ST. LOUIS – The family of 15-year-old Janyia Gulley is desperate for answers after they lost all contact just before the Thanksgiving holiday.
“We used to call her like the Sour Patch Kid,” said Chaquan Gulley, Janyia’s aunt. “She’s like super-super sweet. But then, she has her little sour moments as well.”
In August 2022, Janyia was in a foster home. Chaquan said that is when Janyia ran away to be with her biological mom.
“I’m just a concerned sister,” said Janyia’s older sister, Chemelle, who heard from the teen occasionally. “She wasn’t really like detailed. She would just call me, see how I was, see how our niece is.”
Then, in early November, communication suddenly stopped.
“We just recently found out that her mother is incarcerated,” Chaquan said. “So now, that means she’s out on her own.”
Chemelle only had the slightest idea where Janiya and her mom were last seen.
“I know the main street that my mom would be on when we could go to visit her sometimes was Grand and, I believe, Natural Bridge,” she said.
The location is in north St. Louis. Two days before Janyia left her foster mom, the FBI issued a report saying agents had found dozens of missing young people. The average age of the victims matched Janyia’s age. The report indicated many had been sex trafficked.
“That scares me because you see so many stories about so many kids,” Chemelle said. “It takes that one person.”
Janyia’s grandmother Brenda said the stress piled on when there was still no contact during the Thanksgiving holiday.
“It’s hard because I don’t know if she’s dead or alive,” Brenda said.
She said Janyia’s mom did not have a recent stable address.
“I believe it was house-to-house, from pillar-to-post, in my opinion,” Brenda said.
For now, all the family has are pictures and a message for Janyia from her big sister Chemelle.
“I really hope you come home to us. We really miss you,” she said. “It wasn’t the same. It hasn’t been the same for the holidays. We really want you home. We really miss you.”
Janyia is a 15-year-old girl, African American, 5’3”, 205 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, and a scar on her right eyebrow. If you see her or know anything, please call the police.
