Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Martinez.
Hi Angela, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2013, I was sitting in my brother-in-law’s hospital room; he had just had a stroke. I was scrolling through a local news site, WTOL, and came across a news story about a 21-year-old named Trent Suzor who had gone missing. I don’t know why this story stuck with me, but I checked for updates for a week and could not find anything. I searched Facebook and was not able to locate any family. I found a missing person page called America’s Missing and contacted that admin; she was able to locate his sister’s profile on Facebook. I messaged her, and we talked. Trent was still missing. She explained how they felt like there was no help; the police were doing their job but not updating the family, and she didn’t know how else to get his missing information out. That is when I created the ToledosMissing: Help Bring Them Home group. It was a way to help share missing people on social media. I serve Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan.
That first week, Trent and two teenage females went missing, and I shared their information. The girls were located safe, but Trent is still missing. The group eventually grew to 500 members and was not able to add more. I then created a Facebook page, and now there are over 11k followers. Prior to 2000, families would have to canvass their neighborhood and put up printed flyers on telephone poles, storefronts, or car windshields. Today, I am able to share one post and reach over 10,000.
What I have learned as a Missing Person Advocate is that families feel lost. They file their missing person report with their local law enforcement, and they don’t get updates. The police are doing their work; they are just not there for the emotional support, leaving families wondering what to do next. Families don’t have the extra money to print flyers, so I reached out to the Toledo/Lucas County Library, requesting help to print flyers for free for families. They agreed and partnered with Toled0sMissing. However, their help is only offered to Lucas County residents, and they will print 50 free black and white copies. I have been lucky and contacted other libraries in different areas, and they have printed flyers for free.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The only obstacle is trying to work with the Toledo Police Missing Person Unit. Not that I want them to be in contact with me, but I think they could utilize ToledosMissing by sharing the information to families who report a missing loved one. Hey, there is this page on Facebook; contact them; they can help you with flyers, organize search parties, and help you list your missing loved one on NamUs or Missingkids.org. Did you know that in Toledo, news stations will not release information about missing persons unless Toledo Police release the information to them? And it is hard for families to contact the detective to have that information released to news stations.
Another challenge I have tried is contacting our local sports teams asking if they can put a missing person or child on their electronic board when one goes missing. They have not contacted me back, not even an apology; this isn’t something we can’t do. I have also contacted the company that does the giant TV billboards to see if they would donate a space for when a person goes missing. They have refused; however, they say I can pay for their service.
I would think that this is the major obstacle; I am a one-person show, I do not have any admins that help. I have tried to get help, but no one has an interest. This has not stopped me. I will continue do this work without any help; I am still able to be there for the families and listen to them when they need an ear. Point them in the direction of what they need to do next.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a disabled single mom with an adult disabled son. I have plenty of free time on my hands and have learned a lot over the 10 years running the ToledosMissing page. I have went from just sharing missing person information to becoming a missing person advocate. Every year, in every case, I have learned more.
3 top stories that I can think of that have helped me grow, learn, and help other families in the future.
1. I was contacted by a woman, whose boyfriend, Daniel Wiggins, went missing. He was last seen being chased by police in Jan 2020, from Gordon St towards the old Libbey High School grounds. Beyond the grounds is Swan Creek. The creek was frozen, and police assumed that he ran across the creek to the rail yard on the other side. But he had not been seen since. Come spring, a search was organized for the Libbey grounds and Swan Creek. That same week, I was contacted by a mother in Detroit whose son had gone missing in Toledo. She said her son, Jonathon Robinson, was visiting friends in Toledo. He was pulled over by the police off of Western Avenue. He may have had weed in the car, and he got scared and took off running. He was running towards a dead street, jumping a fence, which had a steep hill on the other side. It was dark, and he wouldn’t have seen it. At the bottom of the hill is Swan Creek. Only a few blocks from where Daniel was. I thought, omg, this is a similar story, 6 mos. apart, same area, same direction, and same creek. I believed that Daniel had fell through the ice into the creek, and I believed Jonathon, not knowing the area and not knowing how to swim, may also have fell into the creek. The search was then turned into looking for both men. There was about 200 people there searching in the height of covid. People had drones search and rescue dogs and were searching along the creek bank. One group headed east along the creek towards City Park, and they met with a group of teen kayakers. There was a log jam in the creek, and it was impassable to the kayakers. They asked the search team what they were doing, and they explained they were looking for 2 missing men. The group went on their way, and the Kayakers started moving logs to continue their boat ride. An hour later, we were notified that the kayakers had moved a log, and a body floated up. It was Daniel Wiggins. He must have fell throught the ice into the creek. The next day the search continued for Jonath0n. The group was smaller, about 10 of us, but we searched the area where he would have went in, west of the school grounds. We did not locate him. On Tuesday, the city sent in a crew to search the water intake near Hawley St, and sadly they located Jonathan’s body. 2 men 6 month apart, same situation same outcome, but both families have their loved one home.
