FL FL - LaTonya Dionne Roberts, 22, Orlando, 14 Dec 1994

[Moonwalker9]

Missing Person Case
LaTonya Dionne Roberts – The Charley Project

• Missing Since12/14/1994
• Missing FromOrlando, Florida
• ClassificationEndangered Missing
• Date of Birth10/10/1972 (46)
• Age22 years old
• Height and Weight4'11, 90 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry DescriptionA flower-print shirt, purple pants and black boots.
• Distinguishing CharacteristicsAfrican-American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Roberts may use the nickname Tonya or the middle names Diane and/or Dion. Her hair was in braids at the time of her disappearance.

Details of Disappearance
Roberts was last seen on the evening of December 14, 1994 in Orlando, Florida. She paged one of her sisters and said she was going to the movies and might also go to a nightclub. She has never been heard from again.

After her disappearance, Roberts's white four-door 1988 Toyota Corolla was found abandoned on Kennedy Boulevard near Wymore Road. in Eatonville, Florida. The tire was flat, the doors were locked and the car's alarm system was turned on. There was no sign of Roberts at the scene. Few details are available in her case

 

[oceanstarryeyes]

Sounds like a flat tire and walking for help? That’s not a good area to be walking in. The road is a country side road that runs parallel to I-4 from Orlando to Edenville and as seem in Google Maps theres also lots of small lakes.
Kennedy Boulevard near Wymore Road edenville fl - Google Search

 

[Murkywaters]

LaTonya Dionne Roberts – The Charley Project

• Missing Since 12/14/1994
• Missing From Orlando, Florida
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race Black
• Date of Birth 10/10/1972 (47)
• Age 22 years old
• Height and Weight 4'11, 90 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A flower-print shirt, purple pants and black boots.
• Distinguishing Characteristics African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Roberts may use the nickname Tonya or the middle names Diane and/or Dion. Her hair was in braids at the time of her disappearance, and her ears are pierced.

Details of Disappearance
Roberts was last seen on the evening of December 14, 1994 in Orlando, Florida. She paged one of her sisters and said she was going to the movies and might also go to a nightclub. She has never been heard from again.

After her disappearance, Roberts's white four-door 1988 Toyota Corolla was found abandoned at Hero's, a nightclub in the 400 block of west Kennedy Boulevard in Eatonville, Florida. The tire was flat, the doors were locked and the car's alarm system was turned on. There was no sign of Roberts at the scene. Few details are available in her case.

 

[Murkywaters]

‘Unanswered questions’: Families of missing people plead for clues in Orange County cold cases

Lolita Rowe remembers vividly the last day she saw her sister.

Latonya Roberts came to watch Rowe sing the National Anthem at a high school basketball game in December 1994. Afterwards, the sisters went separate ways for the night: Roberts went to see her boyfriend then to an Eatonville night club, while Rowe went to hang out with friends.

Roberts’ car was later found in the night club’s parking lot. But the end of the basketball game was the last place Rowe, or anyone else, saw her.

“Any and every information is very valuable on her case, we just want closure," Rowe pleaded Thursday morning. "We want to know what happened to my sister.”

Rowe, along with the families of five other missing people, spoke at a press conference at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, asking people to come forward with any clues in their cases.

“Not knowing where she is or what happened to her," Rowe said, trailing off as tears welled in her eyes. "It’s just all these unanswered questions.”

 

[oceanstarryeyes]

Someone probably knows something. Reward $ would help.

 

[Empathic Warrior]

I have information on this case. Please contact me.

 

[Murkywaters]

New Tech Means Fresh Look at Orlando Woman's Disappearance

ORLANDO, Fla. — The soulful sound of the “Roberts Sisters” singing group echo throughout Lolita Rowe’s Orlando home, but the group is no longer complete.

One voice has been silent for 25 years — their older sister, LaTonya Roberts.

“LaTonya had a beautiful smile, beautiful smile and she was always smiling,” Lolita Roberts Rowe said.

LaTonya was last seen watching Lolita perform "The Star-Spangled Banner" at an Oak Ridge High Basketball game on December 16, 1994.

“We sat on the bleachers, watch the game for a little bit, she stated she was going to leave and go to her boyfriend’s house,” Rowe said.

Hours later they spoke again over the phone.

"She said she was going to go out to a club called Heroes at the time in Eatonville,” Rowe said.

LaTonya never came home that Friday night. After not hearing from her on Saturday, her sisters called LaTonya’s boyfriend on Sunday.

“He said she’s not home. I haven’t seen your sister, she’s not here...we started to worry because we know that something had happened,” Rowe said.

LaTonya Roberts vanished. Lolita says the family had concerns, calling LaTonya’s relationship with her boyfriend at the time "rocky".

Days later, her father found LaTonya’s car near the club – and a potential clue.

“My sister was 4’10”, she was very short, all of us are very short. She drove with a cushion in the seat of the car. When they found the car, the cushion was in the passenger side and that seat was pulled all the way back,” Rowe said.

