CA CA - Arianna Fitts, 2, San Francisco, 1 April 2016 *mother found dead*

Re-post refresher, rbbm.
By Lyanne Melendez
April 1, 2022
Nicole and Arianna Fitts are seen in this undated image.

''According to the police report, because Nicole, a single mom, worked long hours, Arianna was in the care of a babysitter and her husband when she disappeared. They and another woman, believed to be involved, have not fully cooperated with police.

Arianna was two-and-a-half at the time. She's now eight
. Investigators showed reporters what she may look like thanks to an age progression photo.

"You'll actually see success stories when age progression photos have led to recovery, sometimes by the missing child themselves," explained Scott Shelby, Assistant Special Agent for the FBI.

Law enforcement has never determined whether or not Arianna is alive. Today police said we have to believe that she is. That's why that age progression photo is so crucial.

Billboards with that photo will go up in California and Nevada.

The people who babysat Arianna have moved to Las Vegas, so putting that billboard up in Nevada was done strategically.''
Thank you for re-posting.
 
Watch here , a interview of Contessa Fitts regarding the murder of her sister Nikki and the disappearance of her niece Arianna. The interview is done by the wonderful Tricia Griffith. Contessa is an amazing woman who is still fighting to find Arianna and get justice for them both. Please watch and share Ariannas photo on your social media. We are live tonight at 10:30 PM ET with murder victim Nicole Fitts sister Contessa
 
Watch here , a interview of Contessa Fitts regarding the murder of her sister Nikki and the disappearance of her niece Arianna. The interview is done by the wonderful Tricia Griffith. Contessa is an amazing woman who is still fighting to find Arianna and get justice for them both. Please watch and share Ariannas photo on your social media. We are live tonight at 10:30 PM ET with murder victim Nicole Fitts sister Contessa
This interview was done a while back. I’m sorry the title is misleading.
 
An age progression image of how Arianna might look today was released by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
  • Arianna and Nikki Fitts in a photo from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
    Arianna and Nikki Fitts in a photo from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.Read More »
  • Age progressed photo of how 9-year-old Arianna might look in 2023 from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Age progressed photo of how 9-year-old Arianna might look in 2023 from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.Read More »
“Investigators and NCMEC believe Arianna could still be alive and they’re asking the public to pay attention to her age progression image,” officials said.

“We’re asking everyone, no matter where you are or how busy you may be, to just take a brief moment to look closely at this image,” said Angeline Hartmann, Director of Communications at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. “You may be the key to finding Arianna and not even know it.”
 
An age progression image of how Arianna might look today was released by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
  • Arianna and Nikki Fitts in a photo from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
    Arianna and Nikki Fitts in a photo from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.Read More »
  • Age progressed photo of how 9-year-old Arianna might look in 2023 from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Age progressed photo of how 9-year-old Arianna might look in 2023 from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.Read More »
“Investigators and NCMEC believe Arianna could still be alive and they’re asking the public to pay attention to her age progression image,” officials said.

“We’re asking everyone, no matter where you are or how busy you may be, to just take a brief moment to look closely at this image,” said Angeline Hartmann, Director of Communications at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. “You may be the key to finding Arianna and not even know it.”
Now here is an example of how age progression sketches can help a case. There is a good possibility this child is alive and brings her case back in the news.
There was some discussion that stated these sketches do more harm than good and I very much disagreed.
 
Last edited:
Fitts was a single mother and was working at the Best Buy on Harrison Street just before her death — in fact, she was allegedly wearing a blue Best Buy shirt on April 1 when she left work to go meet with the babysitter, who was later identified as Helena Martin. Helena and her husband, Devon Martin, lived on Castro Street in Oakland at the time. Arianna had been living with the Martins, sleeping there nightly, for about a month at the time of Fitts's death — an arrangement she made while she got back on her feet financially.

"As far as I know, she was going to Oakland [on April 1], and I told her before she left, ‘baby whatever you do, get the police involved' because Nicole was really upset that night," Taylor told the station. "I said, ‘I’ve had a long day.’ I said, ‘I wish I could stay up and talk to you a little longer, but I am beat, and I’m going to bed,’ and that was the last time I saw Nicole."
 
Arianna Fitts went missing from the Bay Area in April 2016 after her mother, Nicole Fitts, was killed.

