Missing Woman: LaQuanta Riley--AL--12/07/2003

[Denise]

Original Post: 03/15/04



19 Year-old LaQuanta Riley was last seen by relatives in Montgomery, Alabama on December 7, 2003, at approximately 11:30pm. She was getting into a green car, which may be either a Taurus or Caprice.

She was wearing a yellow and green Ecko shirt, stone-washed blue jeans, and green and yellow Reebok tennis shoes.

Note: According to the family, it was later discovered that the clothes they thought LaQuanta was wearing were found, so it is unknown at this time what she was wearing.


Height: 5' 8" Weight: 200lbs Hair: Black Eyes: Brown

DOB: February 26, 1984 Case# 03-031950

If you have any information about LaQuanta Riley, please contact

The Montgomery Police 334-241-2844.

Print a poster: http://www.projectjason.org/aan/AAN_LaQuantaRiley.pdf

A reward is being offered for information.

Kelly Jolkowski, Mother of Missing Jason Jolkowski
President and Founder,
Project Jason
www.projectjason.org
Read our blog about missing persons:
http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com/

If you have seen any of our missing persons, please call the law enforcement agency listed on the post. All missing persons are loved by someone, and their families deserve to find the answers they seek in regards to the disappearance.

[Denise]

LaQuanta is now on the Adopt a Missing Person program. For more information please see: http://www.projectjason.org/adopt.html

I will share a sample from her personal bio, written by family members. Part of the process of adopting a missing person is to get to know them on a more personal basis. They're not just a face or a statistic, they're a real person who is loved and missed.

From LaQuanta's bio:

"In 1998, she received the award of Valedictorian of her 9th grade class. The speech she delivered was very moving. She spoke of how blessed she was to have a host of mothers, her birth mother, her aunt, and her cousin, who had been her "God sent" mothers. LaQuanta is a firm believer in God and was raised in a Godly home. At an early age, she learned the benefits of prayer and she believes in prayer."

If you want to learn more about LaQuanta, you'll have to adopt her. :-)

Thank you.

Kelly

[Denise]

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site....ews/missing725

Black and Missing: Laws Make Search for Adults Difficult
Date: Monday, July 26, 2004
By: Associated Press

Their images on the Internet bulletin boards are haunting. Blacks, in the prime of life, who just disappeared, leaving behind family, friends and so many questions, without a trace.

Shelton Sanders, 26, often traveled between his parent's home in Rempert, S.C. and Columbia where he attend the University of South Carolina. In June of 2001 Shelton called his father, a local judge, to say that he was headed home, but he never arrived.

Laquanta Riley, 20, was last seen getting into a green Ford Taurus or Chevy Caprice late on the night of Dec. 7, 2002. Riley's photograph displays a woman with a calm spirit. Montgomery, Ala. police officials said Riley was last seen wearing a green and yellow shirt, blue jeans and yellow Reeboks.

The Kansas City police said that Jonathan Williams was married on June 4 1994. Williams worked as a correctional officer in the Leeds County jail. Two days after his wedding, he left home and was never seen again.

The stories of these black missing people have rarely made it to the front pages of newspapers across the country. Their loved ones haven't been interviewed on the television networks' morning talk shows.
Yet, while these blacks remain missing, the nation has become quite familiar with a number of high profile cases like those of Chandra Levy, a Capitol Hill intern and love interest of a Congressman, whose bones were found in Washington D.C. Rock Creek Park ; Laci Peterson, a pregnant Modesto, Calif. woman who was allegedly killed by her husband Scott Peterson, after her body and the fetus washed up in San Francisco Bay ; and now Lori Kay Hacking, a pregnant Salt Lake City woman, whose disappearance last week has sparked another national search.

Is it a double standard? Is it racism? Why do young, white women who go missing get so much media attention while blacks who disappear do not? And why aren't black leaders talking about the seemingly disparate treatment?

"The issue of Laci Peterson is a lot different because it was clear that she was killed," Brian K. Jordan, deputy chief of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington D.C., told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "In the case of Chandra Levy what made the story was her relationship with a member of Congress. This is not to minimize any other cases, but that is what made that a story." Peterson was missing about four months before her decomposed body was found.

