Sonya Tukes, 22: Went To Bed & Disappeared By Morning In 2004

Investigators say she got a call in the middle of the night, but it came from a payphone.

Often, supporters of OurBlackGirls will send over cases that have occurred in their hometowns, and someone did just that when they asked if I could feature Sonya Tukes. There has been minimal news coverage about her case over the years, and the last detailed report I could find was from almost a decade ago. The outlet spoke with the 22-year-old’s family as they mapped out Sonya’s last steps and speculated as to how she could have vanished in the middle of the night in 2004 without a trace.

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Sonya Tukes was described as a young lady who had a life filled with promise. She was a mother, worked as a babysitter, and had a boyfriend when she went missing. Her sister, Barbara, said that Sonya was a “hard worker” who “loved her child,” but investigators claimed that her relationship with her boyfriend was contentious. Just prior to Sonya's going missing, she and her boyfriend had argued. However, the nature of that disagreement hasn’t been shared publicly.