(soft music) - I wanted to make this film because it's personal.

Teri Mitchell is my aunt, and I would like to know what has happened to her, and so would my father and his siblings.

It's been over 20 years since anyone in our family has seen her.

There's also an awareness piece to her story.

How do we help women, black women in particular, who are experiencing homelessness and mental health challenges?

- [Derek] If you don't grow up with your family, you don't know exactly how to trust your family without growing up with them.

- [Dene] Teri Mitchell was born in December of 1953 in Washington DC to Cleo Cheney and Richard Mitchell.

Teri was one of nine siblings.

She was not raised by her birth parents.

Instead, she and her siblings were parceled out to different family members.

- My name is Brenda Mitchell.

Teri is my, I would consider her my youngest sister.

However, we found out we have more sisters and brothers, so she falls into the younger, but to me, she's my younger sister.

We grew up together.

It was just the three of us.

Iris, myself, and Teri.

I didn't know my birth parents at first.

I knew about Daddy Richard, Richard Mitchell, because my mommy, who I call mommy, Virginia Jones, that was the mother we knew.

We didn't know anybody else.

It was only her.

She took three children that weren't hers to keep 'em in the family.

We could have been in a daycare foster home somewhere, but she took all three of us as we were born.

She took us, and that's the only woman I know who raised us.

When we were younger, we were living better.

She was working, we were living much better.

We were in Northwest P Street, 9th Street, all over there.

She was doing great, in the eyesight.

Our eyesight.

It's when we got older, and she got sicker, and things like that.

That's where we started going down a little bit.

But she did talk about Daddy Richard, Richard Mitchell, because as we got older, he was her nephew.

So we would go over to my grandmother's house, Louise Mitchell, quite often.

That's where Kenneth Mitchell would live.

So we knew the grandmother who was the father of Richard Mitchell.

Nobody ever talked about the mother.

So we didn't know about a mother growing up.

We thought mommy was our mother.

That's all we knew.

So you can imagine the surprise and confusion when you get, like, 12 and 13 or 40. Who, who?

Who is that lady?

We don't know that lady.

We didn't know any other sisters.

We didn't know any other brothers.

The only person we know was Kenneth until about, hmm, I guess we was 16.

Pat came on the scene (giggles) and she introduced herself to us.

So that's the first sister that we knew outside.

We were like, okay.

She introduced us to Sheila and Derek and Leon and Bunny.

We didn't know about any of those.

And then we found out that Cleo is our real mother, and that mommy, Virginia Jones, is not.

I think that was kinda like a shock, when you find out that the lady who raising you is not your mother.

So what do you do?

You're trying to maintain all this information.

Well, she not our mother.

Oh, that's our mother?

Oh.

So you do get a little confusion.

To me, I didn't really care.

But I think Iris and Teri, it affected them a little different.

It didn't really affect me, 'cause I was like, mm, okay.

- I'm her older, one of her older brothers, she has also another brother.

He's older than I am, and a younger brother.

My mother didn't raise any of us.

She passed us off.

She passed my sister Pat down to a Newport News because her family was there.

Three of my younger sisters went with my aunt.

I came with my grandmother.

So we were all passed.

I don't think she raised any of us.

It was nine of us with four different fathers.

So there was a lot of stuff going on.

My childhood was lonely because I wasn't around my siblings.

So we didn't come together as a family for family affairs.

Christmas, Thanksgiving, none of that stuff.

I don't remember none of that stuff.

It was always done separate.

- Teri and I used to fight a lot.

You know, we had a lot of differences because she would get on my nerves, Teri would, 'cause it was always about her.

What do you call it?

You call it bougie now.

I don't know what you called it back in the day, but she always had that attitude, and she was better than everybody.

She was in her own little world, and we used to argue a lot, but because Mommy made us all go out together, one go, all go.

So we all had to go wherever.

And after we got a little older, maybe in high school, no, after we got in Shaw Junior High, they went their way, I went my way.

You know, I never hung out with Teri when we was little, well, not little.

I never hung out with Teri when we were teenagers.

Okay.

I don't know if she hung out or not.

I was gone, and we just didn't hang out.

We didn't interact that much.

- Teri, she's one of my older sisters.

I have six of 'em, actually.

I know my mother pretty well, because I'm the one she liked.

We, they say she kept.

Most of my siblings, they grew up in their father's families except me.

And she like stayed home, and did the home thing, right?

And when we came up, she was pretty, you know, she brought me up with a few morals.

She didn't talk too much about my siblings.

I really didn't start meeting until I was, like, I met my oldest brother and I was like seven.

Then I started meeting the Mitchells, which was my older brother and Teri and her sisters, and I started meeting them when I was like 12, I think, when I first met them.

Then I went over the house and met everybody one day.

I think I was probably like 15.

And that's when I met Teri.

That's when she, I think she was like 14, 15.

She really introduced herself to me.

