Dateline: Missing In America - MISSING: Keeshae Jacobs

Episode Date: August 2, 2022

On September 26, 2016, 21-year-old Keeshae Jacobs texted her mother, Toni, to say she was going to spend the night at a friend’s house. She never returned to their Richmond, Virginia home. Authorities suspect foul play in Keeshae’s disappearance. Dateline’s Josh Mankiewicz speaks with Keeshae’s mother, Toni, and Natalie Wilson, co-founder of The Black & Missing Foundation. Keeshae is 5’3”, weighs approximately 100 lbs., with brown hair and eyes. She was last seen wearing black basketball shorts, pink and black Nikes and a pink scarf. She has several distinguishing tattoos: a rose on her right thigh, a flower on her right wrist, paw prints on her right thigh, and a leaf on her right foot. Her mother’s name, Toni, is inked with a heart on her left shoulder. If you have information, please call the Richmond Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit at [phone].    More photos and information can be found at DatelineMissingInAmerica.com 

It was an unseasonably warm day, and while the leaves were starting to turn their predictable shades of red and gold, the crisp fall chill hadn't settled in just yet, in Richmond, Virginia. It was Monday, September 26th, 2016. That evening seemed pretty typical in the Jacobs household. 21-year-old Kishay Jacobs was getting ready to go out, while her mother, Tony, and her brother settled in for the night. Kishay did seem a little troubled as she headed out. She'd had an argument with her boyfriend. She was pretty upset, but me and her brothers seemed to talk her down.

And then she was like, all right, mom, going with one of my friends house. I'll be back tomorrow. Before leaving, Kisey Voud to be back bright and early, to make her 25-year-old brother, Davon, a heaping stack of pancakes. Tony remembers the moment she watched her daughter walk out the front door, wearing her go-to outfit, black basketball shorts, pink and black Nike's, and a pink scarf. I was like, all right, just be careful. Let me know you made it there safely.

Around 11 o'clock, Tony got ready for bed. She had to work the next morning. After her shower, came a text message from Kishay. She texted me and told me that she was there. And I was like, just be careful. I love you. She's like, I love you too. The next morning came.

And when Tony woke up, the smell of pancakes in a skillet was not filling the house. Kise hadn't kept her promise, and she hadn't come home yet. Tony got ready for work, and figured she'd hear from her daughter later. Then when Tony's lunch break rolled around, and still hadn't heard from Kishay, her mama barrel arm went off, and she started calling. Those calls went to voicemail, and Tony knew something was wrong. I'm Josh Mangowitz and this is Missing in America, a podcast from Dateline. For Tony Jacobs, life from that day forward would become a sort of groundhog day.

She couldn't have known that the growing worry she was feeling about her daughter would evolve into urgent questions that would go unanswered for years. And that she would personally have to take on the role of investigator. This is the story of one mother's desperate search, a mother who believes that six years later, her missing daughter is still alive. I just want her to know that mommy loves you so, so much, and I miss you so much. I am fighting and I can give it up. It's a laugh at you.

She is the heart of this story, but it's her heart that's been broken several times. And I just kept praying that both of my children are okay. This is also a story that raises serious questions about how missing persons cases are investigated and reported. Natalie Wilson is co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation. Race should not be a barrier to equal treatment

under the law and media coverage. Listen closely, because something you hear in this podcast might trigger a memory. Maybe you know something that could make all the difference and change the direction of this case. When she sat down to talk with me, Tony was wearing a blue t-shirt with one word across the top. Survivor. with one word across the top, survivor. The morning after her daughter failed to come home from a visit with friends, Tony reached out to her over and over again. I just kept calling her phone.

I called at text to brother and he was like, no, I ain't hear from her mom. She's okay. You know, she maybe she just hung out with her friends or whatever, whatever. I tried to explain to people that even though, like, Kishay Phong was broke one time, she would use somebody else's phone to let me know she's okay or what's going on.