Next one is an amazing story; I was contacted by a woman who lives in Hawaii. She stated that her husband speaks with an unhoused male outside his work. He brings him food and he tried to pry info about this young man. He tells him his name and that he is from Toledo. He was military. There was only a little bit of info. The man did snap a picture of the Toledo man and his wife sent it to me. I shared the information on the page, and within 15 mins a family member responded that it was her brother and they had been looking for him. They did not know that he was in Hawaii. By the end of week, family members were flying out to Hawaii to bring their brother back home.
Lastly, this one is a sad, sadder, good, and you got to be kidding me story. I was contacted by a mother in 2020, her daughter Cyn’Nyia had ran away. She asked for my help sharing her information. She didn’t know what to do. Toledo Police had stopped her daughter and let her walk away then they contacted her to tell her where they stopped her. They eventually stopped her again and took her to juvy. Once in court, she was ordered to an open-door police facility, meaning she could come and go as she pleased, well she just walked away. So now she is missing again. The police locate her again, and the mom takes her a moves to another state. They are gone for about 6mos then they move back to Toledo, because she runs away there. Once back here she runs away in Aug of 2021. Her uncle spotted her at a gas station not too far from where the police had stopped her. She was in a vehicle with an adult male. Then uncle went to get Cyn’Nyia but the man pulled a gun out and drove away. Police were called, but nothing was done. I tried helping the mom, contacting different agencies, the Ohio BCI, the AG office to see if they can help because Toledo Police did not seem to want to put effort in because she is a habitual runaway. A month passes, and the mom gets sick with covid. She goes live on Facebook, talking about how she is having trouble breathing and to pray for her and to help bring her baby home. The holiday comes and goes. I message her on Monday December 27, 2022, and I get no response. I post on her page and request if there was any updates, Cyn’Nyia’s grandmother messages me asking me to call her. She informs me that her daughter/ Cyn’Nyia’s mom passed away at 6pm on Dec. 27. Cyn’Nyia was still missing. I made it my mission to make sure she was found. I called the Toledo Police Missing person unit to inform them that the mom passed away, and Cyn’Nyia was missing. The mom felt that her daughter was being trafficked between Toledo and Detroit. The person I spoke with said to something to me that just pains my heart, this is not verbatim: “You want me to put all my resources to use to look for a child who is just going to run away again?” I was livid, and I devastated that he would say that. I responded “She is a missing 14-year-old, that we believe is being trafficked, I don’t care if you find her today and she runs away again tomorrow, she’s a 14-year-old child and her mother just died, she doesn’t even know she died”
I was at a loss of what to do. But I do what I do when I don’t have an answer, I find someone that does. I scoured the internet searching for Missing organizations that offer help. One female messaged me on Facebook, and we created a group chat of 6 women: her, myself, Cyn’Nyia’s aunt who lives in Texas, and 3 other missing person advocates. We chatted daily from morning to the wee morning hours of the next day; we were getting in tips, we made a timeline of tips that were coming in. People saw her in Detroit on the 18th walking with shorts and flipflops in the winter. They gave us an address, we google mapped the location, took screenshots, and then created an email and a list of agencies to send it to. The US Marshals, the FBI agent that handles trafficking in Toledo, Toledo Police as well as Detroit Police. We got an agency involved here in Toledo that helps women who are trafficked. This went on for 3 mos. We got the call in March 2022 that she had been in found in Detroit. We were told that Toledo Police would not go up and transport her back here and that Detroit police was going to let her go. I felt the system was letting her and us down again. I contacted the only person that I felt was really helping, and that was the US Marshal. He said that he would transport her back.
Oh I forgot this tidbit, during that 3 mos., because her mom was dead, we were trying to help get her grandmother to be listed as her guardian. The courts refused because she was not in custody/care of anyone. Well, duh, she’s missing. And no one can do anything for her if she is found because we can’t get a guardian.
She was located and finally brought back to Ohio; she was released into her grandmother’s care. She stayed with her grandmother briefly before running away again. I am told that she was picked up and then placed in a group home somewhere near Columbus, but she ran away from that facility and is currently missing again. Her family did not ask for my help again.
Since helping with Cyn’Nyia’s case, I have gone from just posting a missing flyers flyers on social media to being more of a missing person advocate. I learned a lot what to do working with those 4 women. I eventually would like to make ToledosMissing a non-profit missing person advocacy group for Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan.
How do you think about luck?
I wouldn’t call it luck, but covid gave many of us a platform on TikTok. I created my TikTok to share my thrifting finds, then realized that I can use the platform to share missing person information. I am not the topic of the video; it is a video flyer of sorts, with the person’s face, location, and all the descriptive parts: where and when they were last seen, and physical description.
TikTok has allowed me to not only share NWO and SEM missing persons, but I have also helped families with missing persons in Mexico, Canada, and across the US.
Pricing:
- No charge
- FREE
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/ToledosMissing
- TikTok: www.toledosmissing.org
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/toledosmissing
