Disappearance of Phoenix Coldon

Last updated
Phoenix Coldon
Born1988
Missouri, United States
DisappearedDecember 18, 2011 (age 23)
Spanish Lake, Missouri
Status Missing for 12 years, 5 months and 12 days
Parent(s)Goldia Coldon (mother), Lawrence Coldon (father)

On December 18, 2011, 23-year-old Phoenix Coldon left her family home in Spanish Lake, Missouri and disappeared. Her parents have raised criticism about the conduct of local law enforcement, and spent their money and home following leads. [1]

Contents

Biography

Phoenix Coldon is the daughter of Goldia and Lawrence Coldon. Coldon was born in California as Phoenix Reeves and raised there until the family moved for her father's job to Missouri, where she was adopted by Lawrence Coldon. Phoenix was mostly home-schooled and played a variety of musical instruments and was the local junior fencing champion. [2]

Disappearance

Black Chevy Blazer similar to the car Phoenix was driving 1994 Chevrolet Blazer (6473965421).jpg
Black Chevy Blazer similar to the car Phoenix was driving

Coldon disappeared on December 18, 2011, after leaving her family home in a black 1998 Chevy Blazer at about 3 PM local time. [3] Her father told reporters that she was supposedly headed to a convenience store around the street or possibly a friend's house. Hours after she disappeared, her vehicle was discovered at 5:27 PM and impounded at 6:23 PM, abandoned (initially reported to still be running, which was later proven inaccurate), 25 minutes from her home, on St. Clair Avenue in East St. Louis. The vehicle was entered into the police database as abandoned; the vehicle was not initially discovered as abandoned when investigated by Missouri police as it was impounded in Illinois. [4] [1] The family was reportedly not notified of the car being discovered until a family friend searching independently discovered it in a tow lot. [3] Upon an independent search by her family afterwards, the vehicle was discovered to still contain her glasses, purse, shoes, ID and a cell phone bill that had been sent to collections. [5]

After her disappearance, all activity on her bank accounts, cell phone and social media accounts ceased. DNA evidence gathered from her SUV indicated that no one had been in the vehicle other than Coldon and her parents.

Search efforts

Her parents have independently searched for Coldon after raising allegations of a lack of effort from local police. Through the years, they have talked to local drug dealers and sex workers for information and hired a private investigator. [2] Privately funding the search caused the family home to go into foreclosure and for the family's life savings to be drained. [1]

A two-night special television documentary on her disappearance debuted on Oxygen on November 3 and 4, 2018, in which investigative reporter Shawndrea Thomas and retired deputy Police Chief Joe Delia discussed theories on her disappearance. [3]

In 2016, her case was profiled on the podcast The Vanished . [6]

In 2023, her case was profiled on the podcast Crime Junkie . [7]

See also

Other people still missing, for whom discovery of their abandoned car preceded being reported as a missing person

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh</span> 1986 disappearance of woman in London

Susannah Jane Lamplugh was a British estate agent reported missing on 28 July 1986 in Fulham, London, England, United Kingdom. She was officially declared dead, presumed murdered, in 1993. The last clue to Lamplugh's whereabouts was an appointment to show a house in Shorrolds Road to someone she called Mr. Kipper. The case remains unsolved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Jennifer Kesse</span> Florida disappearance case

Jennifer Joyce Kesse is an American woman from Orlando, Florida, who has been missing since January 23, 2006. Shortly after she vanished, Kesse's car was discovered parked around a mile from her home. Security footage recorded her kidnapper parking Kesse's car and walking away, but he could not be identified due to poor camera quality and the absence of any visible distinguishing physical features. The case received local and national press attention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Genette Tate</span> Unsolved 1978 missing person case

The disappearance of Genette Tate is a missing person case in which a 13-year-old girl disappeared while delivering newspapers in Aylesbeare, Devon, England, on 19 August 1978. Despite extensive searches, Tate's body has not been found and the cause of her disappearance remains unknown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Springfield Three</span> Unsolved 1992 disappearance of mother, daughter and friend from their home in Missouri