Or she'll log on to Facebook and message me on Facebook and let me know, hey, mom, my phone broke, I'm still with so and so, I'll give you a call, or can you come pick me up when you get off work? And you weren't getting any of those messages? No, I didn't get anything. So by the time I got off work, I checked with a brother again. He was like, no, I'm he saw that I was worried.

Tony began calling all of Kishay's friends. And they was like, Miss Tony, we're gonna call them around and check if anybody heard of seeing Kishan. I was like, OK, thank you. Just give me a call back. And I'm sitting there waiting. That's the Tuesday. And nothing. So I'm calling their friends.

And they're like, no, we still ain't heard nothing. It made no sense to Tony. Her daughter hadn't even gone far from home, in a city she'd always considered safe. Tony Jacobs grew up in Richmond. It's a city where the present meets the past in nearly every way, and it's in the past where we will begin. That's because Richmond is where Tony decided to start her own family some 30 years ago, raising Kishay and her brother, Devon. Edgar Allan Poe, who lived in Richmond for a spell, once wrote,

We Loved with a Love that was more than love. And in talking with Tony, this could have been written about her adoration for her daughter, Kisei Unique. And Kisei, well, she was unique from the beginning. It all started with her name. They told me it was a girl and I really wanted a boy, because you know, I had that impression that girls

was going to give you a lot of help. I'm sorry. So I was scared. But once I came to terms I was having a girl. She's going to be unique. It's just, I don't know, that's what popped into my head for her. She's my unique baby. In Tony's memories there's always a sparkle in Kisha's eyes,

especially when she was cheek to cheek with Tony, who in photos taken at Kisha's graduation, was beaming ear to ear with pride. Tony and her kids were a close knit trio. Kisha is my baby As much as she want to act like she was grown. She's the actor like a baby I'm all I had two kids, but she you would have thought she was the oldest because she always act like she she ran stuff But she was a very sweet and loving person like

Keisha love to give hugs and I used to tell people all the time she can make you feel so special and so love because she hugged you so much. I used to have to tell her hey can I put some of those on layaway for later because you didn't overwhelm to me with the love but today. Yeah she was the homebody, she was very family-oriented, like to be around family a lot, and tried to win with it at time together. She was just be my lasagna most of the time. You took her everywhere with you? If my friends were cooking, Kise was going because she was greedy and she liked to eat. So yeah, yeah.

So she liked to go places with me. She liked being around me and my friends, so yeah. As Kishie grew older, she began to think about her future. She liked kids and kids like Kishie, but she always loved being around kids, so that's where I saw her. Back in 2016, one duty Kishie never took lightly was keeping a close eye on her brother,

even though he was four years older. She wanted to make sure Davon stayed safe after returning home. He was incarcerated for a short period of time and she was excited that he was home. So that was her main focus like her best friend, her brother was home and her main priority was making sure he stayed out of trouble. Tony says she was never concerned about Kishay getting into any trouble. Her daughter, the home body. I didn't have to worry about her going out to the clubs or anything like that. Kishay was the type of person that she would be happy

and to pay her best ball shorts and a tennis shoes and a t-shirt. What Tony did worry about was the company, Kisha sometimes kept. I just used to talk to her and be like, hey, just be cautious. Everybody's sitting in your friend. It's not your friend. A real friend would try to make sure you stay on the positive and up and up. So she may have one or two that were okay and then she had some that was like questionable. There was one young woman Tony warned Kise about in particular. Call it mother's intuition.

It was just some of our girl. I can't even put my finger on it. But I didn't think she was a good friend to Kise. In fact, that girlfriend was one of the last people to see Kishie the night she went out. She and Kishie's best guy friend. The last night that I saw Kishie, one of her other best friends picked her up, which I trust Kishie would tell like 100%. But the female, no, I did not care for her. You didn't care for her, but she was 21,

and she's allowed to choose her own friends. Exactly, and that's why I told people, you're never nowhere about any of your children or friends with. After a full day with no word from Keeshe, Tony tried desperately to catch some shut eye. All the while, hoping and praying, her phone would ring and wake her

up with Kise on the other line. Well, there was no sleep to be had. Her gut feeling and her heart would not allow it. I'm frantic. The next morning I put my clothes on. I'm like, something's wrong. I know something's wrong. So I have to do something.