According to the FBI National Crime Information Center, 840,279 adults and juveniles were reported missing in 2001. The FBI also estimates that 85 to 90 percent of these cases were juveniles.

In 1990 Congress passed the National Child Search Act that was eventually signed into law. While the country is familiar with the Amber Alert system, family and friends often face a tougher challenge tracking down and finding adults when they disappear, according to a law enforcement official.

"One of the things that makes it difficult is with adults it is not the same as a juvenile," said Jordan. "A juvenile should be answering to somebody, but with an adult, they can move to another city, no one hears from them, and even if you find them, you can't tell another person where they are."

Sheriff Department officials in Sumpter County, S.C. said that they couldn't talk about Shelton Sanders case.

Sanders parents were not available, but someone who answered the phone at the family's home said that every day they hope for a break in the case.

[Denise]

LaQuanta Riley now has her own wesbite. Please visit, read all about LaQuanta and her story, and please be sure to sign the guestbook to let her family know that we do care.

http://www.findlaquanta.com

Thank you!

Kelly Jolkowski, Mother of Missing Jason President and Founder,
Project Jason
www.projectjason.org

[Denise]

Original Post: 09/26/04

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/...5jason926w.htm

Buttons put faces on missing adults

By Crystal Bonvillian
Montgomery Advertiser


Eleven-year-old Timothy Davis of Bristol, N.H., has never met LaQuanta Riley, but he carries a button emblazoned with her picture on his backpack every day in the hopes of someday easing her family's suffering.

Riley, now 20, got into a car outside her Montgomery home the night of Dec. 7 and has not been seen since. There have been few leads on her whereabouts. Her disappearance nearly 10 months ago has left many, including her family and the police, baffled.

"We've come to the point now where we've talked to everyone," said Montgomery police Sgt. Scott Martino, a detective working the case. "Right now, she's still considered missing, and we hope for the best. We hope that we'll find her alive and well."

Riley's case has gained new interest, however, in the form of Project Jason, a Nebraska-based organization that helps families of the missing. Kelly Jolkowski, the organization's president, founded the group after her 19-year-old son, Jason Jolkowski, disappeared from outside their Omaha home one June afternoon in 2001.

"There are no indications that he's a runaway to me," Jolkowski said. "But there's no proof of anything happening to him. That's what these families are going through -- the limbo. These families deserve some peace of mind."

Project Jason, which celebrates its first anniversary Oct. 6, began the "Adopt a Missing Person" program June 13, the third anniversary of Jason's disappearance. Riley is one of the adopted.

"These folks have been a blessing," said Pam Riley, LaQuanta's mother. Pam Riley and her aunt, Katie Smith, sat in Riley's living room Friday and talked about the struggle of living without LaQuanta.


A close-up look at the button of the missing woman, LaQuanta Riley.
"The rumors are horrible," said Smith, who raised LaQuanta when a then-16-year-old Pam Riley realized she could not handle a newborn baby. "If you listen to them all, they'll drive you crazy."

The worst rumor dealt with the false discovery of LaQuanta Riley's remains, Smith said. There have also been rumors about the bubbly young woman, who was preparing to go to college, being held captive by abductors.

"I don't take calls from anyone anymore," Pam Riley said. "If they can't call me and tell me they're looking at her face or if they can't tell me they're holding her hand, I don't want to hear from them."

LaQuanta Riley's disappearance is the latest in a string of tragedies the family has faced. Her grandmother -- Pam Riley's mother and Smith's sister -- was murdered in August 1972, when Pam Riley was 4. Her killer has never been caught.

The family was dealt another blow in 1996, when Pam Riley's younger daughter, Kamesha, died of AIDS. She was just 9.

"She was molested when she was about 4," Pam Riley said. "He was HIV-positive and he passed it on to her. 'Quanta is the only daughter I have left."

ADOPTING A MISSING PERSON

Below are the steps you can take to adopt LaQuanta Riley or any of the more than 200 people profiled on Project Jason's Web site.

Visit http://www.projectjason.org: Go through the list of missing people and choose as many as you would like to adopt.

A trip to the post office: Send a self-addressed, stamped bubble mailer to Project Jason, Adopt a Missing Person Program, P.O. Box 3035, Omaha, Neb., 68103.

