OurBlackGirls

OurBlackGirls

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.

Erika Marie's avatar
Erika Marie
Oct 02, 2025
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Sonya Tukes

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 of her case over the years, and the last detailed report I could find was almost a decade old.

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.

Our Black Girls is an independent, reader-supported publication. If you believe in amplifying the stories of missing Black women and girls, please consider making a direct gift through PayPal or Buy Me a Coffee, or by subscribing here.

Sonya Tukes was described as a young lady with a life full of 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.

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