NE NE - Sunny Sramek, 18, Trenton, last seen with male, 20 April 2019 *endangered*

[PommyMommy]

AUG 1, 2023

Family of missing Trenton woman speaks out

It’s been four years since a Trenton woman went missing with no sign of her whereabouts. The FBI Omaha Field Office is now offering a $10,000 reward to find Sunny Sramek. Her family spoke out Tuesday evening.

www.knopnews2.com

[...]

Sunny Sramek, who is now 22 years old, is described by family members as kind, funny, artistic, and a lover of all people and animals.

While her parents cannot comment on specifics, they described what these last four years have been like and are remaining hopeful, while fearing the worst. “It’s all consuming I mean, your mind is always there when you lay down and when you wake up, I mean I barely leave my bedroom,” said Sunny’s mother, Paula Johnson.

[...]

“Just keeping her story and her face out there continually so nobody forgets about her,” said Johnson. “She’s still missing and there’s been no justice, something has to come out of this.”

Sramek’s father, Jody Sramek, said he would do anything to help. “Maybe she’s out there, it’s so painful being helpless,” said Sramek.

[...]

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

Sunny Sramek Case Archive:

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[Unalienable Rights]

FBI offering reward for information about missing Nebraska woman

The FBI is offering a reward as part of an effort to bring home a 22-year-old who has been missing since 2019.

www.siouxlandproud.com

********
The release states that the FBI is offering $10,000 for any information that leads to the recovery of Sunny or information that leads to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for her disappearance.

*********

 

[tarabull]

Where are you Sunny???

 

[StJohn]

Welcome to WS

Beyond the Live PD showing, I can't find a single media update on this case. Sad how some cases get so much attention and others aren't deemed worthy.
With a history like that and the more recent arrest on meth charges, Sunny clearly trusted the wrong person. Cliff Coates disappeared this young girl, who is going to seek justice for her?

I just learned of this case for the first time today, when a story about it was posted on Facebook. I have to agree about Coates, I mean, she was with him when she went missing. Hopefully someone will come forward with information and he will be arrested and reveal where he hid her body.

 

[Caring1]

Sunny’s NamUs was modified today. No exclusions listed.

The FBI missing person poster shown above in post #123 was added to NamUs on 4/1.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

 

[HuskerGal]

Can we reference the Find Sunny Sramek page on Facebook? It is ran by a relative.

 

[Knitty]

MOD NOTE - Pages run by family members are allowed. Only admin posts - not comments as they are considered rumor. More info at the Social Media Rules link below this post.

Knitty,
Moderator

 

[Unalienable Rights]

The article is behind a paywall, and I'm not finding it in any other publication yet.

Man linked to missing Nebraska girl faces federal charges in Sioux City

Federal agents began investigating Coates shortly after the April 20, 2019, disappearance of 18-year-old Sunny Sramek, of Trenton, Nebraska.

siouxcityjournal.com

Man linked to missing Nebraska girl faces federal charges in Sioux City​

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

Case Archive is updated. Remember to click the circled 'i' for title/description.

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Store your photos and videos online with secure storage from Photobucket. Available on iOS, Android and desktop. Securely backup your memories and sign up today!

photobucket.com

 

[mlhenn]

Sunny Jone Sramek – The Charley Project

Updated June 14, 2024

Details of Disappearance​

Sramek disappeared from Trenton, Nebraska on April 20, 2019. She left with a male acquaintance, Floyd Clifford "Cliff" Coates Jr., in a white 2004 Ford Explorer with the Iowa license plate number HGJ341 and a black rim on the back passenger side wheel, allegedly en route to Omaha, Nebraska, 300 miles away. They planned to pick up Coates's niece there.

Sramek called her mother from a borrowed phone at 12:45 p.m. and said she was in Holdrege, Nebraska. She didn't indicate that anything was wrong. Her family never heard from her again.

Coates has told multiple stories about Sramek's disappearance. According to one of his accounts, they went to the Prairie Flower Casino in Carter Lake, Iowa between 9:00 p.m. and midnight, and he went inside the casino. Sramek couldn't go with him because she was underage; the minimum age for casino gambling in Iowa is 21.

He said when he returned to the vehicle, Sramek was gone. He stated he looked around in the area for her, but couldn't find her, so he simply left without informing police or anyone else that she was missing.

Later, Coates changed his story and said Sramek disappeared when they stopped at an unspecified Omaha gas station to refuel. He said he went inside to pay for the gas, and when he came back she was gone. As with his casino story, Coates said he left without informing anyone that Sramek was missing.

A photo of Coates is posted with this case summary. It's worth noting he has an extensive record with convictions in Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska, for drug- and weapons-related offenses, battery, false imprisonment, theft and other offenses.

In May 2024, he and another man, Dennis Lawson, who has been in prison since 2021, were charged with evidence tampering and physically intimidating another person. Coates was also charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, possession of ammunition by a felon and a drug user and possession of a firearm by a felon and a drug user and an armed career criminal.