And she seemed very cheerful kind of person when I met her.

And of course, we all got along at that time.

Then years went by.

I didn't see 'em.

- In my opinion, our entire family, our entire family, especially the older generation, what Teri is going through is a tragic situation that stems from the mother.

I truly believe everything that all of us have went through mentally, especially my sister Teri, it stems from mom, the mother.

She gave us no love.

We never saw her.

And it's hard when you do see her, you be like, who that lady?

You my mother?

So it's a situation that you just, it's so much mental in our family.

If you look at all the brothers, the sisters.

Oh, we were so separate, that we're not together.

This one lives here, this one don't like this person, this one.

If Pat had never came into my life, I would never know Sheila.

I would never have known Derek.

She had all these children in the state, in the little city of DC, and nobody knew each other.

How awful is that?

That is so awful.

It stems from the parent.

I don't care what no one says.

It stems from your parent.

- [Derek] Teri was very flamboyant, you know?

She was always dressed nice and stuff like that.

And she had a good job.

- When my mommy died, I had left the house, 'cause I had been, I had moved to Grandam Louise house.

And Teri was there with Mommy.

She was there, and she was spoiled, and she didn't have to do anything.

And when Mommy died, I believe that took her in a dark place.

And I don't know how she absorbed that, or how she felt, because we as sisters didn't talk.

We didn't have a sisterly bond.

Like, what's going on?

What's going to happen?

'Cause what does she do now?

Who do she know?

She didn't know Grandma Louise.

She didn't know Daddy Richard.

You know, we didn't really know them like that.

I think her world shattered.

Like what was she supposed to do?

Okay, she came to G Street.

I was there.

By that time, I had Tony.

I had graduated from high school.

She came there.

She was not happy there.

It was Grandma Louise.

She opened her house to us, but she didn't show us love.

- [Dene] Teri graduated from Eastern High School in the early 1970s.

Her siblings remember Teri as a bright student and hard worker.

- But Daddy Richard was out and they helped her get into Maryland University.

She went to school for one year, then she came back, and something happened at the school.

She wouldn't tell me, but she did tell me, she said, Brenda, "I woke up, don't tell nobody.

"I woke up.

"I don't know what happened."

I think she was assaulted, 'cause she left the school after that, and she never went back.

I think after that, and how she grew up affected her.

- [Dene] After her brief stint in college, Teri held several jobs, including working as a contractor at the Naval Research Laboratory.

- She was a paralegal.

And I remember her, running into her somewhere on uptown somewhere.

And she was dressed, she had this nice pink suit on and a brown leather bag, brown shoes.

And she could have had other jobs, because we weren't in contact like every day.

You know, we weren't in contact every day.

I don't ever remember calling Teri on the phone, ever.

I never knew her phone number.

- Teri was working for an organization that Petey Greene was running, you know?

So she was in there, and she was working in there.

But she would call me.

"Brenda, these people here, you know, they looking at me, "they wanna fight me," and da da.

And I'm in New York.

So I said, "Teri, calm down.

"Don't even worry about that."

So when I came, I would come visit them a lot.

So I came visiting, and I went to her job, and I'm looking all around, you know, and she was happy to see me, because my sister's here now, what y'all got to say?

So I wasn't saying nothing.

I was just chilling.

How you doing, how you doing?

And I said, we went out to lunch, I said, "Teri, everybody seemed to be good.

"What's going on?"

"No, no, they don't like me."

And you know, on and on and on.

So I could, well.

What you gonna do?

But your sister calling you out?

"Oh, something's going on in this office."

But, again.

I didn't see anything with Teri.

Teri started to imagine.

- [Dene] For a time, Teri lived the high life of a single successful woman.

Her lifestyle was far removed from the humble beginnings of her childhood.

- Well, I think that coming from nothing, having nothing, that she made sure that she had pocketbooks, name brand, everything had to be name brand.

You know, coats and stuff.

And she had all that stuff.

I think she was making up for not having as a child, so when she got to adult, that she could buy things for herself and had a good job.

So she had the best of everything.

She always wanted a, one of 'em little sport cars, but she couldn't drive.

- Up northwest, she was living highfalutin, of course, on K Street.

And we went up there.

She had no furniture.

She had nothing in there.

I believe she was sleeping on the floor.

You had carpet.

You had nothing.

Yeah.

But a tea set, or something.

Make tea or make food.

A few little items, absolutely nothing.

But she had clothes and stuff.

'Cause you know me, I'm walking on through the, oh, this is nice.

You have a nice apartment.

Open closets, that's what I do.

Hmm.

She had absolutely nothing in the apartment.

I opened the refrigerator.

That's when I saw the Coke.

The refrigerator, the food.

Oh.

Okay, Teri.

Okay.

But you uptown.

Okay, you paying the high rent, but you have nothing.

- I went to see her one time.

She lived at 1234 Mass Avenue.