So I just thought, you know, people, doors. No one said they'd seen or heard from Kishay. So Tony's sister convinced her to report Kishay missing. She went to the local Richmond police station and found it's closed that time of night. I'm knocking on the door. Nobody's coming to the door. So I literally had to call 911 for somebody to come to the door. And when I get in there, I tell the police officer, I was like, hey, my daughter's missing. And the police officer tells me

where she's 21. How you know she just don't want to be found. That is something the families of the missing often hear. When someone who's above the age of 21 vanishes. To law enforcement, they look at it that as this person is an adult, they can come and go as they please voluntarily. So they don't look at it as a big deal. Missing persons isn't a crime.

Natalie Wilson from the Black and Missing Foundation, whose mission is to bring awareness to missing persons of color. You think missing persons cases overall are not taken as seriously by law enforcement as they should be, and missing persons cases involving people of color, even less so. There's a stereotype that these individuals

are bringing it on themselves, and no one will care if they're missing Even less so. There's a stereotype that these individuals are bringing it on themselves, and no one will care if they're missing, but they're family members. And we have to change that stereotype with that narrative that these are our missing daughters and sons, our mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, and they're valuable members of our community.

And that's what Tony Jacobs says, she experienced that night at the police station. The officer she spoke with pointed out that legally, Kisha was an adult, crying and pleading with the officer. Tony says she pulled out her phone to show him past text messages from Kisha. I hear from her every day, all day long and something's wrong. him past text messages from Kishie. He told her a detective would reach out the next day. So far she'd learned that Kishie's best guy friend dropped her off at a house with the

girlfriend. That same girlfriend Tony didn't trust. So that day, Tony began her own investigation and knocked on the door where Kisha's friend had left her. That's where she met someone who she believes knows more than he's telling her or police. Tony Jacobs had her daughter, Kyshe's friends, takeer to the two-story red brick rowhouse. Where Kyshe's best guy friend told Tony he dropped her off Monday night. The house was bordered by two other Ro houses, in Richmond's Quaint Church Hill neighborhood.

Tony cautiously walked through the gate in the short white picket fence that blocked off the modest front yard. She made her way down a short sidewalk, leading to the porch's concrete steps, which were covered in chipped rusty red paint. At the top of the stairs, she stood between two white weathered columns on the front porch.

Tony was a mom on a mission. She took a few steps and knocked on the white front door. The door swung open and in front of Tony stood a man in his 30s, a decade older than Kise. He said his name was Otis and when Tony asked him about Kishay, he said he knew nothing about her disappearance. In that moment, Tony's worry was in no way diminished. He told me that he had saw Kishay that Monday, about five o'clock. But it didn't end up because I was like, no, Kishay was at home if I have a clock on Monday. So run off the bat, he's lying to you.

Right. Then he changed the time to 6 and then 6.37 o'clock and I was like, no. Her brother's like, no. And I called the police right then and there. Tony remembers how almost immediately four police cars pulled up, responding to her call about this new information on her missing daughter, and the officers walked inside to look for Keeshe. After a brief walk through however they came out and gave Tony the news, Keeshe wasn't

there. Still, Tony did not have a good feeling about the house where her daughter had been last seen, or about the man who called himself Otis. After that, Tony, her family and friends started plastering flyers throughout the Churchill neighborhood, handing them to every person they saw, asking if they'd seen Kise. The flyers carry a photo of Kise smiling, information about when and where she was last seen, and some key details about her appearance, brown eyes, brown hair, and some distinguishing tattoos, a rose on her right shoulder, a flower on her right wrist, paw prints on her right

