The Murdered
Shanaya Coley
Paterson New Jersey
Rachel Martin, Shanaya’s mother
Shanaya Coley, a 24 year old mother, disappeared as she was leaving for work in Paterson, New Jersey on December 5th of 2017 at 10:49 p.m. She was in the area of Colonial Avenue. According to news articles, she was abducted in her own vehicle, a charcoal gray 2013 Nissan Altima.
Two witnesses came forward and said they saw Shanaya get stabbed and forced into her vehicle. The car swiftly sped away. Shanaya’s glasses and a puddle of blood were left behind at the scene according to her father Willie. The Walgreens down the street from Shanaya’s apartment complex had security footage of the car leaving the parking lot, but no footage of the actual attack was found.
Her vehicle was later located on May 6, 2018 in a complex at 328 Marion Street in Paterson, and upon inspection by police, Shanaya’s body was found inside it. She was said to be in the backseat under a white sheet or blanket. She was found less than one mile away from where she had been abducted.
A concerned neighbor called the police after parking his van next to the Nissan, which had been sitting untouched for around 4 months. He noticed a foul odor coming from the vehicle. At first the neighbor assumed it was a dead cat. He claimed to have seen “a lot of flies” around the car.
The prosecutor’s office announced the positive ID in May of 2018. They revealed that she died from “puncture and incision wounds,” and her death was declared a homicide.
Shanaya was a single mother who was working as a nursing assistant and going to school at the same time, determined to make a good life for herself and her 4 year old son.
Willie says when her son was 3 years old, Shanaya took out a restraining order on someone but he did not know who. He says he found this information out by police. However, there are contradictions from other family members that say there was no restraining order.
Investigators are exhausting every lead possible.
There have been no arrests.
If you have any further information, please contact the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office tip line at 1-877-370-PCPO or email tips@passaiccountynj.org.
You can also contact the Paterson Police Department Detective Bureau at 973-321-1120.
Sources:
https://abc7ny.com/paterson-missing-woman-person-new-jersey/3436134/
https://abc7ny.com/missing-woman-in-nj-paterson-abducted-abduction-new-jersey/2748752/
https://newjersey.news12.com/officials-body-found-inside-car-was-missing-paterson-mother-38145090
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/paterson-missing-woman-body-found/
https://people.com/crime/new-jersey-woman-shanaya-coley-police-believe-body-found/
https://www.nj.com/passaic-county/2018/04/missing_paterson_woman.html
https://nj1015.com/car-of-missing-paterson-woman-found-with-body-in-backseat-cops-say/
https://newjersey.news12.com/officials-missing-womans-vehicle-found-with-body-in-backseat-38123526
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/shanaya-coley-found-dead-patterson-new-jersey-today-2018-05-06/#
The Lost & The Taken 
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