Sins & Survivors: A Las Vegas True Crime Podcast - Missing at the Holidays 2025

Episode Date: December 30, 2025

This week, we're bringing you the stories of 5 people who are missing from their families at the holidays. As we gather around the table for whatever holiday we celebrate, it's important to keep the families in mind who have an empty seat at the table, and a hole in their lives.Mason Robertson, Derrick "Tank" Evans, Brenda Gail Lambert, Iesha Johnson, and Lauren Steele's family all deserve closure. If you can help provide that closure for any of them or have any information that can help, we urge you to.We'll share their photos on our social media, and you can listen to their stories here.Thank you so much for listening, subscribing, and sharing. We wish you a truly happy holiday season, and remind you what happens here, happens everywherehttps://sinspod.co/106https://sinspod.co/106sourceshttps://sinspod.co/106transcripthttps://sinspod.co/106blogBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sins-survivors-a-las-vegas-true-crime-podcast--6173686/support.Domestic Violence Resourceshttp://sinspod.co/resourcesClick here to become a member of our Patreon!https://sinspod.co/patreonVisit and join our Patreon now and access our ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content & schwag! Get ad-free access for only $1 a month or ad-free and bonus episodes for $3 a monthApple Podcast Subscriptionshttps://sinspod.co/appleWe're now offering premium membership benefits on Apple Podcast Subscriptions! On your mobile deviceLet us know what you think about the episodehttps://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2248640/open_sms

To listen ad free, visit sinspod.co slash subscribe. Starting at $2.99 a month, you'll also get access to our exclusive bonus content episodes when you join through Patreon or Apple subscriptions. Thanks for supporting the show. Every year around this time, as the holidays are approaching, we take some extra time to talk about cases of missing persons from around the country. As we sit down to those holiday dinners and gatherings with family, it's important to remember that there are so many families out there who are missing their loved ones all throughout the year. This week we'll highlight five missing persons cases, people missing at the holidays. Hi and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence, as well as missing persons and unsolved cases. I'm your host, Sean. And I'm your co-host, John.

Happy holidays and happy New Year. to everyone. We are hoping that you enjoyed the special collaborations. We worked on this holiday season for all of you with some of our friends from the podcasting world. We had an absolute blast working on them. So we hope you enjoyed them as well. But this week, we're turning back to our typical content and what's become a tradition for John and I on the podcast, our special missing at the holidays episode. This is the third one that we've done since we started the show. So, John, do you want to get us started? Absolutely.

Our first case today is the disappearance of Mason Robertson. Mason was born November 1st, 2007. He was 16 years old at the time of his disappearance. And he turned 18 this past November of 2025. He comes from Anchorage, Alaska. His mom is named Marty Romero, and his dad is David Robertson. As a family, they were very, very close. They spent a lot of time together.

they enjoy nature up in Alaska, they go on fishing trips, they go on annual trips to Hawaii, they're very close. Mason loves to play video games, especially Rainbow Siege 6, and he is extremely intelligent. According to his parents, he was often up in his room playing games, which I know we can relate to. It wasn't that he was reclusive, though. He was just a homebody who spent a lot of time with his family, and he was obviously very well loved by his parents. But Mason unfortunately carried a lot more than your typical 16-year-old. He had aunts and uncles pass away when he was young, and his big brother passed away when he was only seven years old, which really affected him.

By the time he was 17, he turned to alcohol to numb some of the pain, which was obviously a problem for his parents who were worried about him. He said that drinking made him less depressed. In an interview, his parents described the day he went missing. It was May 4, 2004, and Mason was a day. in the kitchen heating up some pizza. His dad saw that he was obviously intoxicated and brought it up to him. That made Mason pretty mad, and he threw the plate of pizza and stormed down to his room, which was in the basement. A while later, they went to check on him after receiving a text from him

which read, I genuinely don't need you, and they realized that he had left through the basement door. They visited the neighbor, and the neighbor's ring camera footage showed Mason walking down the street unsteadily. And in the footage, you can see him disappear behind a tree and then hear the sound of his phone being smashed on the ground, and that's where they found it. So obviously, he was not interested in being tracked. His family searched for months after reporting him missing. They got several in local news outlets to cover his disappearance. And they also asked his friends if they knew where he might go. Some had no idea, and one friend suggested that Mason said he had thousands of dollars tucked away and he might have gone to California.

They heard essentially nothing from Mason until his 17th birthday when they got a mysterious text from an unknown number. It said, long time no see, hope you are all right. They found that really strange because they used the expression long time no see often among the family, so they thought it was really likely that it was actually him. They replied to the text but didn't hear back. Then, again, on May 11, 2025, Mother's Day, they received another text message from another unknown number that said, how was your day? Hope you had some fun. They received a few other very obviously fishing text messages, as we all do, but those two stuck out to them in particular is sounding very much like they could have been Mason. His mom and dad remain hopeful that they'll hear

from him and that he's safe. They think he might be in California, so they ask that anyone hearing about the case, take a look at his photo, and please contact them if they see him. They also emphasize that they aren't looking to prosecute anyone or make trouble for anyone. They just want to know that Mason is safe, and even if he's safe and he doesn't want to come home. We'll share photos of Mason. He is 5'7, 155 pounds. He has brown eyes and brown hair, and he wears glasses. They've put up a $10,000 reward for information directly leading to locating Mason alive. You can email Find Mason R at gmail.com, or you can call the Anchorage Police at 907-786-2627 who can quickly get in touch with his parents. His case number is 24-12552. You can also call the National Center for Missing and Endangered Children at 1-800 The Lost.