Around 10:30 a.m. on April 8, 2016, a San Francisco parks worker stumbled onto an unusual-looking piece of plywood atop a brushy, overgrown area in McLaren Park. They pushed the wood aside, and there, curled into the fetal position, was a woman's body. She was dead.

Seven years later, that woman’s young daughter is still missing — but family and police strongly believe she’s alive out there, somewhere.

The tragedy of Nicole and Arianna Fitts is one of San Francisco’s most frustrating unsolved cases.
 
Nicole Fitts was 32 when she was killed. Her life had been a hard one, marked by poverty and struggle. She worked relentlessly to make ends meet for her two daughters, but high Bay Area rents forced her to send her oldest to live with the girl’s father in Southern California. Nicole and Arianna, just 2 and a half years old, bounced from home to home, and sometime before Nicole was killed, they ended up briefly in a homeless shelter.

There, Nicole’s family says she met a so-called “street pastor” named Lemasani Briggs. Nicole and Arianna moved in with her, but the relationship quickly soured; Nicole’s loved ones have alleged Briggs was emotionally abusive and controlling.

The Fitts left Briggs’ home and found shelter with relatives in Santa Cruz. But that meant hours of driving to and from San Francisco, where Nicole had a job at the Harrison Street Best Buy. To cut down on commuting, she sometimes couch-surfed with friends. Arianna would stay for days at a time with her new babysitters, Helena and Devin Martin, at their home on Castro Street in Oakland.

Nicole met the Martins through Briggs; Helena was Briggs’ niece. When worried family members asked Nicole if she was concerned about still having ties to Briggs, she allegedly reassured them that Helena wasn’t close to her aunt. It’s not clear if Nicole knew that Helena had once been charged with murder in 2001 — then known as Helena Hearne, the 18-year-old was accused of fatally shooting the father of one of her children. She reportedly served six years for the crime.

San Francisco police detectives quickly homed in on Helena and Devin Martin. A police commander told reporters they believed Nicole was trying — and failing — to bring Arianna home at the time of her disappearance. Although the Martins “cooperated initially,” SFPD said they gave “inconsistent, conflicting statements” and soon stopped helping altogether.
*I think of this little girl often. ❤️
 

December 11, 2024

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The FBI released an age-progression image on Wednesday of Arianna Fitts, who was two years old when she vanished and her mother was slain in San Francisco.

Arianna, who would be 11-years-old today, has been missing since 2016. She was last seen in Oakland in January or February of 2016, the FBI said.

1734021238989.png


*****
The FBI San Francisco Division told KRON4, “The investigation into Arianna Fitts’ disappearance is still very active. We are confident that there are individuals who have information about where she may be, and we encourage them to come forward and speak to law enforcement and help bring Arianna back home.”
 

December 11, 2024

“It is believed that Arianna was not with her mother when she was killed,” according to a Missing Person poster circulated by the FBI.

*****
Sources told the 8 News Now Investigators in 2022 the three babysitters the child was last seen with had relocated to the Las Vegas area.

San Francisco police and the FBI have offered a $250,000 reward. Best Buy, where Nicole Fitts worked, also offered a $10,000 reward.

*****

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation said people in the Las Vegas Valley can help solve the case of a missing San Francisco girl whose mother was murdered.

******
The FBI has a missing person’s case for Arianna, and agents said there’s new investigative leads in the Las Vegas Valley area.

People in the Las Vegas Valley have crucial information in the case, according to an agency spokesperson.

“The investigation into Arianna Fitts' disappearance is still very active,” FBI San Francisco said. “We are confident that there are individuals who have information about where she may be, and we encourage them to come forward and speak to law enforcement and help bring Arianna back home.”

******
 
This case bugs me. Looks like there is a rather large, extended family on the babysitters’ side. The pastor posted a lot on her facebook page about religion, sometimes bordering on fanaticism. She died from covid a couple years ago. So we won’t get any answers there. I strongly suspect that someone in the family has the girl, but how are they hiding her? Who exactly has her? So puzzling.
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
93
Guests online
1,484
Total visitors
1,577

Forum statistics

Threads
623,271
Messages
18,465,212
Members
240,338
Latest member
@@r0n
Back
Top