WA WA - Lenoria Jones, 3, Tacoma, 20 July 1995

[GuyfromCanada]

MAR 11, 2023

More than two decades after 3-year-old Lenoria Jones was reported missing in Tacoma, her disappearance eats at police detectives and the girl's mother, who says she has never stopped looking for the truth about what happened to her daughter.

Lenoria was reported missing July 20, 1995, when her great-aunt, Berlean Williams, called 911 to report the toddler disappeared while they were shopping at a Target store in Central Tacoma. Lenoria shuffled between several different homes in the first years of her life. She was born with cocaine in her system, according to previous reporting from The News Tribune, and her mother relinquished parental rights. The girl was placed in Williams' custody in 1994, and she had been trying to adopt Lenoria when she went missing.

More at 'It's Torture': Mother of Missing Washington Girl Still Looking for Answers 27 Years Later

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Lenoria Jones was just 3-years-old when she disappeared in the summer of 1995. She was in her great-aunt's care at that time. Now, Lenoria's biological mother, Diedra Jones, is questioning what was originally reported to Tacoma Police Department.

Jones told FOX 13, she fears foul play in her daughter's disappearance. She said she just wants answers.

"It's always like it happened yesterday," Jones said.

"I just remember getting the news," Jones said. "I hadn't had contact with my aunt. I've overcome, as far as she's concerned. But, I still don't have closure with Lenoria."

Her great-aunt reported her disappearance, telling Tacoma Police, she got separated from the child inside a Target store on South 23rd Street in central Tacoma. However, cameras inside the store didn't have footage of Lenoria to support what she told police.

Police said Lenoria's great-aunt, who was caring for Lenoria full-time, provided different accounts of where Lenoria was. Police said Lenoria's great-aunt said she was either kidnapped or wandered away from her home.

Cold case: Mother continues search for 3-year-old daughter missing for 30 years

The mother of a young girl who went missing almost 30 years ago is continuing her search for answers. What really happened to 3-year-old Lenoria Jones?

www.q13fox.com

“Lenoria’s biological mother has never had any answers as far as what happened and is asking that there is some closure that be brought forth,” said Tacoma Police Department Detective Julie Dier.
"I would like closure. I would like to put my daughter to rest,” Deidre Jones, Lenoria’s biological mother, said during a phone interview with KING 5 on Thursday.

"The way Lenoria ended up with my aunt is because I had problems, incarcerated. I asked my aunt Berlean, would she get Lenoria for me so that Lenoria would not end up in the system,” said Jones.
She wants anyone holding on to information to come forward so there can finally be justice for Lenoria Jones.

"I feel in my heart that she is dead. I would like whoever did this to be held accountable for their actions,” said Jones. The girl’s great-aunt reported her missing from a pay phone inside a Target store on South 23rd Street in Tacoma.

When police arrived, the department said the girl’s great-aunt provided varying accounts of the girl’s whereabouts.

At first, the great-aunt said she was separated from Jones in the toy department. When police said they would check the store’s surveillance footage, the great aunt said she may have been separated from Jones walking into the Target.

However, store cameras showed Jones had not been in the store, according to Tacoma police. A witness told police they saw the great-aunt arrive at the Target parking lot and Jones wasn’t in the car.

The great-aunt told police she had made several stops at a car wash, 7-Eleven and Top Foods before going to Target. Officers didn’t find Jones at any of those locations.

The great-aunt was going to take a polygraph test, but before the test changed her story again. The great-aunt claimed two males took Jones in the alley behind her home in the 1900 block of South Sheridan Avenue in the Hilltop neighborhood. The great-aunt later said that was a lie.

Tacoma 3-year-old still missing 28 years after disappearance

Lenoria Jones was reported missing in July 1995. Tacoma police are seeking information on what happened to the 3-year-old.

www.king5.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

*ugh! Something just does not sound right here… with auntie

 

[dotr]

Crime Stoppers of Tacoma/Pierce County

MISSING CHILD - 1995​

LENORIA JONES​

Tacoma Police detectives need your help to locate missing child Lenoria Jones, who is feared to have been a victim of foul play and/or a kidnapping.

On the morning of July 20th, 1995, victim Lenoria Jones was reported missing. Jones' aunt initially reported her missing from inside of a Target Store on S. 23rd St. in the City of Tacoma. When store cameras showed Lenoria Jones had not been in the store, her aunt provided varying accounts of the girl's whereabouts including that she had been kidnapped or had wandered away from her aunt's residence in the 1900 block of S. Sheridan Ave. in the Hilltop neighborhood of Tacoma.

At the time of her disappearance Lenoria Jones was a 3 year-old black girl, 3' tall, 40 lbs., with brown eyes and black hair worn in braids. She suffered from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder which required medication.

Detectives are looking for information on any suspects involved in Lenoria Jones' disappearance.

 

[spartanx]

I think in this case specifically the press reports and LE statements are biased due to Berlean's race and class...

Keep in mind that no one had anything bad to say about Berlean except the press and LE. LE reported that she seemed "distant" and that he didn't care about her, but the judge said she was "devastated." People who take good care of daycare children and do not abuse their own children do not tend to suddenly neglect or murder a child...
And I don't think Berlean would have turned the child over to other relatives and then told the police anything else given the amount of pressure and legal ramifications he was facing... If he had, it would have all been gone if he had confessed to doing it, and the church would have seen it just a few days before...
I guess he did something irresponsible, but normal at the time, like leaving the girl alone in an open car, just not looking at her very closely/absentmindedly forgetting that he brought Leonoria shopping (see all the parents who forgot their sleeping children in the back of their vehicles) or let her play outside unsupervised and something happened... She could have gotten lost or been kidnapped, etc.
If that's the case, is it absolutely wrong for Berlean to lie about it to avoid taking responsibility, but she would explain her changing story, etc.? Be careful, I don't defend her at all.
either way
rest in peace little one

 

[DS2021]

Cold-case detectives refuse to give up solving Tacoma child disappearances

The fate of two Tacoma toddlers who disappeared years ago remains unknown. But police insist although the cases have long since gone cold, they'll never give up trying to find out what happened to the little girls.

mynorthwest.com

Lenoria’s great aunt had claimed the youngster was taken while they shopped at Target in July of 1995, but surveillance video showed the pair never entered together.

Stories kept changing, the great aunt and other family members mired in a custody battle refused to cooperate. There was no evidence to go on.

Twenty years later, the department’s cold case detectives have discovered one possible new lead: an anonymous caller from 1995 reached out with new information. Whoever took that call failed to get in-depth information that could have potentially helped the investigation.

“Without having asked some significant questions, I think that is the one person the detective would like to talk to now,” Cool said.

 

[DS2021]

Why would she lie?

Exactly. If this was a stranger abduction she would've had no reason to lie about taking Lenoria to the store with her.

 

[John/Jane Doe]

Lenoria Eleise Anne Jones – The Charley Project

 

[John/Jane Doe]

524DFWA - Lenoria E. Jones