Thursday, July 2, 2026 - A missing Wisconsin teen has been found safe after she mysteriously vanished from home four years ago.
Joniah Walker, 19, was safely discovered on May 25, the
Milwaukee Police Department told WISN on Tuesday, June 30.
Police officials didn’t disclose where Walker was found or
provide any further information on the case, including whether the teen was
with someone else.
Walker, then 15, had disappeared from her Milwaukee home on
June 23, 2022.
Walker’s mother, Tanesha Howard, said she last saw her
daughter lying in bed when she left for work the morning of her disappearance,
according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
“Joniah was lying in bed because she had just finished
school. I went in to give her a hug before leaving for work,” Howard told the
organization.
The mother and daughter duo had talked on the phone several
times throughout the day before Walker “suddenly stopped responding.”
Walker was supposed to meet her father to apply for a summer
work permit but failed to arrive at the designated time.
“He called me and said that Joniah wasn’t picking up her
phone,” Howard said. “That is when I immediately knew something was wrong. I
left work right away.”
“He called me and said that Joniah wasn’t picking up her
phone,” Howard said. “That is when I immediately knew something was wrong. I
left work right away.”
A nearby ring camera captured Walker leaving the apartment
complex at around 2:30 p.m. in the Brewer’s Hill neighborhood, a
mile-and-a-half north of Downtown Milwaukee.
Video footage showed the teen carrying a large green
backpack.
It was the last known sighting of Walker until she was
reportedly found last month.
Howard believed her daughter had met someone online after
she deleted her digital footprint and never returned.
“Somebody stole her…that was my first instinct,” Howard
said. “But when I saw that she left with a big backpack that I had never seen,
that’s when I knew. I was like, someone lured her away.”
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