Is your postage correct? Be sure to check that the proper amount of postage is affixed, depending on the size of your mailer and how many buttons you are requesting. A 4x7 mailer requires two 37-cent stamps, and a 6x9 mailer requires three.

Source: Project Jason


Kamesha's death has made LaQuanta Riley's disappearance that much harder for her four brothers to deal with, her mother said. They declined to be interviewed for this story.
"They won't talk about it," Pam Riley said. "If someone brings it up, they leave the room."

She said that she got involved with Project Jason through a member of a support group. Through Jolkowski's organization, buttons and flyers have been distributed, and LaQuanta Riley's face and information are on numerous Web sites. Earlier this month, LaQuanta's own Web site, http://www.findlaquanta.com, was established.

"Someone has to know something," Pam Riley said. "Montgomery ain't that big and Alabama ain't that big. Somebody saw something."

The family's one hope now is that someone will see a flyer or button with LaQuanta's face on it and come forward.

Timothy Davis' mother, Louise Holmburg, said her son is proud to wear LaQuanta Riley's picture each day.

"Timothy wears the button and tells people about LaQuanta," Holmburg said. "He carries her information sheet with him. It was so cute, he tried to remember it all by heart, but I told him to bring the sheet with him. I told him he didn't want to give people the wrong information."

Like the Riley family, Holmburg is searching for a loved one. Her nephew, Lorne Boulet Jr., a paranoid schizophrenic, disappeared from Chichester, N.H., in July of 2001.

"Even with the age difference, he and Timothy were best friends," Holmburg said. "Most people were leery because of the schizophrenia, but my kids were so young they didn't look at that. Their love for him was unconditional."

As is the love of LaQuanta Riley's family, her mother and great-aunt said.

"If she did leave because of something she thought we wouldn't be understanding about, we want her to know we love her no matter what," Smith said, wiping tears from her eyes. "Bad or good, I love her."

"I just can't wait for 'Quanta to come home so I can hear the whole story," Pam Riley said. "She needs to come home."



My note:

Many thanks to Louise, Missing Lorne Boulet's Aunt, who plays a big part right there in her town to get our missing loved ones adopted.

God bless Louise!

Kelly

[Denise]

http://www.wsfa.com

Missing and Forgotten; Seven Central Alabamians Gone Without A Trace

April 30, 2005, 07:05 PM

Jessica Linderman

Alabama's Missing & Possibly Forgotten

For every person who becomes an object of intense media coverage, there are dozens more who go missing and little is said about them. WSFA found seven cases here in Alabama that have slipped below the radar. We call them missing and possibly forgotten.

The Jennifer Wilbanks case is the latest in which national media have focused on one missing person. Others just like her, Chandra Levy, Lacy Petersen, Lori Hacking all part of our 21st century psyche. But what about those who are also missing and seemingly forgotten?

There are seven people from Central Alabama who went missing recently just like Jennifer Wilbanks.

Fourteen year old Jessica Jean Linderman went missing three weeks ago from Trussville. She's 14, five-two and 140 pounds, a redhead with brown eyes.

Amanda Bailey's family last saw her in Montgomery January 20th. She's 17, about 5-6, 145 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.

37 year old Eddie Grady Junior disappeared from Lightwood Road in Elmore County January 28th. He's 5-9, 165 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.

Jessica Scruggs went missing from Millbrook on Christmas Day last year. The 17-year old stands 5-1, she weighs about 100 pounds with black hair and blue eyes.

Margot Etheridge was last seen driving her mother's Honda Accord in Butler February 1st. She is 17 years old, 5-8, 130 pounds with brown hair and eyes.

22 year old Julia Pearson was driving a 95 Nissan Maxima last September when she disappeared. She's 5-4, 115 pounds, and she has blond hair and brown eyes.

Laquanta Riley has missed two straight Christmases. She disappeared December 7th, 2003. The now 22 year old Riley stands 5-8, 200 pounds. She was last seen getting into a car from her eastside Montgomery home.

Each one of these cases have different circumstances.

For instance, Jessica Linderman may have disappeared with a Hispanic man. Amanda Bailey got into an unknown car. Eddie Grady Jr. was involved in an accident. Jessica Scruggs was last seen at home. So it's important for us to keep their images in front of you.

