The Missing 
Lamika Tene Manners
Brooklyn, New York

💔🕯️ A Child Lost to Time: The Unsolved Disappearance of Lamika Tene Manners 🕯️💔

On May 18, 1985, 12-year-old Lamika Tene Manners vanished without a trace. The young Brooklyn girl, with her black hair, brown eyes, and bright future ahead of her, was last seen with her mother, Barbara Heyward-Manners. What should have been an ordinary day became the beginning of a heartbreaking mystery that remains unsolved more than four decades later.

On that same day, May 18, 1985, a horrifying discovery was made hundreds of miles away in Westport, Connecticut. Firefighters responding to a blaze in a wooded area near Interstate 95 found the burned remains of an unidentified woman. Investigators determined she had been the victim of a violent homicide before her body was set on fire in an apparent attempt to conceal her identity. Despite extensive efforts by law enforcement, the woman remained nameless for nearly 40 years.

For decades, the case remained a haunting mystery. The victim became known only as an unidentified woman whose family had no idea what had happened to her. Then, in November 2024, advances in forensic DNA technology finally provided an answer. The woman was identified as Barbara Heyward-Manners, Lamika’s mother.

The discovery brought long-overdue answers about Barbara’s fate, but it also reopened an even deeper wound. If Barbara was found, where is Lamika?

To this day, there has never been a confirmed sighting of Lamika after she disappeared. No one knows what happened to the 12-year-old girl after she was last seen with her mother. Investigators continue to examine both Barbara’s homicide and Lamika’s disappearance, searching for connections and hoping that someone, somewhere, may still hold the key to solving this tragedy.

Barbara was only 34 years old when her life was taken. Her homicide remains unsolved, and no arrests have ever been made. Meanwhile, Lamika’s disappearance remains one of the most heartbreaking unanswered questions left behind by this case.

 More than 40 years have passed, but Lamika is not just a name on a missing persons poster. She was a daughter, a granddaughter, a family member, and a child who deserved the chance to grow up, pursue her dreams, and live the life that was taken from her.

Her loved ones are still waiting. Still hoping. Still searching for the truth.

If you have any information regarding Lamika’s disappearance or the homicide of Barbara Heyward-Manners, please contact the Connecticut State Police at 860-626-7975.

Sources:

Have you seen this child? Lamika Tene Manners  

Lamika Tene Manners – The Charley Project 

Lamika Manners | International Missing Persons Wiki | Fandom 

Missing Person Case 

Lamika Tene Manners – The Resource Center For Cold Case Missing Children’s Cases