thigh, a leaf on her right foot, and the name Tony, inked with a heart on her left shoulder. Mark Robinson was a city hall reporter for the Richmond Times Dispatch newspaper, and lived just a few doors down from where Keeshe was last seen. He looked up during one of his walks and saw Keeshe staring back at him from a flyer. She disappeared on a street that I walked on every day in a neighborhood that I was living in. Mark describes the Churchill neighborhood as quiet, filled with historic row houses. It's where founding father Patrick Henry spoke the famous words from his revolutionary

war speech, give me liberty, or give me death. It's also an area where neighbors can keep an eye on things from their front porches, and Mark Robinson says everyone regularly checks on one another. If there had been any sort of altercation or argument or anything out of the ordinary that happened outside of the house, somebody would have taken notice of that and almost certainly said something about it. Apparently no one did. Then as Tony continued to scour the area with single-minded determination, someone handed her a phone with a woman

on the other end of the line. She offered information that made Tony's heart sink deeper into her chest. The woman told Tony she knew this Otis character and the woman proceeded to share her story. She basically told me that he beat her and refused to let her leave and dance sexual things to her. Yeah, he beat her bad. And when you heard that, you think that's what happened to my daughter? I broke down because he probably did the same thing to her,

you know, that then that's when he kicks in your worst nightmare. That was my worst nightmare here in that. It's already, I'm already dealing with my daughter being missing and this is not her, but the fact that the last person to see her has done this to somebody else, it kind of broke me down. Do I believe he may have something to do with Kisha's disappearance? Yes. The police hasn't named him a person of interest or say yes. I don't know. I don't know anything but his first name. And I don't even think that's his real name. To Tony, Kisha had never mentioned that man

or ever going to that house before. Even so, Otis seemed to know Kisha. The strange thing is, when I went to that because I had her friends take me to that home and when I questioned him and he knew something, like do you know Kisha? He was like, yeah, I know Kisha. I know Kisha always come over here with, and then he named that female friend that I don't care about.

What do you think is going on here? Why was she going to that house? Because she was that best friend the one that I didn't care for. And I found out later that best friend had romantic interests with this man. Then Tony finally got a call she'd been waiting for. that best friend had romantic interests with this man. Then Tony finally got a call she'd been waiting for, not from Keeshe, but from a detective with the Richmond police. I reported Keeshe,

artificially on that Wednesday morning, like two o'clock in the morning, one two o'clock in the morning. And I didn't hear from them again until that following Monday. Except for that visit to the house where she met Otis, Tony hadn't heard a word from police since reporting her daughter missing.

And on that day, the officers who arrived only looked for Keeshe inside the house without finding her. In fact, Tony says it would be a full week after Keeshe disappeared and five days after Tony went to police to report her missing, that she received that call from a detective. Natalie Wilson from the Black and Missing Foundation says it happens all the time.

Law Enforcement's assumptions, costing critical time. Time that can't be recouped. She says Kishay's case looks like so many others that have come her way. There were so many clues lost, so much information wasn't able to be captured because Kishay's case was not taken seriously in the beginning. Tony believes police were not alone in downplaying her daughter's disappearance. I still have people coming up to me thinking Kise ran away or she offered a boyfriend. No, that's not my daughter. She didn't have to run away. Somebody told me one time that she was pregnant. My daughter was not pregnant. As Tony's search for Kise continued and she pleaded with police for answers, reporter Mark

Robinson pitched the story to his editor, even though it veered from his normal beat at City Hall. He ended up writing a Mother's Day feature about Tony, hoping to include some intel about any new leads on the case. Except the seasoned reporter ran into roadblocks when he tried to pry any information from the police. I sent a list of questions to the police department that they said they would respond to,

and then ultimately they provided a censor to and response but did not address the questions. Why do you think it is that Richmond police have sort of circled the wagons on this story and not sought more help from the public? If they do have a suspect or a person of interest, they haven't named them, and they haven't made much headway

on the investigation in recent years, and I think that they haven't provided additional information because they don't know what happened. While police have never publicly named a suspect, they did divulge that foul play was suspected in Kishay's disappearance. Except, they didn't say that until Kishay had been missing for more than a year. On November 30, 2017, Richmond Police issued a statement, quote, key Shay's family understands the scope and magnitude of this investigation. This is not a young lady that just decided to run away or move to another state.