The Springfield Three refers to an unsolved missing persons case that began on June 7, 1992, when friends Suzanne "Suzie" Streeter and Stacy McCall, and Streeter's mother, Sherrill Levitt, went missing from Levitt's home in Springfield, Missouri, United States. All of their personal belongings, including cars and purses, were left behind. There were no signs of a struggle except a broken porch light globe; there was also a message on the answering machine that police believe might have provided a clue about the disappearances, but it was inadvertently erased.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Maura Murray</span> 2004 disappearance of American woman

Maura Murray is an American woman who disappeared on the evening of February 9, 2004, after a car crash on Route 112 near Woodsville, New Hampshire, a village in the town of Haverhill. Her whereabouts remain unknown. Murray was a 21-year-old nursing student completing her junior year at the University of Massachusetts Amherst at the time of her disappearance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Kristen Modafferi</span> Unsolved 1997 disappearance of 18-year-old American woman

Kristen Deborah Modafferi is an American woman who, at the age of 18, in the early summer of 1997, disappeared in mysterious circumstances after leaving her work at the Crocker Galleria Mall in San Francisco, California. The soon-to-be college sophomore at North Carolina State University was spending the summer in the Bay Area; Modafferi had relocated from her native North Carolina to Oakland only recently and was expected to start summer photography classes at UC Berkeley on the day after she vanished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Lisa Irwin</span> Missing infant case (2011)

The disappearance of Lisa Renée Irwin was reported after it was discovered that she was missing from her home in Kansas City, Missouri, in the early morning hours of October 4, 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Brianna Maitland</span> Unsolved 2004 disappearance of 17 year-old from Vermont

Brianna Alexandra Maitland is an American teenager who disappeared after leaving her job at the Black Lantern Inn in Montgomery, Vermont. Her car was discovered the following day, backed into the side of an abandoned house about a mile (1.6 km) away from her workplace. Maitland has not been seen or heard from since. Due to a confluence of circumstances, several days passed before Maitland's friends and family reported her missing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ireland's Vanishing Triangle</span> 1980s-1990s disappearances of women

Ireland's Vanishing Triangle is a term commonly used in the Irish media when referring to a number of high-profile disappearances of Irish women from the late 1980s to the late 1990s. Several other women were also murdered within the triangle and their cases remain unsolved as well. All of the cases appeared to share some common characteristics. The women's ages range from their late-teens to late-30s, they disappeared inexplicably and suddenly, and no substantial clues or evidence of their fate has ever been found despite large scale searches and campaigns by the Gardaí to find them. Gardaí believe their remains are likely to be buried in remote fields, bogs and forests. The triangle is in the eastern part of the island, roughly the boundaries of Leinster, in an 80-mile area outside Dublin.

Lauren Elizabeth Spierer is an American woman who disappeared on June 3, 2011, following an evening at Kilroy's Sports Bar in Bloomington, Indiana. At the time, Spierer was a 20-year-old student at Indiana University. Though her disappearance generated national press coverage, Spierer is presumed dead and her case remains unsolved.

Emma Fillipoff is a Canadian woman who has been missing since November 28, 2012, last seen in front of the Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia, at the age of 26.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Patricia Meehan</span> Unsolved 1989 disappearance of American 37 year-old woman from Montana

Patricia Bernadette Meehan is an American woman who disappeared following a car crash on Montana Highway 200 near Circle, Montana. Investigators initially suspected Meehan had fled the scene out of fear or was suffering from amnesia as a result of head trauma. Over 5,000 alleged sightings of Meehan were reported in the months and years after her disappearance, several of which were confirmed by police, but none of which led to her discovery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Jessica Heeringa</span> 2013 disappearance and murder case in Michigan, U.S.