As searchers look for Jennifer Wilbanks, you might also keep these people in mind.

My Note: Jennifer Wilbanks faked her abduction and was never missing. Not only did this cause a great loss of time and money for the law enforcement and other volunteers where she lives, but it poses a problem for those who are truly missing in that persons who may want to help might wonder if they, too, will be wasting their time. Shame on Jennifer for her very selfish actions that have far-reaching implications.

[Denise]

Montgomery Mother Feels Natalee's Mother's Pain
June 27, 2005, 0-1:47 AM

While Natalee Holloway's family and friends continue to comb Aruba looking for clues, one mother here in Montgomery knows exactly what Holloway's mother is going through. The two may be hundreds of miles apart but they're as close as being next door when it comes to their missing daughters.

"I just miss her." Pam Riley has been at a lost since her daughter disappeared a year and a half ago. Laquanta Riley was 19 when her mother last saw her, and that's about the same age as 18 year old Natalee Holloway who disappeared about two weeks ago in Aruba. "I understand what that family. is going through. I pray for them. When I pray for my baby, I pray for her's."

She doesn't like to watch the news reports from Aruba on television because she says they stir up emotions in her she doesn't want to feel. "It's impossible that a human being just vanishes and nobody knows which way. It's impossible. You see that in the movies and all the untrue stuff. It's impossible. Somebody knows something."

And, like Natalee Holloway's mother, she also passed out flyers looking for her daughter when she didn't come home one night in December 2003, and she still wears a button everyday with her daughter's picture on it. A daughter who she says enjoyed playing the clarinet in the school band and graduated valedictorian from the 9th grade. But her mother thinks she might have trusted somebody too much. but she knows her faith will see her through this. "I'm not going to give up. I can't. I'm just going to stay where I am and do whatever he puts before me and trust him because I know that he knows everything and he don't make mistakes and whatever the outcome is he'll bring me through it."

Pam Riley says all she needs is to know is that her daughter is all right. She says even if Laquanta calls and says I can't tell you where I am but I'm "OK" she says that would satisfy her.

Her daughter is 21 year old now. She's 5'8" tall and weighs 200 pounds. If you have any information about her please call Crimestoppers at 215-STOP.

[Denise]

NCMA Profile:

Name: LaQuanta Nachelle Riley

Classification: Endangered Missing Adult
Alias / Nickname: Quanna
Date of Birth: 1984-02-26
Date Missing: 2003-12-07
From City/State: Montgomery, AL
Missing From (Country): USA
Age at Time of Disappearance: 19
Gender: Female
Race: Black
Height: 68 inches
Weight: 200 pounds
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Complexion: Medium

Identifying Characteristics: Scar on nose, tattoo of "RIP Mesha" on one bicep and her name "LaQuanta" on the other, pierced tongue with silver barbell, pierced ears.

Clothing: Yellow and green "Ecko" shirt, blue jeans, green and yellow "Reebok" athletic shoes.

Note: According to the family, it was later discovered that the clothes they thought LaQuanta was wearing were found, so it is unknown at this time what she was wearing.

Jewelry: Silver chain bracelet.

Circumstances of Disappearance: Unknown. LaQuanta was last seen at approximately 11:30pm at her residence in the vincinity of the 1500 block of Hill St. She left the residence in a dark green, four door, vehicle with an unknown number of individuals.

Investigative Agency: Montgomery Police Department
Phone: (334) 241-2350
Investigative Case #: 03-031950

[Denise]

montgomeryadvertiser.com ::  Missing persons' families cling to hope

October 7, 2006

Missing persons' families cling to hope

By Crystal Bonvillian
Montgomery Advertiser

According to law enforcement officials, there are at least 13 families in the tri-county area going through the same emotional turmoil, 13 missing persons cases that have left the families involved -- and police investigators -- puzzled. "It's very frustrating," said Detective Geno Howton, a Montgomery Police Department investigator. "You're working on a case and you keep digging and digging and, just when you think you might be making progress, boom, you hit a huge wall."

LaQuanta Riley: Riley, 19, left her family's Montgomery home the night of Dec. 7, 2003, getting into a green car, possibly a Ford Taurus or Chevrolet Caprice. Police have had several leads in Riley's case but none has led to her location.

