Ruthey Smith: Four Years Missing | Update & Rewind

Ruthey Smith: Four Years Missing | Update & Rewind

In 2023, we told you about Ruthey Smith, a 19-year-old mother who disappeared from Los Angeles on March 2, 2022. Four years later, Ruthey is still missing—and her family is still fighting to bring her home. In this update and rewind, we revisit Ruthey’s original story, examine what has been publicly verified since our first report, and separate confirmed facts from the rumors that can derail a search. Authorities have treated Ruthey’s disappearance as a suspected human-trafficking case, but there is still no verified public confirmation that she has been found. Claims placing Ruthey in Las Vegas remain unconfirmed. Ruthey may also use the names Grayson or Winter. Please listen, share, and help keep her name visible until she is safely home.

A 16-Year-Old Black Girl Vanished. Ten Days Later, Charlotte Had Questions.

Juliana Umba Nzita was reported missing on April 28, 2026. Ten days later, the sixteen-year-old was found dead in Charlotte. Police classified her death as suicide, but her story leaves behind painful questions about urgency, visibility, and what happens when a missing Black girl is not treated like a crisis soon enough. In this episode of No Tears For Black Girls: The Cases They Ignored, Samantha Paul tells Juliana’s story with care, dignity, and one clear demand: Black girls deserve to be noticed while they are still here.

Only Two Weeks: The Killing of Vontisha “Sway” Williams

Vontisha “Sway” Williams was a mother, grandmother, and business owner trying to rebuild her life after unimaginable loss. She had only been in her new home for two weeks when gunfire tore through it in the middle of the night. Her younger daughter survived. Sway did not. In this episode of No Tears For Black Girls: The Cases They Ignored, Samantha Paul tells the story behind the headline and brings listeners back to the woman at the center of it all: a loving, dependable, hardworking Black woman whose family is still fighting for answers. This is not just a story about violence. It is a story about grief, survival, silence, and the fight for justice for Vontisha “Sway” Williams.

Left Fighting for Air at Virtua Mount Holly Hospital: Perdisha “Para” Champion

In this episode of No Tears For Black Girls: The Cases They Ignored, we examine the death of twenty-eight-year-old Perdisha “Para” Champion and the questions her family says still remain about what happened inside Virtua Mount Holly Hospital in Mount Holly, New Jersey. Through a direct interview with Para’s mother, Sophia Shannon, this episode follows the final hours before her daughter’s death and the anguish that followed. Sophia says she watched Para experience severe medical distress during a night that should have ended in care, not loss. What emerges is not only a mother’s grief, but a family’s demand for answers. Sophia does not speak like someone searching for closure. She speaks like a mother who believes her daughter was failed. As this episode traces the timeline she shared, it also steps into a larger and more painful conversation about medical accountability, delayed response, unequal treatment, and the mistrust many Black families already carry into hospital spaces. This is the story of Perdisha “Para” Champion, the mother who refuses to let her name disappear, and the questions that still refuse to go away. If you want a shorter version for platforms with tighter space, use this: In this episode of No Tears For Black Girls: The Cases They Ignored, host Samantha Paul examines the death of twenty-eight-year-old Perdisha “Para” Champion and the questions her family says remain about what happened inside Virtua Mount Holly Hospital in New Jersey. Based on a direct interview with Para’s mother, Sophia Shannon, this episode explores Para’s final hours, a family’s demand for answers, and the larger issues of medical accountability and Black medical mistrust. Related reading: Death Apnea, a No Tears For Black Girls: Case Files novel by J.C. Reedburg, explores medical racism, hospital erasure, and what happens when Black women are treated as disposable inside systems that were supposed to protect them.

She Said She Was Scared at 2 AM. By 11:46 AM, Hannah Toby-Dean Was Dead.

Hannah “Khadija” Toby-Dean was 25 years old. A Navy veteran. A Muslim woman. A rapper known as Hannah Bandz. On June 13, 2025, she told a family member she was afraid for her safety. Less than ten hours later, her mother got the call that Hannah was dead. Then came the details that made the case even harder to ignore: a disabled GPS tracker, an empty suitcase, and credit cards hidden under a spare tire. In this episode of No Tears For Black Girls: The Cases They Ignored, Samantha Paul walks through the documented timeline, the family’s account, and the questions the Greenville Police Department still has not answered. This is Black true crime rooted in Black women stories the system too often leaves behind. If this episode stayed with you, continue the journey with Death Apnea by J.C. Reedburg, a haunting No Tears For Black Girls: Case Files novel about institutional erasure, Black bodies, and the systems that look the other way. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GSP5845P [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GSP5845P] #JUSTICEFORHANNAH #JUSTICEFORHANNAHBANDZ #greenvillenc #GreenvillePoliceDepartment SHOW NOTES In this episode, Samantha Paul examines the death of Hannah “Khadija” Toby-Dean, a 25-year-old Navy veteran, Muslim woman, and rapper known as Hannah Bandz. Using the family’s documented timeline and publicly available context, this episode walks through Hannah’s final days, the unanswered questions surrounding her death, and the disturbing details that continue to raise concern. Topics discussed include Hannah’s final calls to family, the delayed and limited public answers in the case, the returned vehicle with a disabled GPS tracker, the empty suitcase, and the credit cards found hidden beneath the spare tire. The episode also examines the broader pattern of how Black women’s stories are too often minimized, delayed, or ignored. This case remains open. If this episode moved you, please share it, leave a five-star review, and help keep Hannah’s name in rooms it has not reached yet. Read next: Death Apnea by J.C. Reedburg https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GSP5845P [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GSP5845P] Follow and support: No Tears For Black Girls: The Cases They Ignored Justice for Hannah Bandz campaign on social media