Jessica Lynn Heeringa was a 25-year-old woman from Norton Shores, Michigan, who disappeared in the Exxon gas station where she was working the late shift on April 26, 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Paige Renkoski</span> Disappeared woman from Michigan

Paige Marie Renkoski was a substitute schoolteacher from Okemos, Michigan who disappeared on May 24, 1990. She was last seen talking to two men on the shoulder of Interstate 96 near Fowlerville, Michigan. Her disappearance is one of Michigan's longest running cold cases. Her vehicle was reported abandoned on I-96, and though the responding officer discovered her car was still running and both her purse and shoes were in the vehicle, the police did not process this as suspicious, but merely had the vehicle towed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of LeeAnna Warner</span> Unsolved disappearance of five-year-old girl in 2003

LeeAnna Warner was a young American girl who disappeared from the city of Chisholm, Minnesota, on June 14, 2003, in a suspected abduction and murder. On the day of her disappearance, LeeAnna was last seen walking home from a friend's house between 5:00 and 5:15 p.m. She was last spotted walking on southwest Second or Third Street. At the time of her disappearance, LeeAnna was 5 years old.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Ebby Steppach</span> Murder of teenager in Little Rock, Arkansas

Ebby Jane Steppach was an American woman who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in Little Rock, Arkansas. Days before her disappearance, she had accused four men of gang-raping her at a party she had attended. On October 25, 2015, she placed an erratic phone call to her older brother, Trevor; this was the last known contact anyone had with her.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Logan Schiendelman</span> Unsolved 2016 disappearance of 19 year-old man from Washington

Logan Drew Schiendelman is an American man who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in Thurston County, Washington in May 2016. The son of a mixed-race mother and a Saudi Arabian father, Schiendelman was raised primarily by his grandmother in Tumwater, Washington, where he was a star athlete at Tumwater High School. After attending Washington State University for one year, he decided to drop out of college and return to Tumwater, where he worked several jobs and moved in with his grandmother and half-sister. Schiendelman was last seen by his grandmother on the morning of May 19, 2016, when the two talked in their kitchen before leaving for their respective jobs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Worth missing trio</span> Unsolved 1974 disappearance of three girls in Texas

The Fort Worth Missing Trio refers to an unsolved missing persons case in which three girls – Mary Rachel Trlica, Lisa Renee Wilson and Julie Ann Moseley – went missing while shopping at the Seminary South Shopping Center in Fort Worth, Texas, on December 23, 1974. The car that the girls had been driving was left behind in the parking lot at the mall; the girls themselves have not been seen since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Arianna Fitts</span>

Arianna Fitts (2-years-old) and her mother Nicole Fitts (32-years-old) were reported missing on April 5, 2016, in San Francisco, California. However, Nicole Fitts was last seen on April 1, 2016 and Arianna had not been seen since mid-February 2016. Arianna Fitts is still missing, while her mother's body was discovered buried in McLaren Park on April 8.

Danielle (Ottobre) Imbo and Richard A. Petrone Jr. are an American couple who disappeared together on February 19, 2005, after visiting a bar on Philadelphia's South Street. Their case remains unsolved.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lohr, David (2012-04-18). "Phoenix Coldon: Cruel Hoax Costs Family Of Missing Woman Their Life Savings, Home". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-10-27.
  2. 1 2 Walker, Marlon A. "Parents continue search for missing St. Louis County woman". stltoday.com. Retrieved 2018-10-27.
  3. 1 2 3 Sederstrom, Jill (2018-10-25). "3 Theories Explaining Phoenix Coldon's Disappearance". Oxygen Official Site. Retrieved 2018-10-27.
  4. "impounded in Illinois". www.oxygen.com.
  5. "Mo. Woman Vanished 7 Years Ago — and SUV Was Found Running with Purse, Shoes and Glasses Inside". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 2018-10-27.
  6. "EPISODE 26: PHOENIX COLDON". The Vanished Podcast. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
  7. "MISSING: Phoenix Coldon".