The family of Jennifer Leyanna may finally get long-awaited justice following the arrest of a Maryland man who has been arrested and charged with her murder. This case was thrust back into the news cycle when Jennifer’s remains were located in the backyard of a Maryland residence earlier this week.
Jennifer Leyanna, 41, was last seen in Hartly, Delaware, on October 9, 2020 about 18 months ago. The last time she had contact with her family was that same day when she spoke to her mother on the phone. Her mother told WMDT-TV back in 2021, “It didn’t click that there was anything wrong, usually she’ll say ‘take care of Natalie,’ but this time she said ‘mom please take care of my baby girl.”
Investigators had been investigating her disappearance with the possibility of foul play, determining that she was “likely dead as a result of criminal actions.” This trail of investigative measures lead them to Leonard “Buddy” Church from Henderson, Maryland.
Following his identification as a suspect in the case, public records confirmed that Church actually lived on the same block as the backyard in question. After he was arrested, Church was extradited to Delaware where he was charged with first degree murder and given a $2 million cash bond upon arraignment.
News like this is always bittersweet for families of missing persons, many of whom are desperate for answers, no matter how devastating, and that was no different for the family of Jennifer Leyanna. Upon hearing the news of the discovery of Leyanna’s remains, her family received a wealth of support and good thoughts from those following the Find Jennifer Leyanna Facebook page. On Tuesday, the page posted an update simply stating, “She’s home where she belongs.”
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Detective Mark Ryde by calling 302-741-2730.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is asking the community for help to find a missing Indianapolis woman who was reported missing on February 4th, 2022. Paris Williamson, a successful Black insurance agency representative, was reported missing after she did not show up to work for a week, according to her sister, Lauren Seymour, “That was very unlike her not to go to work because she loves her job. There were just a lot of red flags.”
There were other red flags in the absence of Paris Williamson. Her father, Lane Seymour, told WIBC that Paris’ phone had stopped ringing before her disappearance, going only straight to voicemail. Her mail was also sitting uncollected in her mailbox, “To leave mail in her mailbox, which she is very private. She had her license and some other W-2 forms, which were soaking wet. I know she would not just take off and leave.” Lane Seymour also commented that his daughter’s personal brand of professionalism was completely incongruent with a week-long failure to call into work. “She does not miss work without calling in, and she definitely would let us know if she were going to be gone for a long period of time.”
The last confirmed contact Paris had with her family was on January 30. However, the family received a tip that someone may have seen Paris at the Horseshoe Casino in Shelbyville, Indiana—a report that concerned her family. “We were concerned about the report we got back when she was in the casino, because she was with someone who seemed a little bit older than she was. And she seemed bothered from what the person was reported to us,” said her father.
The family continues to circulate flyers and call upon the power of social media to get the word out about Paris’ disappearance in the hopes of kicking up new leads for law enforcement to pursue. Paris’ family made it a point to underline that she is in no way estranged from her family, and she would not just disappear on them in this way. “She is a beautiful young lady with a great heart and we just want her home,” said Seymour.
Paris Williamson is described as 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing around 170 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She may be driving a 2008 Chevrolet Impala with an Indiana license plate reading 394NFV. That vehicle was last seen traveling southbound at Emerson Avenue and County Line Road on January 31, 2022. Anyone with information on her disappearance or whereabouts is asked to call 911, contact the IMPD Missing Persons Unit at 317-327-6160 or call Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477.
The family of Sheena Gibbs, 40, is still searching for answers months after she vanished without a trace back in November of 2021. The former home health aide was preparing to embark on a trip across state lines to visit her hospitalized mother in Davenport, Iowa. When her family last spoke to her, she informed them that she would be arriving in Davenport the following day, but no one ever heard from her again.
Sheena Gibbs is beloved by family, friends and the Rogers Park community which she has called home for nearly two decades. Loved ones describe Sheena as kind, joyful, strong-willed, positive, creative and someone who could easily connect with people from all walks of life.
Most recently, Sheena worked at UIC performing COVID test scheduling. In the past Sheena worked as home health aide, a youth worker and a professional dance instructor.
Sheena survived cervical cancer at 25 and has been an outspoken advocate for young survivors. In 2019, Sheena’s poetry was featured by the Lurie Cancer Center of Northwestern University as part of their Cancer Survivorship Institute to support youth survivors.
Sheena is passionate about social justice and spent years volunteering as an HIV/AIDS educator, ESL teacher, peace activist and raising money to bring clean water to drought-stricken areas of Africa. She worked with organizations like the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, 1000 Wells Project, American Friends Service Committee and the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation.
In years prior to her disappearance, Sheena had an avid interest in West African, Jamaican and Hip Hop dance. She was a professional dancer and as an instructor, she taught kids about diverse dance traditions and cultures.
Sheena grew up near Davenport, Iowa and was very close to her mother and regularly visited family who live there. Sheena attended Truman College, Northeastern Illinois University and Spoon River College, where she was VP of Student Senate and graduated with honors.
At the time of her disappearance, Sheena was last seen near Greenleaf and Sheridan in Rogers Park in Chicago, Illinois. According to Tarver, Chicago police had been unable to use the tracking features of Sheena’s phone to track her movements because it had been turned off. Because she was on her way to care for her infirm mother, Chicago police are considering Sheena’s disappearance as a “high risk” case. Cases treated as “high risk” typically involve suspicion of foul play or death that is either imminent or has already taken place—a fact that has plagued Shenna’s family. “Some of the things that go through my mind, I don’t even want to speak out loud because I just want to hope and pray that she’s safe somewhere,” said Tarver.
Sheena is a 40-year-old Black woman with a dark complexion, 5’9”, 180 lbs with black shoulder length hair and brown eyes. She was last seen at the intersection of Greenleaf and Sheridan in the Rogers Park neighborhood on Chicago’s north side.
Those who’ve seen her or have a tip should contact CPD Area 3 SVU at (312) 744-8266 or Black & Missing Foundation at 877-97-BAMFI or email her family at
HelpFindSheena@gmail.com
There is a GoFundMe for Sheena’s family where you can support them in this turbulent time. All funds raised by this GoFundMe will go to the family to mitigate the financial impact of the case, as well as fund an independent investigation into Sheena’s disappearance.
The search for a Rhode Island man who faced prosecution in the United States has now come to a close following his hospitalization for COVID-19. Authorities located Nicholas Alahverdian, 34, in all places, Glasgow, Scotland, after developing a serious case of coronavirus that required him to be placed on a respirator. Alahverdian was wanted by Interpol, and faces extradition to the United States with regards to a 2008 charge of first-degree rape in Utah, leading to a faked death investigation.
Back in 2008, when he was residing in Orem, Utah, Alahverdian was going by the surname “Rossi.” While on Myspace, he met a 21-year-old woman with whom he developed a relationship. When she finally ended the relationship, Alahverdian still owed her some money. Despite promises to pay her back, she asserted that Alahverdian sexually assault her. However, the crucial DNA material from the survivor’s evidence collection kit was not tested until almost ten years later in 2017 due to the nationwide phenomenon in which state departments experience deep backlogs in their evidence collection kits, or as they’re commonly known, “rape kits.” Once the DNA was finally tested, it came back as a match to another sexual assault case in Ohio. Unfortunately, Alahverdian was already believed to be dead due to a faked death scenario.
“Investigators also learned that Nicholas Rossi had fled the country to avoid prosecution in Ohio, and attempted to leave investigators and state legislators in other states to believe that he was deceased,” said a statement released from Utah County Attorney David Leavitt’s office on Wednesday. “Mr. Rossi was discovered to be living under an assumed name in Scotland.”
In addition to charges that Alahverdian faces in both Ohio and Utah, he is also wanted by Rhode Island State Police for charges related to failing to register as a sex offender. He is also wanted at the federal level by the FBI for charges relating to credit card fraud committed in the name of his foster father, totaling more than $200,000.
