The Missing
Carmela Mildred Yacavino
Case #: 05-7895
Essex County

Carmela Yacavino was 43 years old when she was last seen on January 19, 2005 at her home in West Orange, New Jersey. She was wearing a blue windbreaker size small, a black sweatshirt size small, blue jeans, white socks and size 6 white running shoes. Carmela has a tattoo of a rose and a cross on her right shoulder, a tattoo of the name Jose on her right shoulder blade, she has burn scars on both forearms, and she also has pierced ears. She is 5’4” in height, 110 lbs, with brown hair, brown eyes, and a fair complexion. 

If you have any further information, please contact the West Orange Police Department at 973-325-4000.

Sources:

The Missing
Diana Moreno-Acevedo
Case #: 03-1531
Monmouth County

Diana was 36 years old when she was last seen on February 20, 2003 from her home located in Freehold, NJ. She is a Columbian female and was last seen wearing an unknown colored shirt, blue jeans and brown boots. Diana has a tattoo of a fish on her right shoulder. She may be wearing a thumb ring and a ring on her ring finger. Diana has chest x-rays on file. She is 5’3”, 145 lbs, with black hair and brown eyes.
This is all the information we have.

If you have any further information, please contact the Freehold Police Department and 732-462-1234.

Sources: 

The Missing
Thomas E. Hazen
Case #: 03-498
Somerset County

Thomas was 61years old when he disappeared on February 9, 2003 at his residence in Bridgewater Township, NJ. He was driving a 1971 blue Chevy van with a NJ registration at the time he went missing. Thomas was suffering from depression when he was last seen. His brother was the one to report him missing to authorities. Thomas is a Caucasian male, 5’09” in height, 136 lbs, with gray hair and hazel eyes. (some sources state he has blue eyes.) It was later determined that Thomas’s vehicle was sold in Florida in April 2003, two months after his disappearance. 

If you have any further information, please contact the Bridgewater Township Police Department at 908-722-4111.

Sources:

The Missing
Sierra Sahara Thomas
Case #: 02158598
Atlantic County

Sierra Thomas was 19 years old when she went missing on November 21, 2002. She has black hair, brown eyes, 5’0-5’2 in height, 150-160 lbs. Last seen wearing a waist-length black Guess brand coat with the brand’s logo on the left pocket, a dark blue or black shirt, light blue sweatpants with writing on the bottom of the right leg and the number 33 on her left thigh, and  multicolored scarf. She goes by the nickname “Sweetie.” 
Sierra was last seen by her boyfriend in the 800 block of North Maryland Avenue in the Back Maryland neighborhood of Atlantic City, New Jersey, with a male friend. Her sister drove her to the area to visit her father and one of her daughters. Sierra said she would call when she wanted to be picked up. Her sister waited in the car for an hour, then she went to a nearby store to pay some bills. Sierra never called her sister, and she has not been heard from since. She was carrying $33 in cash when she went missing. Sierra’s boyfriend at the time was the last person to see her. A short time after he saw her walking with a male friend, Sierra met with her boyfriend, and that is the last known contact anyone has had with her. Her boyfriend’s name is Robert Taylor.
Sierra attended Atlantic City High School and had previously held jobs in two resort hotels. She worked at Caesar’s at the time of her disappearance and lived with her two young daughters, ages 2 and 4. She had signed up for an adult education program and hoped to complete her high school diploma. Her family can’t think of any reason she would walk out of her life.
Foul play is suspected in her case, which remains unsolved. 