And I said, "Wow, I ain't know black people "lived in this building."

You know, because it was a very nice building.

So when you go in, there's no furniture.

Everything's on the floor, beanbag type thing.

Rugs, everything's on the floor.

I said, "Hmm."

I thought that was strange.

And a little raggedy TV with a coat hanger, you know?

I said, "Teri, how do you watch the TV?"

She said, "Watch this."

Just lay down on her pillows.

And she said she lived that way so if she had to up and leave real quick, she could, because she could just put everything in a bag or something and go, you know.

So she never had any furniture.

Nice spic and span, clean place.

- [Dene] Cracks were continuing to show through Teri's well-polished appearance.

- I believe Teri was freebasing.

And that's before crack came out, and it was similar.

But freebasing was the thing.

I believe that freebasing added to her mental state.

Because when you do that, you have to keep doing it.

It's like crack, you know?

I think it's a higher, it's a different way.

But I believe that by her doing the freebasing, it might have led her mind to believe things that she didn't see.

- [Dene] As far as we know, Aunt Teri never married or had children.

- Personally, I don't think Teri liked men.

I think that's also something she was carrying.

And I think she didn't like men because of what happened to her.

But she liked men.

She would dance, she would go out, and she was a good dancer.

That's when the hustle was out.

And she was at all the clubs.

And she had guys who liked her, but she laugh and talk with them.

But she didn't go any further than that.

But she always had a gay girl around her, or living, or close to her.

And you know me back then, "Hey, you like, "that's what you like?"

I don't have any judgment.

But back then, a lot of the people had judgment, and you were afraid to come out.

And she would come back and forth to New York to see me a couple of times, and she appeared to be okay.

But I thought that there was something wrong.

You know?

But who am I?

I'm not a doctor.

But nobody would believe me when I kept saying, "Mm, I think Teri have these little problems."

"Ah, nothing wrong with Teri.

"Oh, don't need to do that."

So initially it started slow.

- Over 60, 70% of the women that come through our doors are African-American women, because they've never been allowed to just be.

They've never been allowed to seek help.

They've prayed their way through things, or they've leaned on their sister friends and they've never shared truly what has occurred, because they don't want to feel that they've disappointed family.

They don't want to feel like they've disappointed themselves.

And unfortunately, they're carrying that hurt.

They're carrying that disappointment till it just explodes in their body, truly, right?

And that's a very sad state for black women to be in, because we feel like we have to be strong.

We can never let our guards down.

And then they wind up in places like N Street Village.

- [Brenda] Teri has been homeless for years.

We talk about, what, 30 years now?

- So homelessness is a function of the society that we are living in nationally, right?

There is no reason that in the wealthiest country in the world we should be, we should have anyone who's experiencing homelessness.

There certainly is no reason in Montgomery County, being one of the wealthiest counties in the state of Maryland, and nationally being ranked as one of the wealthiest counties, that we should be, we should have anyone who experiences homelessness for any length of time.

So then, if you look again at those societal trends, we know that black women in particular are the most disenfranchised part of the population.

Anywhere you go in the country, we know that.

We know that there are vestiges of slavery, vestiges of white supremacy, vestiges of anti-blackness.

We know that all of those things feed into this issue that we then all see, which is homelessness.

- The impact that trauma has on women experiencing homelessness.

Well, homelessness in itself is traumatic.

That's a traumatic experience.

In my 17 years of doing this, what I have recognized is women that are coming through our doors hold trauma of sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse.

And unfortunately, that abuse might have happened very early in their lives.

And when a young child's trust is broken, they honestly do not know who it is that they can turn to.

And so, as I mentioned earlier, when that trust is broken and they don't know who they need to turn to, they turn to substances.

So that is the trauma that we see.

I do believe that there is a direct correlation between early childhood trauma and people's responses to it.

- I used to think that homeless people, they were this or that way, but just really going into the shelter, I really got to know them personally.

Like, they're human too, you know?

And they didn't end up there just on their own, things happened, life happened, you know?

And each woman has a story.

- If we are honest with ourselves, systematic oppression plays a great deal in how black women deal with stress and trauma.

We are not always afforded the opportunities to go to a doctor.

- No, I don't feel like I was being heard or seen when I really needed to be heard and seen.

No.

I even wrote letters sometime, and left notes, to supply myself.

But if you don't have that type of education to do that, you ain't gonna get seen or heard.

If you don't have clerical or hand craft writings or something, knowing how to put your thoughts on paper, you're not gonna be heard, or seen.

- I think we have just gotten to a point as brown and black women, that we said, no longer are we going to allow others to speak for us.

We're going to speak for ourselves, right?

And so now we are saying, "No.

"I know who I am as a brown or black woman.

"I know I deserve more.

"I know because I am worthy of that."

- My first memory of my Aunt Teri happened when I was in elementary school.

(soft music) She came to our home on G Street.