The weapons charges stem from items found while police were executing search warrants on Coates's home and vehicle in connection with Sramek's disappearance: they found ammunition in Coates's closet and a handgun and two loaded magazines inside a safe in one of Coates's vehicles. Due to his criminal history he is prohibited from possessing guns or ammunition.

The indictment states Coates and Lawson altered, destroyed, mutilated and concealed objects "to impair their integrity and availability" for use in an official proceeding, but the court documents do not say whether this evidence tampering and witness intimidation are related to Sramek's disappearance.

At the time of her disappearance, Sramek was living with her mother and working on getting her GED. She was separated from her husband, who is not believed to have been involved in her disappearance.

Sramek has never been heard from again. The circumstances of her disappearance are unclear, but her family believes she met with foul play.

 

[cocomod]

 

[Ssschu]

His trial was supposed to start July 1 but I've never seen any update.

 

[haggis]

His trial was supposed to start July 1 but I've never seen any update.

Yes, can't find it either. And were the skeletal remains found in Council Bluffs is May ever identified? They are mentioned in the news story as "possibly related" to Sramek's disappearance.

 

[cocomod]

Still waiting for court information

 

[tarabull]

Yes, can't find it either. And were the skeletal remains found in Council Bluffs is May ever identified? They are mentioned in the news story as "possibly related" to Sramek's disappearance.

 

[Dre]

SO HOPEFUL that Sunny gets the justice she deserves!!

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

Men Linked to the Disappearance of an 18-Year-Old Nebraska Woman Found Guilty of Drug, Gun, and Obstruction-Related Charges

www.justice.gov

Cliff Coates trial is over. He and Dennis Lawson were found guilty on several drug trafficking and gun charges.

Not specifically to Sunny's murder, but in connection with it. They have not been sentenced yet.
Lawson who is 65, faces 20 years max. Coates, age 44, could face life in prison. I hope they never get to breathe
outside of prison again.

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

Men Linked to the Disappearance of an 18-Year-Old Nebraska Woman Found Guilty of Drug, Gun, and Obstruction-Related Charges

For Immediate ReleaseLawson told witness “If you talk, it’s your funeral”U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Iowa - December 1, 202

northplattepost.com

To execute the Easter weekend drug run, Coates had convinced an Iowa woman to drive from Sioux City, Iowa; meet him in Blair, Nebraska; and drive him to Kansas City, Missouri, and back. Coates decided to travel to Blair from Trenton, Nebraska, with another woman, 18-year-old Sunny Sramek. Coates and Sramek left Trenton in his wife’s white Ford Explorer to go on the trip. There is no evidence Ms. Sramek knew Coates was going to Kansas City; in fact, she told friends and family that she was going to be on a day trip to Omaha.

The pair made it to Blair, where Coates went into a home, but Ms. Sramek did not. Coates’s driver arrived from Sioux City and Coates said nothing of Ms. Sramek to the driver. As the driver and Coates left the home, the driver saw Ms. Sramek’s motionless body. The driver testified it looked as if Ms. Sramek had overdosed, and Coates said he had provided her methamphetamine. Coates cancelled his drug run to Kansas City and told his driver to go to the home of his brother-in-law Dennis Lawson near Whiting, Iowa, on the banks of the Missouri River. The driver testified that after they arrived at Lawson’s residence Lawson and Coates disappeared for a time, when they returned, Ms. Sramek’s body was gone. The driver also testified that she and Coates cleaned out the car, and that Lawson threatened her saying if she told anyone, “it would be her funeral.”

Later, Coates told confidants that Ms. Sramek had overdosed. He told other friends a more violent story. In both versions, however, he told people he had thrown Ms. Sramek’s body into the Missouri River to conceal evidence of his crimes. Coates was confident his efforts at concealing Ms. Sramek’s body would insulate him from accountability. He told one person “no body, no case” and asked another “you can’t get charged with murder if there is no body, can you?”

Coates’s confidence was misplaced. Law enforcement gathered a significant amount of physical evidence tying Coates to Ms. Sramek’s disappearance. Forensic analysis indicated Ms. Sramek’s DNA and a significant amount of blood were found in the white Ford Explorer. The forensic findings combined with other evidence provided the proof the jury used to convict Coates and Lawson.

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

Men linked to disappearance of Nebraska woman found guilty of drug, gun charges

A federal jury found Floyd Coates and Dennis Lawson guilty in Sunny Sramek case. The 18-year-old went missing from Trenton in 2019.

www.knopnews2.com

The cover-up unravels​

Coates later told confidants he had thrown Sramek’s body into the Missouri River to conceal evidence, prosecutors alleged. He believed his actions would protect him from prosecution, reportedly telling one person “no body, no case.”

However, law enforcement gathered significant physical evidence. Forensic analysis found Sramek’s DNA and a substantial amount of blood in Coates’ white Ford Explorer, providing the proof needed for conviction.