Police Notify Georgia Mom of Her Son's Death Through Facebook

“I’m like, OK. I’m thinking it’s just fake,” - Anna Lamb-Creasey

Ricky Lamb

(ATLANTA) - Anna Lamb-Creasey had no idea what happened to her son, Ricky Lamb, who had been missing since January 25th. She contacted hospitals and police departments, all to no avail, or at least that’s what she thought.

The grieving mother says Clayton County police in Georgia used a feature which she wasn’t aware of to inform her of her son’s death. They sent her a message, but since the police department isn’t her friend on Facebook, the message went to her “Other” inbox. She says she didn’t check that “Other” inbox for weeks, so she missed a message asking her to call Clayton County police.

Anna Lamb-Creasey says the matter was further complicated because the name attached to the Facebook account was Misty Hancock. Lamb-Creasey says the message looked like spam, especially since Atlanta rapper T.I. was the user’s profile picture. Her daughter received the message as well.

“I’m like, OK. I’m thinking it’s just fake,” she said.

Lamb-Creasey says she had no idea her son had died when a driver hit him as he crossed Tara Boulevard and Old Dixie road Jan. 24 around 11 p.m. The driver was not ticketed or charged with a crime.

Finally, on Valentine’s Day, approximately 20 days after Lamb went missing, Lamb-Creasey’s daughter called the number on the Misty Hancock page and an officer gave her the sad news.

Lamb-Creasey is livid because she says the police should’ve used conventional methods of notifying next of kin to inform her of her son’s death.

“They told me that they did the best that they can do. But I’m not sure about that. (Because) if they can track a criminal down, they couldn’t track me down? They could have done better,” she said, in tears. “I’ve been on my job 13 years. They could have found me.”

Special thanks to Techyville

techyville.com/2013/02/social-media/police-notify-georgia-mom-of-her-sons-death-through-facebook/