She was knocking at the door, and then looking through the mail slot.

And my mother said, "Let's go out the back door."

Because she didn't want to see Aunt Teri.

I didn't ask any questions.

But that planted the idea in me that there was something different about my Aunt Teri.

In the early years of Teri experiencing homelessness, she stayed with various family members for brief periods of time.

- Here come Teri.

So she comes, we laugh, joke, you know, do what we do, laugh and joke and sit and talk.

And then, eventually I start seeing that she would take long showers.

Now, I'm in another lady's home, okay?

So let's try to get in and get out, you know, don't let this lady have a big water bill.

So I'm conscious about all of that.

Had these long shower, and then she wanna iron really long time on Christmas.

I said, "Teri, come on."

So I'm watching her.

And then she would write in a book, and I wanted to read that book so bad, but I couldn't get to it.

She wouldn't let you get to that book.

- [Dene] Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing.

It affects how we think, feel, and act.

It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices.

Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.

- It was about 9, 10, 11 o'clock at night, she called and she crying.

"Brenda, Brenda, help.

"I'm over here at the DJ."

Whatever DJ it was in New York radio station.

She was there.

"But he loves me.

"He called me.

"I know we gonna have a relationship."

I said, "Teri, no.

"You don't know that.

"God, he don't know you.

"You can't go in that building.

"You standing outside the building waiting for him?"

That's the first time.

I said, "What is going on with you?"

She would tell me stories about, in New York, I mean, in DC, she loved one of the ministers or pastors of a church.

And she would go to the church and, just because he said hi to you don't mean he wants you.

Stop it.

Teri, what's going on?

Those were the incidents that I knew, okay, something going on with you.

Okay.

"Well no, he loves me."

I said, "Teri, he doesn't have any interaction with you.

"You're just sitting there looking at him?

"No, stop it."

- We often think, okay, by being a family member that this is what you need to do.

So we sort of lay out this plan, and then if you don't follow that plan, then it's like, okay, well I'm done.

But we have to be a little bit more, not compassionate, we have to be a little bit more patient.

I should put it that way, patient.

Because we don't know what is really going on with that person.

You know, we might think we know, but we don't always know what they've experienced.

Sometimes they're not even ready to talk about it, or tell us.

And again, I think we just have to be a little bit patient.

And maybe they can't stay with us because it's a little bit more traumatic.

You know, their behaviors.

I mean, I've certainly talked to family members and say, they want to help, but the behaviors are not something they can handle.

And that's understandable.

- So I bought the tickets.

I said, "Come on Teri, we leaving."

"No, I'm not going."

I said, "Oh, you going.

"Get your bag, let's go."

So I got her out that little apartment.

She did come back to DC, and Daddy Richard got there.

That's when she went to Daddy Richard, and I kept telling them, something is wrong with Teri.

It's mental, something's wrong.

No, oh no.

Okay.

That's when she came, and she displayed symptoms to them.

I think, then she went to Cleo's for a minute.

She ain't stay there, either.

Then she went, by that time, Kenny had took over the house, and y'all were there.

- Teri lived with us on G Street after she had lived with everybody else.

I can't remember how I ran into Teri.

I knew that she needed a place to stay, and we had another room there.

And I don't know, was you and Kevin bunked up together for a while when Teri was there?

- [Dene] I don't remember when Aunt Teri lived with us.

- Oh wow.

Okay.

- My brother Kevin remembers when Aunt Teri lived with us.

He said she was very nice to him and that she appeared very prim and proper.

He also said he didn't think our mother wanted Aunt Teri to stay with us.

- I wanted her to be there for a while, because I wanted to see what everybody, what the problem was, because I heard things.

But every time I talked to her, she talked to me normally.

You know, she didn't yell, scream, or act no kinda way.

I asked her a question, she gave me an answer, calmly, no twitching or nothing.

And I said, "Well, I don't see this."

Because when I talked to her in the street, she recognized me, and she answered whatever we were talking about.

So I said, "Let me have her live with me."

And the only thing, and I had no problem with her living with me, the only thing, she was up late washing out blouses, 'cause she didn't have a bunch of clothes.

So she would wash out everything at night, I guess her underwear and stuff like that.

But that disturbed your mom.

She got scared, not knowing what Teri might do.

That's what she was saying.

She's scared, 'cause she's up, kept walking back and forth to the bathroom.

That didn't bother me because she was my sister, and I was trying to help her.

So being that Barbara was upset, or getting upset worse.

So I said, "Okay, Teri, well, you know, "Barbara's not comfortable with you staying here."

So what I did was I looked in the newspaper.

At that time you could find rooms for rent.

And it was a room about two blocks, or three blocks away from the house on G Street on Mass Avenue.

So I went around there and talked to the guy, and he said okay.

Well, I paid him the money, and I brought Teri around there.

She took her bags and stuff, and moved into that.

- [Dene] Can you tell me how long Aunt Teri lived with us?