If you have any further information, please contact the Atlantic City Police Department at 609-347-5766

Sources:

The Missing
Jyrine Kyese Harris
Case #: 02-28954
Essex County

(age progression to age 18)

Jyrine Harris was last seen sleeping in his bed at home in Irvington, New Jersey at 1 a.m. on June 23, 2002. He was wearing only a diaper with Muppet characters on it. The 2 year old lived with his grandmother due to him being taken away from his mother, Janet Harris, on claims of abuse on May 31 of that year. There were 8 other people living in the house at the time. Jyrine has a rare disorder which causes brittle bones that break easily, and he had a fractured right leg with a cast on it at the time of his disappearance. He has previous fractures to his shoulder and his wrist. The cast extended from his knee to his toes, with writing on it that read “Get well soon fatboy.” He was given several nicknames in his life, such as “Fatboy”, “Fatman”, “Pooh”, and “Poppa Babba.”
Jyrine disappeared in the early hours of the morning while his teenage sister LaElisa Harris was watching TV downstairs with her boyfriend, Gregory Jones-McCrae. The family searched the house before reporting Jyrine missing to police at 5:00 a.m. His mother Janet was still in police custody at the time her son went missing. The charges against her were dropped, as it was determined that Jyrine could have sustained his injuries as a result of his bone condition rather than abuse. 
Police do not believe Jyrine was taken by either of his parents but it is also unlikely that he wandered away from home due to the limited mobility he had from the fractured leg. Jyrine’s 4 year old cousin that shared a bedroom with him, says a Caucasian man and an African-American man abducted the child. 
The sister’s boyfriend, George Jones-McCrae has not been cooperative in the investigation.
Janet strongly believes there was some kind of an accident in the home and Jyrine disappeared as a result. 
Most of the people who were in Jyrine’s house who were there the night he vanished have not been ruled out as suspects, but there is little evidence to go on.

If you have any further information please contact the Irvington Police Department at 973-399-6603.

Sources: 

The Missing
Tomiene Mary Jones
Case #: MCU020072
Gloucester County

Tomiene Jones was 19 years old when she was last seen after a night out with a female friend on the evening of April 17, 2002 in Penns Grove, New Jersey. Tomiene is 5’5-5’07” in height, 135-145 lbs, and she was wearing a red/white/orange off the shoulder sundress. She worked in the postal service. Tomiene dropped off her 2 year old daughter, Janiyah, with a babysitter earlier that day, to spend a night out with her friend. After having a few hours of fun, Tomiene’s friend dropped her off at home at about 11:30 p.m. At about 1:00 a.m, Tomiene spoke to her friend on the phone from her apartment to make sure she had gotten home safely. The friend states they spoke for less than half an hour, and that it sounded like there was someone at the apartment with her, but she wasn’t sure who it was.
The following morning, Tomiene’s brother received a concerning phone call from Janiyah’s babysitter. She reported that Tomiene had not returned to pick up her daughter. This caused him to worry. This was unlike Tomiene, she was described as a dedicated and enthusiastic mother, who was always on time to pick her child up.
Her brother rushed to her Mullica Hill West apartment, where he found her 2000 Ford Focus parked in its usual spot. He approached the apartment and noticed the front door was open. He cautiously entered and yelled his sister’s name, but no answer. He took a few more steps inside before noticing the bathroom door was broken. He then walked back outside and called the police. Tomiene’s car keys and apartment keys were found inside the apartment, but her purse, wallet and identification were located locked inside her car. Besides the broken bathroom door, nothing looked out of place in the residence.
Since then, she has not been heard from and her whereabouts are unknown. Tomiene has pierced ears and an old burn scar on her left thigh. She went by the nickname Mimi/MeMe. She was studying for her GED and lived with her daughter. She had been known to frequent Salem City, New Jersey.
Police suspect foul play in her case. Tomiene’s parents believe her child’s father, Marc S. Goodson, was somehow involved in her disappearance. They began a relationship when she was just 15 years old and it was reportedly abusive. They had broken up and gotten back together on numerous occasions, and Tomiene was forced to take Marc to court to get him to pay child support in the year 2000 after Janiyah was born. She once attempted to escape him by living in a women’s shelter, and she had made it clear that she did not want him to know where she was. However, they had always made up, and family members reported that Tomiene was easily swayed by Marc. 

