Right: Age-progressed by NCMEC to 16 years
Right: Age-progressed by NCMEC to 16 years
Name: Lenoria E. Jones
Case Classification: Non Family Abduction
Missing Since: July 20, 1995
Location Last Seen: Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington
Date of Birth: January 3, 1992
Age: 3 years old
Race: Black
Gender: Female
Height: 3'0"
Weight: 40 lbs
Hair Color: Black, worn in braids at time of disappearance
Eye Color: Brown
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Hyperactive and on medication
Dentals: Not Available
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Unknown
Clothing: Black "Barney" T-shirt; blue turquoise pants
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
Lenoria Jones was last seen on July 20, 1995, after stopping at a convenience store and a car wash on the way to a Target store with her great-aunt, Berlean Williams. Williams told investigators that Lenoria disappeared from inside the Target store on South 23rd Street.
Police and prosecutors believed Williams until they saw a videotape taken by the discount department store's security camera. It showed Williams walking into the store alone.
Williams then told authorities someone must have abducted the girl in the store's parking lot. She later claimed two men might have abducted the toddler near her family home. On still another occasion she told police the child was safe, but wouldn't tell them where.
Tacoma police and Pierce County prosecutors never came up with solid information to support any of those accounts. Nor have they come up with enough evidence to charge anyone.
Repeated efforts to get Williams to tell them what really happened failed -- even after she was put under house arrest for four months shortly after Lenoria disappeared. A juvenile court commissioner ordered Williams' confinement after finding her in contempt of a civil order to produce the child or tell where she was. Williams was released after a judge said it hadn't been proved she had that information. Williams' court-appointed attorney insisted she had been truthful with police all along. He blamed Williams' conflicting accounts on badgering by police.
Williams had legal custody of Lenoria for about a year before her disappearance and was in the process of adopting the little girl, who had been in foster care and other out-of-home placement since birth. Lenoria's mother was living in Texas when Lenoria dropped out of sight. But authorities said the girl's parents had lost their parental rights long before then.
Police made repeated checks with Lenoria's relatives, who live in different sections of the country. But they have ruled out a custody dispute as the reason for her disappearance.
Agency Name: Tacoma Police Department
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 253-798-4721
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 952010300
NCIC Case Number: M850932273
NamUs Case Number: 6241
NCMEC Case Number: NCMC806901
NCMEC
NamUs
The Seattle Times - Aug. 4, 1995
The News Tribune - Jan. 11, 2008
Added: Prior to 2011; Last Updated: 03-20-2024 - By: Htmlcnvtr
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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