is still seeking answers.

After six months of repeated requests, the family reports that the evidence it has been asking agencies to locate still has not been located or accounted for. They are devastated. They deserve a documented explanation of what happened, who last had custody, and what is being done to find and preserve it.

I am Jason Chrisman, an independent researcher assisting members of Jacqueline’s family. I am asking people across Mississippi and beyond to stand with them.

Mississippi Rising is a call to confront corruption wherever it is found, correct negligence, protect evidence, and make public accountability a continuing obligation. Let Jacqueline’s case become a turning point.

Why independent scrutiny is necessary
Vicksburg’s history includes documented criminal misconduct by an individual police officer. In a separate case, a federal appeals court in 2009 upheld the ten-year sentence of former Vicksburg officer Kevin Dewayne Williams, who pleaded guilty to attempted extortion after accepting payments to escort what he believed were cocaine shipments.

More recently, Mayor Willis Thompson stated in January 2026 that more than 70 criminal cases from 2022–2025 could not proceed to a grand jury because Vicksburg Police had not submitted complete investigative files to prosecutors.

WLBT’s March 2026 investigation reported that at least 121 complete felony case files had not been submitted as of February 2025. Police Chief Larry Burns has announced internal deadlines and stronger supervision; the department also attributed some apparent submission gaps to recordkeeping differences and outstanding laboratory materials.

Those announced improvements must produce verifiable results in older open cases, including Jacqueline’s.

The documented case-file failures and Jacqueline’s unresolved physical-evidence concerns require their own findings. The family deserves an independent, item-by-item accounting that establishes whether evidence was misplaced, mishandled, lost, concealed or destroyed—and whether negligence, deliberate misconduct or another cause explains what happened.

Where is Jacqueline’s evidence? What records establish its custody? Who is responsible for resolving every outstanding item?

We ask Mississippi’s elected officials and the responsible federal, state and local agencies for three public, written commitments.

1. Find the evidence. Establish what happened. Require accountability.
Locate and preserve all available physical evidence and related records. Provide the family with a documented inventory identifying each item’s present status, condition and custodian, with sensitive investigative details protected.

Independently examine the reported laboratory returns from 2002–2008 and the researcher-reported transfer of state-held evidence to Vicksburg Police after June 2026.

Reconcile laboratory records, transfer receipts, property-room logs and other custody documentation. For each unresolved item, identify its last confirmed custodian, subsequent movements, the searches already undertaken, and the official responsible for further action.

Ask the appropriate prosecutor to seek a grand-jury inquiry or other compulsory process where legally warranted to obtain records and testimony from everyone with material knowledge.

Any findings of negligence, evidence tampering or other misconduct must receive an appropriate response through the applicable disciplinary, civil or criminal processes.

2. Review the entire case and seek coordinated FBI assistance.
Assign a qualified investigator who was not previously involved to conduct a fresh, comprehensive case-file review.

Examine the physical evidence, witness accounts, financial records, prior investigative work, missed follow-up and outstanding leads. Identify a lead agency, a clear point of contact for the family, and a coordinated written investigative plan.

Seek assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, including its Jackson Field Office, for evidence preservation, appropriate FBI Laboratory DNA testing, forensic investigative genetic genealogy where suitable, and forensic accounting of relevant financial transactions, estate and trust records.

Ask the Department of Justice and the FBI to determine whether Jacqueline’s case qualifies under the Homicide Victims’ Families’ Rights Act of 2021, which provides a review process and requires full reinvestigation when the statutory conditions are met in qualifying federal cold-case homicides.

3. Protect every open cold case in Mississippi.
We ask the governor and legislature to work with families on funded, enforceable Mississippi legislation providing:

An assigned investigator for every open cold case.
A family-initiated process for a fresh, comprehensive case review.
Evidence-preservation requirements, documented inventories and traceable custody records.
Annual review and reporting on witness follow-up and available forensic technology.
Meaningful written updates to families.
An independent process for reviewing unresolved complaints and determining responsibility for substantiated failures.
These protections must include unresolved missing-person and suspected-homicide cases while safeguarding sensitive investigative information.

An “open” case should carry continuing responsibilities: evidence that can be accounted for, investigative decisions that are documented, and families who receive meaningful communication.

A written response and a measurable plan
We request an initial written response within 30 days of this petition’s formal delivery identifying:

The lead agency and the family’s designated contact.
Who is responsible for locating and accounting for each outstanding evidence item.
The arrangements for a fresh case-file review and assessment of FBI assistance.
When the family will receive its first substantive progress report.
We also ask legislative leaders to identify sponsors and a timetable for considering statewide cold-case protections.

Sign for Jacqueline. Stand for every Mississippi family.
Every signature supports a clear expectation: public agencies must account for the evidence entrusted to them, families must receive meaningful answers, and open cases must receive continuing attention.

Sign this petition. Share it with your community. Ask your elected officials to make these commitments publicly and follow through.

Learn more about Jacqueline’s case
Visit the Jacqueline and Bibi Levitz case Facebook page and begin with the featured “Start Here” section.

Read about the case, follow the updates, and share the page with others who may be able to help.

Who will step forward first—and put that commitment in writing?

As we push towards 1M+ signatures; let this be a moment of change for Mississippi: evidence protected, families heard, wrongdoing addressed when established, and justice pursued with integrity.