Our next missing person we have to highlight this week is a man that has been mentioned. missing for more than five years. Derek Evans Jr., also known as Tank, was last seen at his home in Valdosta, Georgia. Valdosta is in southern Georgia, only about a 20-minute drive from the Florida border, so about an hour and a half from Tallahassee, but over three hours from Atlanta. Countless people love and Miss Tank, including his mom, Tamara, who has been striving to keep his name in the news, and she also runs the family's Facebook page, and his Aunt Tawana also misses her nephew and continues to hope that someone will come forward with information. Tank was born on April 24, 1994, making him 31 years old.

His mom says he loves dancing, and his favorite music artist is Nikki Minaj. He has an outgoing spirit and a laugh that the family really misses hearing. Tank was last seen when he was 26 years old on Saturday, November 7th, 2020, at his home in the Magnolia Square apartments in Valdosta. He had a friend over at his house. house and when that friend left, Tank said he had company coming by and he would call his friend after that company went home. He had plans to meet up with that same friend at a nightclub that night, but Tank never called and he never showed up at the club. According to the Charlie

Project, a witness saw Tank standing in the back of his residence having a heated conversation with someone on the phone. The witness said that an unknown individual came over to the apartment, but when Tank got to the door, the person was driving away. Tank then ran to up with the car, got into it, and they drove off. Unfortunately, we don't have access to a description of the car or the person that was seen at his front door that day. Valdosta police have said that they've exhausted all leads. They've followed up on any and all tips they've received through the family, through anonymous sources, and the search has led them across multiple jurisdictions, but there's just no answer as to why or how tank disappeared. His family

has conducted their own searches, passed out flyers, and on his 31st birthday in April of 2025, a billboard was placed in nearby Remerton, Georgia. But sadly, the billboard has not yet helped the family get any answers. His mom Tamara has said, this has really changed our life. It's hurting, and I just want closure. I just want to know where my baby is. Just give us closure so we can go on with life because this is hurting. Derek Tank Evans Jr. is a black male. At the time of his disappearance, his black hair had been dyed a bright pink color. He has brown eyes. His ears are pierced and he has a rose tattooed on his back and stars tattooed on his arms. He is five foot 11 inches tall and weighs 198 pounds. As always, we will share photos of Tank this week, so please check

out our Instagram at Sins and Survivors to see and share his photos. He was last seen wearing a t-shirt with cartoon figures on it, Nike shorts, and Nike Air Force ones. He was 26 years old at the time of his disappearance, and in April of 2026, he'll turn 32. If you have any information, you can contact Valdosta PD at 229-29-29-293-3-1-4-5 or submit a tip anonymously at 229-29-293-3091. You can contact the family through the missing Derek Leshune Evans Jr. Facebook page, and we'll have a link in our sources this week. camera has said, if you hear anything, you know anything, you don't have to reach out to me, reach out to the detective, anybody. I don't care if it's a stranger on the street. If you feel

like leaving that message with a stranger would help us, help because we need it. We're going to pause here and take a short break, but we'll be right back with the rest of our cases from missing at the holidays. Our next case is the disappearance of 23-year-old Brenda Gail Lambert, Missing from Blue Well, West Virginia in Mercer County on July 26, 1992. This case has more twists and turns than a West Virginia road, and it definitely needs an expanded explanation, but for now, we're going to focus on Brenda's disappearance. Brenda was born December 26, 1969, so she was 23 when she disappeared. She had six brothers and sisters, including her brother Tim Christian, and her sister, Christy Kennedy.

They have done an amazing job of keeping up. the search for their sister. According to her family, she was a bit of a tomboy and she was very feisty. She quit high school at the age of 15 and ended up getting married to a man named Raymond Lambert in 1986. Her first child, a daughter, was born shortly thereafter, and her family all talk about what an amazing mother she was. She had another child, a son, in 1991. Unfortunately, Brenda was often on the receiving end of domestic violence from Lambert, including strangulation and physical violence. In 1992, the two were separated,

and Raymond had started a relationship with Brenda's cousin, Tammy, who he would later marry. The month of her son's first birthday, July 1992, she filed a report with the police on the abuse, but then dropped it immediately thereafter. According to her sister, Raymond had threatened to kill her if she didn't. When Brenda and her family threw a first birthday party for her son, both Raymond and Tammy showed up uninvited

and then after the party they took the kids with them to stay at Raymond's parents' house which seemed very strange to everybody in attendance. The party ended around nine when the final guests left and she would have been in the house alone that night with the kids at Raymond's parents and she's never been seen since. Around 11 p.m., Raymond showed up at one of her sister's homes apparently worried that Brenda was missing. He claimed that he stopped by,

the house, but she wasn't there. The next morning, her family went to the house to check on her. Her car was in the driveway. All of her belongings were there, her purse, her keys, everything. But no Brenda. They called the police, and Raymond told the police that she was dating someone else and may have just taken off with him, which her family strongly disputes. They said she would never just leave her children. This also reminds me of a case we covered recently, the disappearance of Diana Leone. He also said that her boyfriend was a man named Mark or something.