[Kelly]

Candles of Hope for LaQuanta

December 7th, 2007 will mark 4 years since the family of then 19 year-old LaQuanta Riley saw or spoke to her.

LaQuanta disappeared from Montgomery, AL, and was last seen by relatives at approximately 11:30pm getting into a green car, either a Taurus or Caprice. She was wearing a yellow and green Ecko shirt, stone-washed blue jeans, and green and yellow Reebok tennis shoes. There are no leads in LaQuanta's case and the family clings to the hope that someday she will be found.

To honor and remember LaQuanta, her family will be hosting a vigil of hope for LaQuanta. The vigil will be held on 5:30pm on December 7th, 2007 at the Hayneville Road Community Center, 3315 Hayneville Road, Montgomery, AL 36108. The public is invited to attend.

At the vigil of hope, LaQuanta's family and friends will place candles, one per week since LaQuanta's disappearance, for a total of 208 candles. Her family is a simple one, and LaQuanta's case never generated much interest with the media or the public, so Project Jason is asking for your help. 

To show this grieving, but yet hopeful family that we do care, we are asking for you to help the family reach their goal of acquiring 208 candles for use at the vigil, with at least one from each state in the US.

Would you consider purchasing a candle to send to the family? If everyone helps, it should be easy to reach our goal.

If you'd like to help, here's all you'd need to do:

Purchase a candle which is free-standing and will not allow wax to drip down the sides or out the bottom while lit.

Attach a message of hope for LaQuanta's family and note your state on the card.

Mail your candle, allowing enough shipping time to reach Montgomery AL by December 3rd, 2007.

Indicate on the note if you prefer to remain anonymous. 

If you'd like to purchase a themed candle, LaQuanta's favorite color is blue, she likes music, cooking, and has a great love of the Bible and God.

Mail your candle to:
 
Candles of Hope for LaQuanta
244 Cornell Rd.
Montgomery AL 36109

Updates on the candle campaign will be published here, along with any media stories about LaQuanta:
http://www.projectjason.org/forums/index.php?topic=450

LaQuanta also has a website, which you can  find at http://www.findlaquanta.com/  Please sign the guestbook as another way to show your support, and forward this message so that we can meet our Candles of Hope for LaQuanta campaign goal.

Thank you.

Kelly Jolkowski, Mother of Missing Jason Jolkowski
President and Founder,
Project Jason
www.projectjason.org

[findlorne]

I will be sending a candle for the state of New Hampshire.  I will get one in the shade of Blue and will be sure that it is very "special" just as LaQuanta is.
We will have a photo taken with the candle and Tim will wear his button, from adopting LaQuanta, and that will be sent along with the candle.

I hope any others will take part in this as well.  I know that this is something that is so very important.  May these lights help guide LaQuanta home.

Hugs and Prayers,
Louise
Auntie Wease to Lorne Boulet

[Kelly]

Status of the candle campaign for LaQuanta:

As of 11/19/07, 0 candles have been received by the family.

There are only 17 days left to get your candle to the family.

Thank you.

Kelly

[Kelly]

The family received 2 candles today.

[Kelly]

Here's an update on the candle campaign as of yesterday. Since some of these senders may wish to be anonymous, I will only name states.

Received: (This includes all mentioned prior)

2 from NY
2 from NY
1 from PA
1 from FL  (family member of a missing person donated)
1 from GA
1 from NJ
3 from NM plus 260 tea lights
1 set of 12 flameless tea lights from MO (family member of a missing person donated)
1 set of 6 flameless tea lights from NY (family member of a missing person donated)

[Kelly]

Candle update as of today:

2 from NY
2 from NY
1 from PA
1 from FL  (family member of a missing person donated)
1 from GA
1 from NJ
3 from NM plus 260 tea lights
1 set of 12 flameless tea lights from MO (family member of a missing person donated)
1 set of 6 flameless tea lights from NY (family member of a missing person donated)
1 from CA (A MySpace friend)
1 from IL (A family member of a missing person)
1 from PA (A candle company)
1 from TN (A family member whose missing loved one was murdered)
1 from TN