Facebook Victoria Sims
Victoria Sims, an AARP volunteer and retiree who used to work with elderly people for the State of Florida, was found dead in what Tallahassee police say was a double homicide. She also went by the name Vicki Sims.
The other victim was identified as Oluwatoyin Salau, a Black Lives Matter protester. Both women disappeared in June 2020 in Tallahassee. The death of Salau has sparked social media outrage and trended on Twitter, but many also stressed that Sims’ death should be remembered too, and both women deserve justice. You can read more about Salau here.
The suspect, 49-year-old Aaron Glee Jr., has been taken into custody, police said in a press release. Authorities have not released any other information about the double homicide investigation other than to confirm the identities of the two murder victims and of the suspect.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Sims, Who Was Active in Democratic Politics, Met Salau After Black Lives Matter Protests
FacebookVictoria Sims
Both women were highly regarded in activist circles. Tallahassee.com reported: “The 19-year-old and 75-year-old met after recent protests over justice for black lives.” Salau, known as “Toyin,” spoke at BLM protests. Sims was also active in Democratic politics.
Salau filled her Twitter page with comments about race, police and other issues affecting society. “What do white people b tryna escape,” read one recent post.
“The media loves to censor black pain for a groundbreaking story there is no middle ground… keep reporting and fact checking stay on y’all toes,” read another. “Toyin was very passionate,” her friend Danaya Hemphill said, according to CBS News. “She was very vocal she was very loving, very spiritual, very caring. Toyin she was like a light in a dark room. That was Toyin.” According to CBS, Salau was “active in Black Lives Matter demonstrations, reciting the names of people who had been killed by police.”
MugshotAaron Glee
Orange County, Florida, jail records show Glee is being held on a warrant out of Leon County, where Tallahassee is located, charging him with felony murder and kidnapping. He is from West Palm Beach, according to the jail records. He was arrested by the Orlando Police Department on June 14. He had two recent battery cases involving other victims. You can read more about his background here.
2. The Women Were Found Deceased Together After Both Were Reported Missing
A police press release hasn’t given many details of the homicides.
Salau and Sims were found dead in a double homicide Saturday night, June 15, the Tallahassee Police Department said in a press release. According to Tallahassee Police, Salau and Sims were found dead in the 2100 block of Monday Road.
According to the police press release:
At approximately 9:15 p.m. Saturday night, June 13th, TPD investigators arrived in 2100 block of Monday Road in the course of a follow up investigation in a missing person case. During the course of the investigation, two deceased people were located in the area. As the investigation continued, investigators developed a suspect. The suspect is now in custody and no more information is available at this time.
Police had posted missing person posters for each women separately on their Facebook page. Before her body was found, Tallahassee Police classified Salau as a “missing adult,” giving her name as Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau. A missing person poster released by police stated she was 19 years old, 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighed 120 pounds and had black hair and brown eyes.
“The Tallahassee Police Department’s Special Victims Unit is seeking information on the location of Oluwatoyin ‘Toyin’ Salau,” the post said. “Salau was last seen on June 6, 2020, in the area of Orange Avenue and Wahnish Way in Tallahassee. She may be in the area of Jakes and Patterson Street. There is no known clothing description for Salau at this time.”
People with information are asked to call the Consolidated Dispatch Agency at 850-606-5800.
Sims had last been seen on June 11. She volunteered with the Tallahassee AARP chapter, the organization said in a press release. The police missing person poster for Sims stated that the Special Victims Unit was seeking information on her location. She was last seen in the area of the 2700 block of Blairstone Road. She was described as 5 feet tall and 115 pounds. “There is concern for Sims’s welfare,” that post stated. It also gave her vehicle information.
3. Sims Was Remembered as a ‘Dedicated Advocate for Older Americans’
The body of Oluwatoyin Salau was found along with the body of Victoria Sims on Saturday. Here’s what we know about the case. Read more: t.co/I7ctbptD2k
The Tallahassee AARP said about Sims, “Vicki worked tirelessly to improve the lives of others – as a dedicated advocate for older Americans; a committed volunteer for AARP, Second Harvest Food Bank of the Big Bend and other community causes; a devoted mother and grandmother; and a passionate, fully engaged citizen, helping our nation to achieve its highest ideals.”
Sims was a longtime volunteer for AARP. AARP Florida wrote:
AARP Florida deeply regrets the death of Vicki Sims, a long-time AARP volunteer. We understand that the Tallahassee Police Department is pursuing an investigation into her death. Few details are available at this time. Vicki is survived by two daughters, Brenda and June, and several grandchildren. She was a member of the Tallahassee Heights United Methodist Church. She retired several years ago from the Florida Department of Elder Affairs.
