Campus Alert Archive
JSU

Sixteen Days, a Wooded Lot, and the Ex-Boyfriend: JSU's Latasha Norman and the Era Before HEOA

MSmissing personmissing studentmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On November 13, 2007, Jackson State University accounting major Latasha Norman, 20, was last seen leaving an afternoon marketing class on the JSU campus in Jackson, Mississippi. Campus police coordinated with the Jackson Police Department on a two-week search; her body was found on November 29 in a wooded area near Tougaloo College. Her ex-boyfriend Stanley Cole was charged with murder. The case predated the federal HEOA missing-student notification mandate by one year, making it a pivotal pre-law benchmark for HBCU crisis communications.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
1
Injured
0
Institution
Jackson State University
Hbcu · MS
~8,000 students
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTWebsite
Approximate reconstruction525 chars
The Jackson State University Department of Public Safety is seeking information regarding the whereabouts of Latasha Norman, 20, an accounting major who was last seen on campus on November 13, 2007. Norman was last seen leaving an afternoon class. She is described as an African American female, approximately 5'5", 130 pounds, with shoulder-length black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information is asked to contact the JSU Department of Public Safety at (601) 979-2580 or the Jackson Police Department at (601) 960-1234.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed; JSU launched a dedicated information page on the JSU website with Latasha's photo where community members could click for updates -- a pre-social-media digital strategy
This disappearance occurred in November 2007, one year before the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 codified mandatory missing-student notifications for residential campuses, making JSU's ad-hoc response a benchmark of the pre-HEOA era
Norman was also the Student Government Association representative for the Accounting Society and worked on the school newspaper, making her well-known on campus
FOLLOW-UPWebsite
Approximate reconstruction613 chars
The Jackson State University community is deeply saddened to report that a body found in north Jackson has been identified as that of our missing student, Latasha Norman. Classes are cancelled for Friday, December 7. A memorial service will be held Monday, December 3, at the Rose Emily McCoy Auditorium. Counseling services are available to all students through the Office of Counseling Services. Jackson Police Department has charged Stanley Cole, 24, with murder in connection with Latasha's death. The university asks all members of the campus community to keep Latasha's family in their thoughts and prayers.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed; more than 300 students wearing blue ribbons gathered for a moment of silence after the news broke, and the historic campus bell was rung 16 times -- one for each day Norman was missing
Cole led police to Norman's body after being questioned; she had been killed shortly after her disappearance on November 13
The bell ringing was an improvised memorial ritual that became a template for subsequent HBCU missing-student campus responses
Context

Background

Latasha Norman was a 20-year-old Jackson State University accounting major, Student Government Association representative, and campus newspaper contributor. She was last seen leaving an afternoon marketing class on November 13, 2007, and her car was later found on campus. Her family filed a missing-persons report after she failed to return home. JSU's Office of University Communications launched a dedicated information page accessible from the main university website -- a novel digital-era approach for 2007 -- to keep the public updated during the two-week search. On November 29, 2007, police recovered her body in a wooded area of north Jackson near Tougaloo College, approximately eight miles from the JSU campus. Stanley Cole, 24, her ex-boyfriend, was charged with murder after he led police to the location. He was convicted of murder in February 2010; the Mississippi Supreme Court later ordered a new trial on grounds that the jury was not properly instructed on manslaughter as an alternative, but Cole was re-convicted. Norman's case is a pre-HEOA 2008 reference point: the Higher Education Opportunity Act requiring formal missing-student notifications was signed less than a year later, and advocates cited cases like Norman's in arguing for the mandate.
Analysis

Key Findings

Norman's case occurred one year before the HEOA 2008 missing-student notification mandate, illustrating the institutional gap the law was designed to close
JSU's improvised response -- a dedicated website information page and bell-ringing memorial -- prefigured the structured HEOA notification system that followed
The 16-day interval between disappearance and body recovery, the on-campus last-seen location, and the ex-partner perpetrator pattern match the fact pattern HEOA drafters cited in legislative history
The case remains one of the most-cited pre-HEOA HBCU missing-student cases in campus safety literature
Outcome
Body found November 29, 2007 in wooded area near Tougaloo College, north Jackson. Ex-boyfriend Stanley Cole charged and convicted of murder in February 2010, with the Mississippi Supreme Court later ordering a new trial on grounds of improper jury instructions. Cole was ultimately re-convicted.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Jackson State Campus Mourns Death of Student Who Was Missing For Weeks (Diverse: Issues in Higher Education)
    diverseeducation.com
  2. News
    Missing Jackson State University Student Found Dead (BET)
    bet.com
  3. News
    Student's Disappearance Now National News (WLBT)
    wlbt.com
  4. News
    New Trial Ordered in 2007 Slaying of JSU Student (Jackson Free Press)
    m.jacksonfreepress.com
  5. News
    Police Find Missing JSU Student's Body, Charge Ex-Boyfriend With Murder (Picayune Item)
    picayuneitem.com
Tags
missing-studentmissing-personhbcumississippipre-heoaintimate-partner-violencehomicidecampus-communicationhistoric
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion