Missing Chicago Girls & Deaths on West Side Create Concern

Four girls/young women were reported missing on Chicago’s west side – two of them later found dead – since March 2018, raising concerns that there could be a serial killer or kidnapper at work. Chicago police say, though, that there is no evidence at this point to definitively link the cases, although they are looking into whether the two deaths are connected.

One of the girls who was reported among the missing, Victoria Garrett, has been found and was reunited with her family, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told Heavy on June 12, 2018. Another of the missing girls, Anna Stanislawczyk, “was seen but has not returned home yet,” he said. As for the remaining two girls, Sadaria Davis and Shantieya Smith, whose bodies were discovered after they went missing, “at this point there is no evidence to link these cases or establish a pattern,” said Guglielmi. However, ABC 7 reported that Chicago police are looking into whether the deaths of Davis and Smith are connected as both were seen with the same man, however. Gulgielmi did also tell Heavy that police have a person of interest they are looking into for those two deaths, and he added that they need more information from the medical examiner before determining whether they are connected.

The cases have started getting national attention. However, the cause of death of the two deceased girls has not been determined yet, previous news reports said. Accounts on social media indicated that Davis was an acquaintance of Kenneka Jenkins, a Chicago teenager found dead in a hotel freezer in 2017.

Some in the community don’t believe the cases are getting enough attention from the news media because three of the girls are African-American.

“We started noticing that young women were disappearing and nobody was finding them,” the Rev. Robin Hood told WGN-TV. “Increasingly, the neighborhood began to talk about people that were missing. We know sometimes that people who are runaways or missing — they sometimes show up.” He also said, according to BET, “Our biggest fear is there is some type of predator loose. Whether they’re kidnapping or murdering, we need answers.”

However, Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said authorities don’t suspect a serial killer is at work. “There is no credible information that we have a serial kidnapper going around in the black community pillaging. That’s just not true,” Johnson said.

Who are the deceased girls?

Here’s what you need to know:

Sadaria Davis

ABC7 reports that Sadaria Davis’ body was found in an abandoned building. She was reported missing on April 27 and was found May 11 “on the floor of a vacant East Garfield Park apartment building in the 200-block of South Hamlin,” according to ABC7. She was only 15. The television station reports that the medical examiner has not determined how Sadaria died, although her family suspects she was murdered.

The family spoke to the television station, describing her as an “ordinary teenager with a bubbly personality.” Her cousin, Luwana Johnson, told ABC7, “Anybody who has any type of information please come forward and share that information. We want to put Sadaria to rest. We want to know what happened.” Her family told WGN that an autopsy found no drugs in her system and they are appealing to the public for answers. If you have information, there is a reward in the case, and you can call 1-800-U-TELL-US.

Shantieya Smith

Shantieya Smith disappeared after being last seen outside her home near 16th and South Central Park, according to Fox32. Smith, who was 26, vanished on May 26, 2018.

According to The Black Loop, Smith “Smith, who is affectionately called Nay Nay, was last seen with her boyfriend.” According to WGN, “Smith was last seen in late May with a man she knows from the neighborhood,” and her family told the television station that he changed his phone number.

Her body was discovered in early June and identified as Smith on June 12, 2018. However, it’s not yet clear how she died or whether her death was the result of homicide.

As for the other two girls, Victoria Garrett, 15, was reported missing in early June 2018, but, as noted, has been reunited with her family. Garrett had vanished on June 5, 2018. She “left her home Sunday in the 4000 block of West Grenshaw and never returned,” reports the Sun Times, adding that she lived in the Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago.

Anna Stanislawczyk, 18, had disappeared in the 3600 block of West Filmore Street on March 16. However, she has been seen since, as police indicated.