- [Barbara] Dene, I don't remember.

All I know is I just had that feeling of being uncomfortable around her, because it was something going on with her.

And I'm not a doctor, I don't know.

But when you get that gut feeling about something, you have to go with it.

And I just wasn't comfortable being around her, because sometimes I think she would just sit and stare.

- When she got back to DC, I knew all y'all was going to see it.

And you did.

- I think the best way for a family to help someone that deals with mental health and they're homeless, you just gotta, you can't give up on them.

You can't give up on them.

You have to, you know, find the resources that are available for them.

Sometimes you have to hold their hand, you have to take them.

You have to continue to encourage them.

You just can't give up.

You can't give up.

I know it's easier said than done.

Continue to convince them that, you know, I don't understand all what's happening in your mind.

I don't understand what you're dealing with.

But I can take you to someone that does understand.

I can take you to someone that can help you better understand.

- We have to understand, especially in our communities, that it is okay to talk about what's going on with us.

You know, many of us grew up being told what happens in the family stays in the family.

You know, what happens to you, you hold it in, you keep it in.

You don't need to tell nobody what happened to you.

So unfortunately, you know, that's what generations have been told, and so that's what we've been told.

But now we can tell a different story.

It is okay to talk to people.

And as all of us know, we hear more of the celebrities talking about counseling, and how important it is to get counseling.

That is part of that whole plan to help people know that it's okay not to be okay.

- Iris tried hard.

Iris took her to a psychiatrist, got her on medicine.

She would leave Iris' house, 'cause Iris got her in many, many homes, or group houses.

And she would not stay.

And then she would just walk.

She would start walking.

Mostly, she started walking in Maryland, and just walking up and down.

And then she would come to Iris' job downtown.

She knew where Iris worked.

And she would come there a lot.

And Iris would come downstairs, either give her money, or tell her to go to the house, or sit there, wait for her, and she'd take her back home with her.

Iris did a lot.

I mean doctors, but because Teri was of age, they would not admit her.

- We recognize that when someone is experiencing homelessness and they're on the street, the police should not be the first people we call.

It should be our mental health experts.

- In the 1980s, there was deinstitutionalization from mental health hospitals.

And so the structure for community-based mental health really hadn't been built out.

Now in 2022, the city relies on Medicaid reimbursement for mental health care, like there's a much more robust system available.

And so, you know, when I think about what Teri might have experienced coming in, there wouldn't have been the same sort of kind of front end service.

It likely would've been much more of a crisis intervention, right?

So that if there were crisis, if she were in crisis, crisis services would've been called, there wouldn't have been the same sort of connection to a community-based mental health provider that would exist now.

- [Dene] In 1993, I was assigned my first summer job at what was then known as Calvary Women's Shelter.

I learned that Aunt Teri had stayed there, but she had been barred.

- I certainly don't know the particulars at that situation, and obviously I wasn't even there at the time.

My guess would be that in those days, if there was a presentation of sort of danger to self or danger to other people, that could have resulted in someone being terminated or being barred from a program.

In the early 90s, again, as we talked about a little bit earlier, there weren't the kinds of government systems in place that are now, - [Derek] I truly believe she don't want to be found.

I don't have a reason.

- Yes, I always wondered about my sister.

Every now and then, it would come to my mind.

I didn't ever think it was going to get this far.

I thought that she would pull out of that, or get married or something, or she was just going to pull out of this.

But as I look back now, maybe I should have made a better effort.

See that's where it come from, the not growing up together.

I probably could have done a little more to seek her out more when she was in Montgomery County.

'cause I was up there also.

But I was just trying to make a living.

- The last time I saw my Aunt Teri was in the late 1990s, I was working at Hechinger Hardware Store on Hungerford Drive in Rockville, Maryland.

When she came in, I recognized her right away.

I said, "Hi, I'm Keisha.

"Kenny's daughter."

She said hello, and that was the extent of our conversation - Last time I seen Teri, already found, already knew now, over the gossip of the family, that she was living off on the streets, and living and all that.

And a lot of people couldn't understand that because she had an education.

She was smart, you know.

So, but the last time I seen her, I just got back in town.

It was either '98, 1998 or 1999.

I can't remember exactly what year, but I just, I went, I just got back to town.

I lived in New York, so I just got back to town.

And I was downtown, Washington DC on E Street across from the FBI building.

It's a McDonald's right there, right?

I don't know if I was going into McDonald's, coming out the McDonald's.

Anyway, it was a stop beside it.

A step.

And this lady was there.

I stopped, and I looked.

I kept walking, but I looked at her face.

I said, "If that ain't my sister."

Thinking about the situation, that they said my sister was homeless, and I mean she living here, you might see her here and there, you know?

I stopped and went back, and I stood, like I stood over 'cause she's on, like I said, on the step.

and I said, "Teri?"

She knew right away who I was.

She said, "Derek!