It is not her character to not call her family or friends in 14 months when she would reach out to them every day. Detectives have worked diligently in an effort to locate and find Ms. Jacobs. family or friends in 14 months, when she would reach out to them every day. Detectives have worked diligently in an effort to locate and find Ms. Jacobs. We hope that publicizing our belief that she was met with foul play might prompt others to come forward with information that will help solve this case. Tony says she knew there was foul play from the get go. Not only because of her conversation with Otis, but also she says because police told

her they discovered something when they searched that red brick row house. She says it was DNA evidence. They told me they found blood. But not enough to suggest that Kisha had died there. Right, right. Like they said, it could have came from a struggle or something like that. Why did it take a year and two months for Richmond police to ask for the public's help? If they believed Kisha had met with some kind of violence, the answer is that we don't know because they're not talking.

All we can say is that police acknowledge something happened to Kishay inside that house. That's what I kept telling them and they made me frustrated. I think they just don't want to hear it because once you found your DNA and then you had this person of interest that did this to somebody else, that would have been the radar period. And I'm not even in law enforcement, that was a radar for me. Hold on, he did this. He may know some of my way up into my daughter. And they've questioned this guy, Otis. They said they tried to question him a couple of times, but first time they said, right before they got there,

he was on suicide watch or something. And then a couple of times after that, they said he was on medication. He act like he didn't know who they were or it couldn't understand what he was talking about. You've been left with the impression, speaking with police, that their suspect is this guy, Otis, but they don't have a case yet.

Yeah, but I've news he with a suspect from the damn middle. Turns out the man called Otis was soon in the wind. Tony couldn't find him. We wanted to speak with him, but we couldn't track him down. And if Richmond police located him, they didn't tell us. So what about that boyfriend, Kishie, was arguing with before she left Tony's house that night? Once Kisha went missing, he showed up at the house. He knew my son, and I think he was a little bit

afraid of my son because my son was like, you know, that's my little sister. If I find out you did anything to her, you know, I think I'm going to jail for the rest of my life type thing. And he was like, I'd never do that. I care about K-Shay. You know, we had an argument and I was wrong.

But to say I was doing anything, you know, no, I would do that. You don't have any suspicions about her boyfriend? No, I didn't have any at all because I've been around him and saw him interact with Kise and the fact that you know he came and talked to me and ever since then I think he's well he's reached out to try to check on me if none more to say well keep your head up she's coming home. As for Kise's girlfriend the one Tony thought of as a bad influence. I do believe she knows more than what she's telling.

I think she knows more about this man than she's let know. The police say they question her. But so far, no key share and no charges against anybody. Exactly. Now, as bad as this is, our story gets worse. Tony's string of heart-wrenching tragedies wouldn't be over yet. Just a couple of months after Kishay disappeared,

Tony received a knock at the door. On the other side was another crushing blow. Fall faded away and the trees were left bare. A cold gush of wind breathed a paralyzing chill through the foothills overlooking Virginia. As snow blanketed the remnants of the last season, it covered the ground with a fresh, clean slate. This was back on January 8, 2017, a little over three months after Kishay Jacobs vanished. I gave a knock on the door. My nephew tells me that somebody told him to do my son, Dave Armstrong. I was like, what?

Dave Armstrong shocked. I just talked to him that that long ago. Like a recurring nightmare, just as when Kise went missing, Tony grabbed her phone and tried to call her son. There was no answer, and she had a bad feeling. I couldn't sleep that that something didn't feel right. And I just kept praying that both of my children were okay,

but I was just praying. I think more for Kishay because she wasn't home. I just talked to my son. Instinctively, Tony put on her shoes and demanded her nephew take her to where he said Davon was shot. That time I got there, the police was right there. It was like, you can't go back there.