Sergeant Gloria Morris is bringing fresh eyes to this decades-old investigation, focusing their attention now on a person of interest.

“We have since talked with people from the club and nobody, according to the interviews, nobody remembered seeing her there,” Morris said.

When asked whether there was reason to believe there was foul play, Morris replied: “I believe so yes, just listening to this family, knowing the history the habits of this young lady, she is not someone who would have driven away or walked away.”

Morris says they are also taking a second look at some details of the case with modern technology, with hopes of uncovering the truth.

Still the Roberts sisters wait, holding onto hope that one day Latonya will come home.

“I’m holding onto hope that she is still alive, I’m holding onto that smile of hers,” Rowe said.

Detectives have yet to name that person of interest or any suspects in this case.

Investigators tell us they are still looking to question anyone who may have seen or spoken with LaTonya the night she went missing.

If you have any information, call Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS (8477).

 

[onceuponadecember]

Here's a photo of Tanya from 1988:

 

[Brainy]

This is so sad. Somebody probably kidnapped and killed her

 

[Atombudd]

In the 2020 article it seems to cast suspicion on the boyfriend. ‘Unanswered questions’: Families of missing people plead for clues in Orange County cold cases
This article from January 1995 LEADS DISSOLVE IN DISAPPEARANCE OF YOUNG WOMAN has a few more details that I hadn't read in other reports. It states that LaTonya's sisters told police that she was having trouble with a friend (which could be the boyfriend but never refers to the person as male or female just as a friend). The sisters say that this friend woke LaTonya up one night, the month before she vanished and asked her to take a ride. She was taken to a citrus grove in Haines City and ordered by this "friend" at gunpoint to walk to a human sized hole. She was told to look in the hole, look hard. The friend threatened to bury LaTonya in the hole due to a fight the pair had. The article says the friend from the citrus grove (whatever that means) has refused to talk to them, other than to deny knowledge of Roberts' disappearance. Roberts' father said he has learned since her disappearance that she was in torment because of an ongoing dispute with her friend. Roberts had sought therapy to cope with the situation, her diary shows.
I thought those were pretty significant events that seem to have not made it into subsequent articles and case file details.

 

[Murkywaters]

This Orlando woman vanished 3 decades ago — still no answers

It was LaTonya's father who found her car, a white 1988 Toyota Corolla abandoned outside of what was then called Club Hero's. It had a flat tire. Her sister says LaToya is 4-11, so she always sat on a cushion and pushed her seat all the way up to the steering wheel. But when they checked out the vehicle, the cushion was in the back seat.

"And the driver's seat was pulled all the way back so that gave an indication to us our sister did not drive that car up there," Lolita Rowe said.

The family told detectives about the alleged emotional and physical abuse Roberts suffered at the hands of her boyfriend, information she kept in a planner and diary, and calendar given to investigators.

LaTonya Roberts was listed as endangered and missing after detectives received reports that the boyfriend took Roberts to a Polk County Citrus Grove a month before she went missing.

"Like dug a hole and put a gun to her head and told that her he would kill her and nobody would find her," Rowe added.

"There was a threat made against her life and then after, after a period of time she ended up missing," Sgt. Ben Thorpe said.

 

[JnRyan]

The Charley Project updated her case on 6 Feb 2022. Descriptions of clothing added. But most importantly it bumps up her case.
LaTonya Dionne Roberts – The Charley Project

 

[PommyMommy]

LaTonya Dionne Roberts – The Charley Project

LaTonya Dionne Roberts​

Roberts, circa 1994

• Missing Since 12/14/1994
• Missing From Orlando, Florida
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race Black
• Date of Birth 10/10/1972 (50)
• Age 22 years old
• Height and Weight 4'11, 90 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A black leather jacket, fuchsia flower-print shirt, purple stretch pants, black boots and possible an Oakridge High School class ring. Possibly carrying a beige/brown Dooney and Bourke purse.
• Medical Conditions White four-door 1988 Toyota Corolla (accounted for)
• Distinguishing Characteristics African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Roberts may use the nickname Tonya or the middle names Diane and/or Dion. Her hair was in braids at the time of her disappearance, and her ears are pierced.

Details of Disappearance​

Roberts was last seen on the evening of December 14, 1994 in Orlando, Florida. She paged one of her sisters and said she was going to the movies and might also go to a nightclub. She has never been heard from again.

After her disappearance, Roberts's white four-door 1988 Toyota Corolla was found abandoned at Hero's, a nightclub in the 400 block of west Kennedy Boulevard in Eatonville, Florida. The tire was flat, the doors were locked and the car's alarm system was turned on. There was no sign of Roberts at the scene. Few details are available in her case.

Last updated September 3, 2023; clothing/jewelry description updated.

 

[Pennysmom1]

LaTonya Dionne Roberts – The Charley Project

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Roberts, circa 1994