"My baby brother!"

She called me her baby, "My baby brother."

I was so latched in, and I helped her up and I hugged her, and we talked, and I must have had $49 in my pocket.

I give her every dime.

And she didn't ask.

She ain't had no cup that I noticed, 'cause homeless people usually have a cup or dish.

She didn't have none of that in front of her, nothing.

She just sitting there.

She didn't ask me for anything.

She just sitting there.

Now I remember that same weekend, I come down there, I had some money.

Like I said, I had money at home.

So I had, I put some money in my pocket and went down.

I said, "I'm gonna give her, "I'm gonna give my sister some money."

I could not find her.

I went all over the downtown.

I could not find her.

I could not find, I remember that, I could not, I spent like three hours looking for her.

I could not find her.

All the places I think they would be at, asking people, you know, or like I said, they had no cells back there.

They couldn't take no picture.

I couldn't do none of that.

And that was my last time seeing her.

And I was like 19, like I said, 1998 or '99.

- The last place I seen Teri was on Rockville Pike walking down the street.

And it was early in the morning, and I seen this person walking.

So I'm coming back from the airport or somewhere.

I said, "That look like Teri," from just her walk.

She had this different type of walk back then.

I'm maybe about three or four blocks, but it's peaceful.

There's nobody on the streets.

But here's a woman walking.

And I pulled up, I said, "Teri."

She said, "Hey Kenny, how you doing?"

I said, "Where you going?

"What you doing?"

She said, "Well, I'm on the way back to the shelter."

So there was a Marshalls there.

I pulled in there.

I said, "Sister, go on in and let me get you some shoes."

I bought her some shoes, an umbrella, and some other clothes, what I thought she needed.

And I gave her her mother's phone number.

I said, "Call your mom, "so you know, and see what's going on, "and just talk to her."

So, and I gave her some money.

- I'm really not sure the last time I saw Teri, because it could have been at my father's funeral, Richard Mitchell.

Or maybe just a random time over at Iris' house.

In between those years.

So it had to be in the 90s.

It had to be in the 90s, the early 90s.

I haven't seen or heard from her since.

- The challenge with finding Teri is that it's been so long since she's had any contact with our family, over 20 years.

She lived a transient lifestyle, and she had mental health issues.

So all those factors together is making it very challenging to find her.

- The biggest challenge probably is time, because so much time has elapsed.

And then like you said, you add the, she was a transient, so you gotta look here, you gotta look there.

You gotta- - Yes.

- You know, she stayed in one area.

That would help a lot.

But then you also add another layer on top and that's the mental health factor, so.

- Yeah.

- You don't know it, it makes it, one issue is a lot.

And when you add those other things with it, it makes it a bit more difficult to locate someone, especially if they aren't able to care for themselves.

- Right.

On April 1st, 2021, my father and I began our search for Teri in Rockville, Maryland, the last place either of us saw her.

(soft piano music) - My name is Kenneth Mitchell, and this is the women's shelter?

Well, I'm looking for my sister.

Her name is Teri Mitchell.

They gave me this information.

We've been going to all these different places.

- [Front Desk Clerk] Yeah, she hasn't been here for years.

- Oh, look!

- You know the name.

- You know the name.

So how many years we talking about?

- [Front Desk Clerk] Um.

It's gotta be at least three or four.

- Well, that's good.

- [Dene] That's good, because we haven't seen her in like 20 years.

- 20, 25.

- A Rockville City police officer did an extensive search for Aunt Teri right from his vehicle.

We learned that Teri will never be listed as a Jane Doe, because Maryland has facial recognition.

We also learned that it's difficult to report an adult missing, because in theory, adults can go missing.

- I would like to make another trip and try to find Teri, just before, you know, we all just die away, and find out what happened.

'Cause it's a mystery right now.

- [Dene] After the death of my father, Teri's brother, in January, 2022, I continued the search for Teri on my own.

(soft piano music) - Well, first and foremost, a missing person report, you do have the right to file that.

However, it appears to me that you've done a lot of legwork yourself.

And outside of maybe checking police databases, I don't see the actual return, or real benefit, of filing a police report with a law enforcement agency, 'cause I think only thing's left to do is, like I said, is check law enforcement databases.

You've already done all the legwork.

You know, you've went to place to place, you went to her last known locations, and it appears that she doesn't have any type of social media or any type of telecommunications device.

So I think, I don't think, I don't necessarily see what would yield to file report at this time.

But however, you do have that right, to file one.

- The fabric that we have created here, the social safety net that we have is so strong and so intertwined that it's hard to know which jurisdiction to speak with.

The county, the city, the state, which nonprofit organization, which sometimes leads to confusion, and sometimes might be hard to find an individual.

But I think, underlying it all, it shows how strong we are committed to providing support for people, and so you have my support, and I'm happy to reach out to the city of Rockville to help.