I was like, I need to go back there. It's like I knew, that's my son. And he was like, what a corner just took the body. I was like, that's my son. I need to talk to somebody right now and let them know that's my son. I need to talk to somebody right now and let them know that's my son. Without being able to see him with her own eyes and desperately hoping she was wrong, Tony went to that same police precinct and started banging on the doors until someone answered. And then her worst fear was confirmed.

and then her worst fear was confirmed. He's gone, he's gone. He was like, how you know, I was like, I just know, I just know, he's gone. And the detector came and he was like, I'm shaking some sorry and I was like, I know. Tony's 25 year old son had been shot to death just before 11 p.m. at a motel six enrichment after a struggle.

I think I know the answer to this one, I ask you anyway. You don't suspect that the death of your son and the disappearance of your daughter aren't anyway connected. No, no. No, you just have maybe the worst lock ever. Yeah, I think, yeah, I think, right? But yeah, yeah. They're not part of the same thing.

No, the police investigated and they was like, no, it had nothing to do. Those are two separate incidents. Davon's shooter claimed self-defense but was convicted of his murder. He's in jail now. He went to trial. The first trial was by jury and they gave him 15 years and then the judge overturned it. Before the man could stand trial again, he was given a plea deal and a five-year sentence behind bars. It didn't surprise him because when he murdered my son and when they finally caught up with him because he ran, the judge gave him house arrest and let him out on board for murder.

Do I have faith in the system? No, I don't. Kishay disappeared in 2016. Daivon was killed in 2017. And those were Tony's only two children. Today while Tony may not put much stock in the legal system she says keeps failing her and her children. Her faith that Kise will come home remains constant. It's that faith that keeps her hope alive. And the belief her daughter is still out there waiting for her to find her alive. Along her journey, Tony has also gotten support from the Black and Missing Foundation. Here's the Foundation's co-founder, Natalie Wilson.

We're there with her. She is part of our family and we are lock and step with her. She is part of our family and we are locked in step with her and whatever support she needs from us, we are there for her. But it's keeping Keesha's profile in the forefront. Because Tony believes her daughter is still alive and she's waiting for her to come home and we want to honor that and we want to help bring Ke And we want to help bring Kisha home. And the only way that we can do that is through the media and media coverage and keeping her story in the forefront. There's so many missing people of color in the US.

Kisha's story was featured on the docuseries, Black and Missing. Natalie Wilson says publicity like that series can bring resources to missing person's cases like Keisha's. We believe that visibility has been instrumental in the Richmond Police Department adding a new detective to the case. So again, it's putting pressure on law enforcement to do their job.

Thank you for calling Black and Missing Foundation. Natalie's nonprofit foundation has been at this for 13 years. She and her co-founder, Derrick Wilson, have helped hundreds of families find their missing loved ones. 40% of the population of missing persons are of color. And media coverage is vital because one, it alerts the community that someone is missing and they can be vigilant as they go about their day

to help find that missing individual. But it also puts pressure on law enforcement to add resources to the case. In Kisha's case, she has Tony fighting for her, and that could make all the difference. This dog and mother keeps pushing, searching, prodding. No matter how many days, months, and years pass. Do you think Kisha is still alive? How many days, months, and years pass?

Do you think Q-Shay's still alive? I feel it in my heart like she is. Everything in me, telling me she is. But before I found out my son was deceased, I knew something was wrong. I felt it. I felt it in my heart. And it found out I was thinking it would be Q-Shay, but I thought that it was him. But everything else in me is telling me she's alive and I have to fight like I have to find her. And she needs me to find her and I can't give up. And then, as I was sitting there talking with Tony,

she unveiled her own theory, once she's built over the years. She unveiled her own theory, one she's built over the years. It began with that story, the one she says she heard from the mysterious girl on the phone, while Tony was posting flyers for Keeshe. The caller claimed Otis had held her against her will, and assaulted her physically and sexually. Tony believes Keiseh met a similar fate. When the guy oldest, his intention was to keep him like he was going to do to the other girl, he abducted her, held her, you know. But when everybody came looking for her, he was like, I gotta give her a way because he ran. He ran and they caught him somewhere up at Maryland. I believe that he gave her to somebody so she was traffic. That's what you think. That's what I believe