Vicki worked tirelessly to improve the lives of others – as a dedicated advocate for older Americans; a committed volunteer for AARP, Second Harvest Food Bank of the Big Bend and other community causes; a devoted mother and grandmother; and a passionate, fully engaged citizen, helping our nation to achieve its highest ideals. Her life is an example of the great principle laid out by AARP’s founder, Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus — ‘to serve, not to be served.’
The AARP family of volunteers and staff has suffered a grievous loss.
4. Salau Wrote a Series of Disturbing Tweets the Afternoon She Went Missing
Just hours before she disappeared on June 6, Salau wrote a series of disturbing tweets. “Anyways I was molested in Tallahassee, Florida by a black man this morning at 5:30 on Richview and Park Ave. The man offered to give me a ride to find someplace to sleep and recollect my belongings from a church I refuged to a couple days back to escape unjust living conditions,” she wrote.
She continued:
He came disguised as a man of God and ended up picking me up from nearby Saxon Street. I entered his truck only because I carry anything to defend myself not even a phone (which is currently at the church) and I have poor vision. I trusted the holy spirit to keep me safe. When we arrived at his house he offered me a shower and I thanked him and shower and he gave me a change of clothes. He exposed himself to me by peeing with the bathroom open obviously knowing I was out of it. I told him about a sexual assault situation that happened…
Salau described an alleged sexual assault by another man who she said, back in March, “tried to force me to give him oral sex and then continued to harrass (sic) me thru text and knocking at my door for days.” She wrote that she was 19 and that man was 32.
She continued:
Going back to the situation that happened to me this morning, I did not fall asleep. He then asked me if I wanted a massage at this moment his roommate who was in the house was asleep. I was laying on my stomach trying to calm myself down from severe ptsd. He started touching me back and rubbing my body using my body until he climaxed and then went to sleep. Before I realized what happened to me I looked over and his clothes were completely off. Once I saw he was asleep I escaped from the house and started walking from Richview Road to anywhere else. All of my belongings my phone my clothes shoes are all assumably at the church where I’ve been trying to track since I sought spiritual guidance/ refuge. I will not be silent. Literally wearing this man’s clothes right now DNA all over me because I couldn’t locate his house the moment I called the police because I couldn’t see.
She added: “Mid 40’s lives in a gray painted duplex apartment style house drives a white clean Silverado Chevrolet truck.”
“Silence is the best weapon for some but not for me I will not be silenced,” Salau wrote recently on her Twitter page, which she filled with comments about race and social justice. Salau’s disappearance sparked a great deal of emotion on social media, where many question why the media haven’t covered her case more widely and some criticized police for, in their view, not doing more considering the number of details Salau herself posted on Twitter about what she said was a sexual assault right before she vanished.
Salau was a speaker at Black Lives Matter protests after the death of George Floyd.
On June 14, a woman who goes by Ashley on Twitter and who indicated she was helping Salau’s mother wrote, “I’m sorry to inform everyone about this but Toyin is no longer with us.” On June 11, the same woman wrote on Twitter, “She’s been missing since last Friday since she left me and my friends. Last time she was last sighted was at the BL Perry Library on Saturday then after that we haven’t seen her. If you know any info please contact me because I’m helping her mom. She’s somewhere on the south side.” Heavy has also reached out to Ashley for more information.
Another woman claimed on a True Crime Group, “The family messaged in the group chat thanking everyone for their help and letting everyone know that she was no longer with us, and asking for people to give them time and not mention it on social media. Some friends who weren’t part of the search group started posting about it…there are no firm answers.”
5. Tributes Flowed in for Both Victims
Tallahassee Police department: Justice For Toyin – Sign the Petition! t.co/2qCtyzkIB0 via @Change
Tributes flowed in for both women.
“😢😢😢RIP to Oluwatoyin ‘Toyin’ Salau and Victoria Sims. 😢😢😢😢 As a leader in our community I want to say thank you both 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾for fighting for the cause!✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾 I am deeply sad 😞😞😞how this ended! You all in peace now🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾 save me a spot. Until then I will keep fighting where you all left off! ‼️💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾” wrote one woman on Facebook.
Another person wrote, ” Rest In Power, Toyin. I hope your Soul is finally at peace, beautiful. Rest In Power as well, Vicki Sims. You were both kind and beautiful Souls who were here to help and spread Love. I’m so sorry that your lives were cruelly ripped away from you both.”
Some people on social media expressed anger at police and the media for not taking Salau’s disappearance seriously enough, in their opinions.