- [Detective] I'm a detective sergeant at Rockville City Police.

As a result of you speaking about your aunt, Teri Mitchell, she's listed in our records system, but I think the last encounter was in 1995 when she had a weapons violation, so a substantial amount of time has passed.

- There were hits for her in Washington DC, there were hits for her in Rockville, Maryland.

There was a hit in New Jersey as well.

The next step would be to check state hospitals, state mental health hospitals, to see if there's any record of her there.

The problem we run into now is because of HIPAA laws.

Back a few years ago, it was a lot easier to get information.

Now that HIPAA is such a big part of confidentiality and securing private information about medical information about people, it's really hard to get confirmation.

They don't even wanna tell you if she has been there right before.

- Right.

- So social isolation is a big deal.

People tend to either choose to isolate because it's easier to not have to constantly explain what it is they're experiencing, and why they're presenting the way that they are.

Or they're isolated because other people isolated them, right?

They don't want to be involved, interact, et cetera.

So this kind of just sets the stage for a lot of life challenges.

- So then, and also too, sometimes people just leave society.

They do not wanna work again, they don't wanna hear anybody tell them, they don't wanna any more rules.

So they make up their mind why they want to leave society.

So they choose to separate.

Some people do have family that will take care of 'em, too.

You know, but they choose to be on the street, because they don't want that connection, or the responsibility of that connection.

So that's where a lot of times, you find people, 'cause some people don't understand, why would a person choose homelessness?

Because that's the state of mind they're in, for one reason or another.

- I have a big family, and I just left, and I don't wanna turn back, and people keep telling me, you know, you need to go back, or contact somebody.

The the thing is with family is when you know you're through with something, and they don't understand, they'll make you come back to something that's not good.

- You know, if Teri came back into your family, that would take a social worker, that would take some mental health providers, that would take some real wraparound to make that situation stable and safe for everyone.

And I don't think those kinds of resources are as readily available as they need to be.

- If I have to use money to get to her, I will find out where she at, you know, if I have to follow her because I would want to help her.

But like I said, some people don't wanna be found.

Some people don't wanna be helped.

You gotta think about that.

(soft music) - [Dene] In February, 2021, Ms. Angela Hill was found dead under a bridge in Washington DC.

I read the story with sadness as I knew she'd been living there for years.

According to her family, Ms. Hill suffered from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and resisted attempts to come in off the streets.

Ms. Hill's story reminded me of my Aunt Teri.

Was she still alive?

Was she still homeless?

Would we as her family ever know?

- [Officer] But there's a site called the Maryland Judiciary Case search, and when I looked on there, it looked like there was a Teri Mitchell, and had a case where she failed to pay rent at apartments in Rockville.

And I couldn't tell, there's no DOB or middle name, so I can't verify it's her.

- Hi, my name is Dene Chinn, and I'm looking for my aunt, Teri Mitchell.

I know she used to live here.

Can I show you a picture of her?

This is a old picture, but I do know that she used to live here until recently.

Does she look familiar?

Teri Mitchell?

- [Case Worker] Well, if I didn't know her, I wouldn't recognize her from that.

Yes, I know her.

- [Dene] You know her?

I haven't seen her in over 20 years.

Nobody in our family has seen her.

So for you to say you know her is a, yeah.

It's a big deal.

So she used to live here?

- [Case Worker] She used to, or she lives here right now?

- [Dene] Well, well the last thing I know she was living here.

And I have the apartment number and address and everything.

So are you able to confirm, or?

- [Case Worker] Yeah, I mean whatever address you know, then that's where she is.

- [Dene] Oh my gosh.

After decades of not knowing her whereabouts I was standing in front of Aunt Teri's door.

There was no answer.

So I went back to the leasing office and left my name and number and Aunt Brenda's number.

(cellphone ringing) - [Dene] Aunt Teri?

- [Teri] Yes?

- If I saw her, I would just hug her.

I probably wouldn't say anything.

What can I say?

I would just, I would just hug her, and maybe I might start crying.

I would just hug her.

What words?

Words cannot express how I feel about her.

Just being my sister, and going through what her brain is telling her to go through.

Because it has to be, it is a mental thing.

And what her mind is telling her to do is so sad to me.

So if I saw her right now, I would just embrace her long and hard, and maybe then I would talk to her and ask her, you know, I would just ask her, how are you?

- If we were able to find Teri, I would try to make all our effort to get her, you know, a place to stay with somebody, or just to see, hey sis, how you doing?

It is been a long time.

- I'm gonna tell you this, and I really mean this.

If I find out where she at, I'll go to help her.

If she need money, I'll give it to her and all that.

But if she want to stay that way, or where she at, fine.

If you're happy, you're happy.

You can't make a person come in.

You can't do that.

You know, a person gonna live their life the way they want to.

Choices.

It's all about choices, you know?

That's the choice she want to make, fine.

I just wanna make sure you all right.

Right, you know.