Following the discovery of Alahverdian’s various crimes and attempt to fake his death to evade prosecution, many have been left with the question of how individuals who are believed to have faked their deaths can ever be held to account for their actions. In Alahverdian’s case, law enforcement was heavily involved, if not hamstrung by the rape kit backlog that delayed the testing of the evidence. However, many families of victims of violent crimes, large-scale frauds, or related crimes, sometimes have no recourse with the main suspect in their case manages to evade justice. In Alahverdian’s case, his identity was ultimately discovered once he was forced to check into a hospital for COVID-19, but such circumstances may not occur in other cases. While it’s true that the FBI can work with other foreign state intelligence agencies to search for high-profile targets on their list, it can still be difficult to conduct boots-on-the-ground investigations that can lead to major developments in a search. To further exacerbate matters, when the individual has gone the extra mile to fake their death, the case becomes even more complicated.
If corporations, families, or private individuals believe a person of interest has faked death in order to escape accountability, there are options outside of the traditional law enforcement route. Private investigators and private intelligence firms sometimes have the resources and manpower to send investigators outside the United States borders to look for evidence of a faked death scenario in their case. Private investigators have access to verified databases that can extend nationally, and often do not have the caseload of state or federal investigators that would otherwise prevent them from chasing down every lead in a faked death scenario. While state or federal agencies may not be able to deploy agents on a particular case, private investigators have complete autonomy from state and federal agencies as long as they are acting within the confines of their license. The value in this autonomy is found in the investigator’s ability to trigger a field investigation outside of U.S. jurisdiction without waiting for approval. In this way, more valuable time is not lost in the case, which increases the likelihood that both witnesses and crucial evidence in the case can still be recovered.
After the two-year anniversary of her daughter’s disappearance, the mother of Harmony Montgomery has spoken out. Crystal Sorey reached out to the media, and amidst criticism of how her daughter’s case was handled, let the public know that she believes her baby is still alive, “I don’t feel like she’s gone. I just don’t feel that in my heart…and a mother knows, a mother knows if your baby’s here or not. I know she’s here.”
The case of Harmony Montgomery faced the same issues that many missing person cases did around the time of the COVID-19 outbreak. Harmony was last seen by Manchester police when they answered a call to her home in October of 2019, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader. However, any missing person investigator will tell you that if the case is not resolved within the first week of the investigation, it’s crucial for the missing person’s face to stay in the media. The continued presence of a missing person’s face in the media raises the likelihood that someone will recognize the missing person and provide law enforcement with information they may have on their disappearance. This generates new leads, which raises the chance that the missing person will be found. However, in the case of Harmony Montgomery, just eight short weeks after her disappearance, the first news of the COVID-19 pandemic hit the media. As the virus spread, COVID-19 dominated the news cycle, and missing person cases that desperately needed the media exposure were all but forgotten by the public at large. Now two years later, Crystal Sorey is making sure the world hasn’t forgotten about her missing daughter.
Harmony Montgomery was only 5 years old when she disappeared in October 2019. Unfortunately, it had been months since Forey had seen Harmony, reportedly because the girl’s father, Adam Montgomery, had blocked all contact between Harmony and her mother, according to NBC. Last week, Adam Montgomery was arrested by authorities and formally charged with felony second-degree assault “connected to conduct against Harmony” back in 2019. The New Hampshire Police followed up to say that he may also face charges of interference with custody, and two charges of endangering the welfare of a child. Harmony’s stepmother, Kayla Montgomery, was also arrested because she fraudulently received food stamp benefits for Harmony even after her disappearance. According to police, between December 2019 and June 2021, Kayla Montgomery received $1,500 in benefits for the missing girl, even though she had not lived with her or Adam.
Despite the flurry of arrests that have taken place over the course of the investigation into Harmony Montgomery’s disappearance, little progress has actually been made in finding the now 7-year-old girl. Last Saturday, the house where Harmony Montgomery was last seen was formally searched by law enforcement, despite the fact that there are now new occupants who are not related to the case. Police have established a tip line dedicated to Harmony’s case and have offered a cash reward for information leading to Harmony’s location in the sum of $94,000.
