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A missing autistic woman whose body was found in Chesapeake this week was funny, determined and a strong believer she could do anything despite having disabilities, her family said.
Officers found the body of Jamile Hill, 29, after receiving a call around 8:38 a.m. Monday to the 4500 block of Bainbridge Boulevard for a report of a body floating in the water alongside the road.
The Chesapeake Police Underwater Search and Recovery Team helped recover her. There are no signs of foul play, and the incident is under investigation, they said in a news release this week.
Her mother, Shawn Wilson, last saw her between 7:30 and 8:30 Saturday night at the family’s home in Chesapeake.
She had autism, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, anxiety and borderline personality disorder trait, but nothing strange happened leading up to her disappearance, Wilson said.
“She was outside smoking," Wilson said. “I called her to come get her medication, then I fell asleep. She didn’t answer the phone, so I assumed like always, she fell asleep.”
When her youngest daughter came home around 11 p.m., Wilson told her to get Jamile to come inside and take her medicine.
That’s when they realized she wasn’t home.
“Jamile was not a wanderer,” Wilson said. “She would go to the store and get cigarettes. Certain places, she would walk to, or go to her appointments, but as far as leaving her phone and not telling people where she was going, she didn’t do that.”
The family wanted an autism alert issued, but Hill had aged out, her mother said.
A Virginia State Police spokeswoman said the Code of Virginia sets the criteria for all missing person alerts in the state.
The General Assembly passed the new Missing Child with Autism Alert, but the cutoff age is 17.
Instead, Hill qualified for the Critical Missing Adult alert, so that’s the alert they sent out, wrote the spokeswoman in an email.
“State police simply included the fact that Ms. Hill was also diagnosed as autistic," the email read. "The two alert programs utilize the same notifications, so there was no difference in timing, public outreach, etc. for the alert being activated as a Critical Missing Adult Alert versus the Autism Alert.”
There was also some confusion about the status of Hill’s case.
Virginia State Police issued an endangered missing adult alert for Hill Sunday afternoon, and on Monday afternoon, they incorrectly reported she had been found safe.
They later issued a correction saying her body was found in Chesapeake.
As of Tuesday afternoon, there’s an autopsy under review, Hill’s mother said.
Wilson said on the phone Tuesday that her daughter was funny and had an “infectious smile,” despite coming into the world fighting.
“She was a 1-pound preemie who had a stroke at birth with hydrocephalus, so she was met with a lot of challenges,” Wilson said.
Hydrocephalus is the buildup of fluid in the cavities deep within the brain, according to The Mayo Clinic. The excess fluid puts pressure on the brain.
She has had 12 surgeries in her life, her mother said.
She studied social science at Tidewater Community College and graduated in 2013 and worked for the YMCA of South Hampton Roads for the last two years, helping in the childcare department at the Greenbrier North location.
“She did all this despite having disabilities,” her mother said. “It bothered her. She looked at herself as different and not in a cool way, but she still pushed forward despite the medical issues.”
Wilson said her daughter helped with six Chesapeake students they tutored.
The students are all Black students with disabilities who were part of the Chesapeake school division.
Hill had an individualized education plan herself when she was in school so her teachers would know how to best meet her special needs.
She used that experience to push the six students her mother tutored.
"Look, suck it up. I have an IEP too,’” her mother recalled her saying. “I had one. I have a college degree. You can do and be anything you want to despite having a disability and an IEP.”
Having participated since she was 6, the Special Olympics was important to her as well.
“She has got medals upon medals upon medals,” her mother said. “She has done ice skating. She has done speed skating. I can’t even ice skate as good as Jamile could."
Cheryl Poe, who runs the nonprofit Advocating 4 Kids, Inc., said she started working with Hill when she was around 18. She helped her mom with her individualized education plan.
“I understood her diagnosis and her symptoms, and it’s just heartbreaking because she was a very capable person, even with those limitations,” Poe said. “She was very, very bright.”
Finding resources for people who have both autism and mental health issues is difficult, she said. It’s something Hill’s family struggled with, especially as an adult.
“Just trying to get her to be engaged in her own mental health and taking some responsibilities, and just finding out what resources were out there for her,” Poe said. “She was a bright, bright girl. She just had a lot of other things getting in the way of her being able to navigate the world independently.”
But Poe said Hill wanted to make a difference and help other people like herself.
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Her family wants her to be able to help even after her death and asks that instead of sending flowers, friends and family donate to her favorite causes, including the Special Olympics of Virginia, Area 2.
“I just know that Jamile’s purpose was bigger than she even knew,” her mother said.
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If you donate
Make checks payable to:
Attn: Diane Crawford; SOVA Area 2 Sports-Team Inclusion; 5032 Rouse Drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23462; In memory of Jamile Hill
Saleen Martin, 757-446-2027, saleen.martin@pilotonline.com
Peter Coutu, 757-222-5124, peter.coutu@pilotonline.com