Because we, people wanna see you.

- My call with Aunt Teri only lasted about six minutes.

I tried several times to arrange a meeting with her.

I was talking to your other brother, Derek and he- - Uh-huh.

- [Dene] Wanted to come out to Rockville on Monday.

- [Teri] Oh.

I see, I see.

I see.

Well, I'm broke, broke, broke.

But you would be very welcome, because I could see if I recognize you.

- [Dene] Even though you, I understand your financial situation, you know, Derek and I, since he's local, we just wanted to come see, just talk to you.

Doesn't have to be a long conversation, but just get you- - [Teri] Okay.

- [Dene] On the thing.

- [Teri] Okay.

Well, will you keep in mind that I am now in receipt of your number, and perhaps it's best for you to wait to hear from me?

- Two things.

She was tactful, right?

When she said, "So could you make note "that I now have your contact information, "and would you allow me to contact you?

"Would that be okay?"

So that was something that I was like, okay.

The other thing I was thinking about with some of your questions earlier, how we were just talking about how other people can receive things, and come to their own interpretation.

So I'm hearing her being cautious, and somebody else might say, "Oh, she's paranoid."

And it brings a completely different perspective, too.

Same situation, but because you think you know something, you assert, oh, she's paranoid.

Is she talking about dogs?

She don't know what she's talking about, right?

But I'm hearing cautious because there is obviously a history of things happening, and she's checking things off to make sure that she's still going to be okay after this phone call from an individual I haven't seen or heard from in 20 years.

And so little things like that, right, can really influence how people move forward.

- You asked me for my reactions, and I think the first is how painful it must be for you to know where your family member is that you've been searching for, who you've been searching for.

And not only you, I mean, you're personally invested, but also in memory of your father, and knowing that he wanted to be able to see his sister, and to be able to finally touch base with her, and for her reaction to be, "I'll get back to you."

I can only imagine how painful that must be for you and your family.

I'm sure that there's some level of relief that, you know, at least that she's alive.

I really empathize with you and your family.

On the other hand, I also empathize with Teri, and as I said, the position that she must be in to not feel able to present herself to her family, right?

Like just sort of reading in between the lines of what she's saying.

She doesn't feel ready, right?

I mean, who knows what the circumstances were the last time she had connection with a family member, what that experience was like for her, that she's carrying with her now to this day.

Whether it's shame, or maybe there was some hurt or some trauma there that she hasn't yet processed.

But we know from our experience that people need connection.

When we have situations where, you know, like this, where a family wants to reach out, the person is experiencing homelessness is not interested.

I mean, again, there could be a variety of reasons why, but it's just sad all the way around.

- [Brenda] I thought I was gonna be happy to hear that audio.

I don't know which way to go.

I'm happy that we found her.

I'm so pleased with your work.

It's just that you did so much work.

And to me it's like, for what?

It's like, to me, that was a downer.

I'm sorry.

I'm glad we found her.

But her response was like, "Well, okay."

"Uh-huh.

"I'll get with you," and you would think she would be happy.

"Hi, I haven't heard from you," Or "How's everybody?"

- It's so great to hear that she's alive, and pretty well.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, it's definitely her.

And it was great, you did a great job on that.

And thank God.

I am good.

Because now we got a lot of closure, because now we know she alive.

That's number one.

I'm excited, and I am, I'm relieved.

- Me too.

- Yeah, 'cause now we know she's alive.

That's the main thing, you know?

And I'm gonna write her a letter.

- [Brenda] I tend to do what people ask me to do.

Wait for you to call me?

Okay.

The main position is that she's alive and she's well.

We're good.

I'm good.

I'm good with that.

- [Dene] Okay.

Aunt Teri, I'm so grateful that you called me back.

I really appreciate it.

- Okay.

- [Dene] And I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

- [Teri] Okay.

- I was hoping for an in person mini family reunion with Aunt Teri, myself, and her siblings.

But I understand that's not what she wants at this time.

- [Teri] Thank you for remembering me.

- Of course.

- Okay.

- [Dene] I never forgot you.

- [Teri] Okay.

I have your number and I'll keep y'all in mind.

Thanks a lot.

Okay.

- Okay.

- See ya.

- Bye.

In June, 2023, Aunt Teri was evicted from her apartment.

She has not reached out to me or anyone else in our family.

Currently, her whereabouts are unknown.

So the question remains, have you seen Teri?

♪ Will my heart ever find its way back home ♪ ♪ Will the tears that I saved for years take hold ♪ ♪ These dreams that once were paved in gold ♪ ♪ Are letting memories go ♪ ♪ Into diamond skies ♪ ♪ Diamond skies ♪ ♪ Diamond skies ♪ ♪ Letting memories go ♪ ♪ Will my heart recover on its way back home ♪ ♪ Time is a healer, so I was told ♪ ♪ I'm picking up the pieces of these broken dreams ♪