Photo of Marc Goodson

A month before Tomiene went missing, she had filed assault charges against Marc, claiming he punched her in the chest, causing her to fall backwards into her bathtub. When she fell, she injured her back. Marc was arrested, but was able to bail himself out of jail. The two were not supposed to have any contact after that, but a few weeks later, Tomiene was then arrested and charged with simple assault, harassment and contempt of court after she and Marc got into another altercation. Tomiene was not worried about the charges because she assumed the judge would understand that she had been acting in her own self defense when she struck Marc with an umbrella. 
Marc Goodson was arrested the same day Tomiene was reported missing, but on unrelated charges. He was put in prison for child molestation and drug charges. He was 25 years old when he filmed himself having sexual relations with a 13 year old girl.
A previous girlfriend of Goodson’s was murdered and her naked body was dumped in Alloway Creek in Quinton, New Jersey. Her body was found in April of 2000. Her name was Nyoka Brice, and she too had a child with Mr. Goodson. That crime is also unsolved, and Goodson is the prime suspect in both cases, despite having any tangible evidence against him. 

Photo of Nyoka Brice

Police dredged the Alloway Creek for two days and searched the surrounding wooded area after Tomiene vanished, but nothing was found. Police also spent days going through all of the creeks, streams and other waterways in the area, including Salem River and Mannington Lake. They still came up with nothing. 
Detectives searched Marc’s home, and found cocaine and other evidence of drug use but nothing to support the theory that Marc had harmed either woman. 
In jail, Marc wrote letters to Tomiene’s family, assuring them that he loved her and had nothing to do with her vanishing. 
In 2003, Marc Goodman was interviewed by a reporter, and he readily admitted to committing several crimes, including assault, sex with a minor and dealing drugs. He continued to maintain that he was not involved in Tomiene’s disappearance.

If you have any further information, please contact the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office at 856-383-5500.

The Missing
Margarita Medina
Case #: 025481
Camden County

Margarita Medina was last seen on February 9, 2002 at her daughter’s residence on Williamstown Road in Gloucester Township, NJ. She had no other relatives living in the area. She was 82 years old at the time, she had white hair with brown eyes, 5’0-5’4”, 175 lbs. She has an oval shaped birthmark on her right leg, midway between her ankle and her knee. She was Puerto Rican, speaking mostly Spanish and some English. She was last seen wearing a blue denim dress, a black hat, black shoes with black laces, a tigers eye ring, a silver watch and a silver bracelet. Margarita suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia. Otherwise, she was in good physical health at the time of her disappearance. 
Margarita was seen walking along Erial Road in the Fox Chase Development at 3:00 pm, and later near the Heritage’s convenience store at the intersection on Jarvis and Williamstown Roads. She has not been heard from again. 
The investigating agency believes she may have returned to her native Puerto Rico. 

The Missing 
Kenya Hickson
Case #: 01111249
Essex County

Kenya Hickson was 28 years old when she went missing on August 14, 2001. She was last seen leaving her residence on foot in Newark, NJ. She is a black female, 5’7”, 145 lbs. Kenya was seen leaving with an acquaintance of hers, a woman that everyone only knew as “Cynth.” (Short for Cynthia?) Kenya struggled with substance abuse issues in the past. Her street name was “Boo Boo.” She was wearing a blue shirt with black jeans and a headscarf that day. She had pockmarks on her face. Kenya is also known by “Keysa Caldwell or “Grace Hi.”
Kenya has been known to frequent areas of 20th Street, Nye Avenue and Ells Avenue in Newark and Irvington, NJ.  There is not much more information on this case. 

Note:  I wanted to bring up an article that was published in the newspaper in November of 1996. In this article, there is mention of a 23 year old woman named Kenya Hickson as the passenger of a vehicle that was stolen by her then boyfriend, Nate. He ended up hitting and killing two people during this driving excursion. The couple had been trying to sell parts of the stolen truck to Dave’s Engine Rebuilding, and the owner was alerted that the pieces were considered stolen. In 1996, Kenya was 23 years old. I can’t exactly verify this article is indeed about her, but it came up as I researched. See below.

If you have any further information, please contact the NJ State Police at 609-882-2000.