And all these years she hasn't been able to get in touch with you. I Didn't have phone calls where people Call me or somebody on the phone. They don't say anything or I don't have phone calls Well people ask and confirm that it's me that they're talking to and I can hear them talking to somebody in the background but I don't know who it is. She says she doesn't know if it's Kishay

on the other end of the line, but she's optimistic. At the end of the day, I can't say she's gone until I have proof she's gone. So what about Tony's theory that Kise was sex trafficked? Natalie Wilson says, it's more common than you think. And she cites research on that very subject from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. We do know that young women and girls

of color are traffic at a very high rate than any other population. There's a study that says this sex traffic is believe that trafficking a black girl, you get less jail time or no no jail time. In your experience does law enforcement take seriously enough the nexus between missing people and trafficking. They're very dismissive of the cases of missing people of color. And there's a lot of work to be done.

And I think if they worked hand in hand with sex trafficking units. They will see that there's a correlation between missing persons and sex trafficking. And so here we are, six years later and no key shea. Her case is still open and considered active with the Richmond Police Department. And while over the years they've made public please for information, they rarely speak with the media with any new information or otherwise. They say they need anyone who saw something or may have seen something or may have information about the case to come forward and they have really placed the onus on making any headway on the case or what may have happened to Qiché on that participation from the public.

The last public statement about Qiché's case by the Richmond Police Department was on September 26th, 2018. Two years after Qiché vanished. The police chief at that time was quoted in a press release. Quote, Keisha's disappearance remains an active investigation within the Richmond Police Department. The detectives have made good progress in this case, but we're still hoping to get more information to get the family the answers they need. Unquote. Since then, no one in the department has spoken publicly about her case, and they declined

date lines request for an interview. They did say it's still an open investigation. These days, Tony says she's working with a new detective with the Richmond PD, the third set of fresh eyes on her daughter's missing persons case. The detectives are more now. They're looking at the evidence and the information and they're like, okay, this should have been done. This should have been done.

But it wasn't done. Does it's been going on almost six years now? I don't know if those same avenues are open. But I think I believe in my heart that they're still trying to find a plan key shape, at least from the conversations that we had. No matter how many years pass, how many seasons change, Tony continues to cling tightly

to the only thing she has left, which is hope. Your son's dead and your daughter's missing. How do you go on? I Don't believe I fully more than my son's death because I still have to fight for kitchen So The fact that she's still out there that pushes me It pushes me and I have to do what the mother has to do and I have to fight for my daughter because it's apparently no one else is going to fight for her like me.

And one day Tony says she knows when Kise comes home she will finally get one of those hugs she put on hold all those years ago. The mugs that I used to put on their way it's time for me to cash to me because I be mean the whole bunch of hugs and love on her. Tony had a special message just for Kishay, her unique baby, who has Tony's name and a heart tattooed on her shoulder. I just want her to know that mommy loves you so, so much, and I miss you so much. And I am looking, I am fighting, and I can give it up until I find you.

So tell that person who ever got you, wherever you at, my mama called me because I'm coming. I'm coming. This is where you can help. If you know something about Kishay Jacobs' disappearance, call the Richmond Police Department's Major Crimes Unit at 804-646-0729. Thanks for listening. To learn more about other people we've

covered in our Missing in America series, go to datelinemissinginamerica.com. There, you'll be able to submit cases you think we should cover in the future. Missing in America is a production of date line and NBC News. Jessica Nol is the producer of this episode. Jonathan Moser is the audio editor. Logan Johnson is associate producer. Matthew Winter is the assistant audio editor. Susan Nol is Associate Producer. Matthew Winter is the Assistant Audio Editor.

Susan Law is Senior Producer. Adam Gorfain is Co-Executive Producer. Liz Cole is Executive Producer. And David Corvo is Senior Executive Producer. From NBC News Audio, Rice and Barnes is Technical Director, Sound Mixing by Bob Mallory. Nina Bisbano is associate producer.

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