Unidentified: The Murder of Shantieya Smith

Unidentified: The Murder of Shantieya Smith

This episode contains significant updates from three cases Vanished Voices has covered. Anna Marie Scott from Nevada, Phylicia Barnes from North Carolina and Baltimore, and Sara Nicole Graham from North Carolina. You can find links to the coverage on the updates here [https://vanishedvoicespodcast.com/blog/]. Every morning, Shantieya Smith slung her seven-year-old daughter's backpack over her shoulder and walked her to school. Family called her "Nay Nay." She was the one you called when there was trouble, the one who'd teach you the newest dance in the middle of the living room. On May 25th, 2018, she left her North Lawndale home for what should have been a quick errand — she didn't even take her phone. She never came back. When her mother, Latonya Moore, went to police, she was told to wait 48 hours before filing a report. Even though it had already been three days that she waited. She refused to leave without one. Four days of silence followed. So Latonya searched for her daughter herself — organizing her own search parties, going through Shantieya's phone records, even exchanging messages with the man she believed was responsible. Shantieya wasn't the only one. That same spring, at least four women and girls disappeared from the same few square miles of Chicago's West Side. Two — Shantieya and 15-year-old Sadaria Davis — were found dead within weeks of each other, and importantly, both last seen with the same man. He has never been charged in either death, even after being charged with a stabbing soon after in Garfield Park and a rape and shooting 3 days after the stabbing, in Memphis. What followed was years of institutional failure: a missing person case quietly closed as "non-criminal," DNA evidence that simply disappeared from the system, and a police superintendent who publicly speculated about “lifestyle choices” before later apologizing years later (kind of apologizing anyways). Shantieya's case is still unsolved, her family needs answers and she deserves justice. If you have any information about the murders of Shantieya Smith or Sadaria Davis, please come forward. You can submit an anonymous tip to the Chicago Police Department by calling (312) 746-6000 or texting CPDTip to 738477 to receive a link to their anonymous tip form, or by submitting a tip directly at cpdtip.org. Tips that lead to an arrest and felony charges are eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000 through Cook County Crime Stoppers. No piece of information is too small — Shantieya and Sadaria's families are still waiting. To see more about this case, as well as the sources used to create this episode, visit our Blog Here [https://vanishedvoicespodcast.com/blog/]. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Disappearance of Ricarda Tillman-Lockett in Memphis

Ricarda Tillman-Lockett was 22 years old, a mother, and an enrolled member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. She had left an abusive marriage, moved into a shelter, and made a plan to start over. On February 19th, 2007, she left work in Memphis, got into her estranged husband's car, and vanished. Her purse, her wallet, and her cell phone were left behind. Her son was waiting at the babysitter's. She never came back. Nineteen years later, Ricarda Tillman-Lockett has not been found. No one has ever been charged. Her family is still waiting. Her name was Rica. This is her story. If you have information about the disappearance of Ricarda Tillman-Lockett, contact the Memphis Police Department at 901-373-3883 or CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH. Her NamUs case number is MP179. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24 hours a day at 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788. To see more about this case, as well as the sources used to create this episode, visit our Blog Here [https://vanishedvoicespodcast.com/blog/]. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The 3 of Diamonds from SC - Silene Eaddy

On the evening of April 15, 2004, fifteen-year-old Silene "Erica" Eaddy walked away from her home on Fountain Lake Road in Columbia, South Carolina. Her neighbor called out to her. She didn't stop. Two days later, firefighters responding to a brush fire in lower Richland County found her body in the brush off Pincushion Road. She had been savagely beaten. And the medical examiner would determine she was still alive when she was set on fire. Twenty-two years later, no one has ever been arrested. The case remains open. And someone, somewhere, knows what happened in those 34 missing hours. If you have any information about the murder of Silene "Erica" Eaddy, please contact the Richland County Sheriff's Department Cold Case Unit at 803-576-3000, or SC Crime Stoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC (1-888-274-6372). Tips are anonymous. A cash reward is available. Twenty-two years is long enough. If you know something, please say it. To see more about this case, as well as the sources used to create this episode, visit our Blog Here [https://vanishedvoicespodcast.com/blog/]. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

"See You Later" — Brittany Shante Robinson

In June of 2012, fourteen-year-old Brittany Robinson kissed her mother goodbye, said "Love you, mom. See you later," and left for a weekend visit with the father she barely knew. She never came home. What followed was a decade of silence, a father who fled across state lines under an alias, a custodial interference charge that put him behind bars for just four years, and finally — in 2025 — a murder trial that ended not in answers, but in an acquittal. Brittany has now been missing for nearly as long as she was alive. In this episode, we trace Brittany's disappearance from that last goodbye through the cross-country flight, the cold decade that followed, the evidence that surfaced (and evaporated) at trial, and the open question that still haunts this case: was Brittany murdered, or is she out there somewhere, living a life that was never supposed to be hers? Her case remains open.  If you know anything — anything at all — about what happened to Brittany, or if you've seen her, you can contact the Mobile Police Department directly at 251-208-1700. You can stay anonymous. To see more about this case, as well as the sources used to create this episode, visit our Blog Here [https://vanishedvoicespodcast.com/blog/]. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Almost There - Mary Davis Johnson

On the day before Thanksgiving 2020, Mary Ellen Johnson-Davis was walking down a road she knew well, on land her people had called home for centuries. She sent a text that said she was almost to the church. She never arrived. Mary was 39 years old, a member of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington State, and a woman who had already survived more than most people will ever face — a childhood fractured by the foster care system, abuse that went unaddressed for years, and a legal fight against the state of Washington that she won. She was on her way to see family. She was almost there. What followed was five years of silence from the institutions that should have moved heaven and earth to find her — and five years of relentless, public, unflinching advocacy from the two sisters who refused to let her name disappear along with her. If you have information about the disappearance of Mary Ellen Johnson-Davis, please contact the FBI Seattle Field Office at (206) 622-0460 or submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov. To see more about this case, as well as the sources used to create this episode, visit our Blog Here [https://vanishedvoicespodcast.com/blog/]. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.