Another local man named Mark Cook disappeared in January of 1993 and there was a tip to the police that made them think that Brenda and Mark were involved but there has never been any proof of that. In the 33 years since her disappearance no suspects have been named in the case

and according to her family it has simply been passed from one detective to the next with no resolution, which would give her family the closure they need. As of 2025, it's been 33 years, and her sister doesn't believe that Brenda is likely to be found alive, sadly. Her family very much wants to learn what happened to her, and are offering a $10,000 reward for the location of her remains. They also promise amnesty and not to pursue charges against anyone responsible. They just want to find out what happened. If you know

anything about Brenda's whereabouts, her family asks you to contact the Mercer County Sheriff at 304-487-8364. We will also share photos of Brenda. She was five feet, two inches tall, and 110 pounds, with black hair and blue eyes. The next story we have to share this week is Aisha Jackson, a young woman who went missing just two weeks before her 23rd birthday. According to her brother, Aisha is a quiet person who loves to dance. She's happy go lucky, and she has a certain special something that when she enters a room, everything changes. Her family has not heard from her since November 4th, 2020. I reviewed several news reports about Aisha's disappearance, and to me, the timeline is muddy, but the police released an update this past October

2025. Aisha lived in southern Arkansas, just north of the border with Louisiana. She was last seen at a Halloween party in El Dorado, Arkansas, on the night of October 31st, 2020, and there are some photos of her from this event. We know that her mom has said that on November 2nd, after not being able to reach her daughter, she went to her apartment. She found the door open and Aisha's wallet and cell phone inside. Now Aisha's uncle said that she drove to Houston with him on November 3rd, which is about six hours away from El Dorado, Arkansas. and they returned to El Dorado on November 4th. Her uncle said he dropped her off at her place around 9 p.m. that night. Aisha herself didn't have a car or a driver's license,

and it's obvious to her mom and the authorities that whatever happened to her, she didn't leave on her own. The police have executed search warrants, searched wooded areas with ATVs, canines, cadaver dogs, even drones. The family has done their own searches on foot as well. There was apparently a lot of false information and rumors that the police were forced to follow up on in this case. And in December of 2020, a man was even arrested for trying to extort money out of the family, claiming that he had information about Aisha's whereabouts and trying

to get them to give him $8,000. Both state and federal agencies have been involved in the search for Aisha. I don't know the specifics of whatever evidence they collected, but there must have been some info or items they obtained that have caused them to believe that the worst has happened to her. One of Aisha's boyfriends named Samaji Dismook was arrested in December of 2020 in connection with her disappearance on the suspicion of murder. However, he was not formally charged by prosecutors and was released in February of 2021. Aisha and Samajai had recently broken up and prior to her disappearance, she had told the police that he had broken into her apartment twice in the same week. He is currently incarcerated for an unrelated criminal charge. And as of October

2025, the family has a private investigator looking into her disappearance. Light the Way sponsored a billboard for the family in April of 2024, but it's been five years and there's been no answers. Aisha's Facebook page, her personal page still exists, and the quote she chose to put in her intro says, always keep your faith up and keep pushing no matter why. what. Aisha was born on November 16th, 1997, which would make her 22 years old, but almost 23 when she disappeared. She's a black woman. Today she'd be 28 years old. She's 5'2, 115 pounds. And at the time she disappeared, her hair was long. Her black hair was long and in braids. And her eyes are brown. And she has several distinctive tattoos. On her left chest, there's a heart with a dove behind it

that says love or loves. On her stomach and hip, there's a floral design with vines and ribbon and flowers that starts at her right hip area and goes under her belly button, and she has a rose behind her right ear. She also has a condition called Vidaligo, which is where the skin loses pigment in white patches, and the patches can be seen on her face and on her body. She has multiple piercings in both ears and a piercing on the right side of her nose. At the time she disappeared, records state she was wearing a white t-shirt with red dye splotches, a short black tool skirt, and black pattern tights. To me, this sounds like what she was wearing on Halloween and possibly not what she was wearing November 3rd or 4th when she might have gone missing.

We will, of course, share her photos and a missing poster on our social media this week. So be sure to share those and help spread the word so her family can finally get answers. Parents United Against Youth Violence have sponsored a $10,000 reward, and you can text or call in tips anonymously to 870-440-000-000. You can also contact Sergeant Shelley Rowland at El Dorado Police at 870-881-481 or the Union County Sheriff at 870-864-1970 or Eldorado Crime Stoppers at 870. 7-80-863-I-N-F-O. Aisha's mom, Laquita, has said,

this is still not resting in my heart. My heart is still hurting to see if she's still out there. Her grandma Ernestine says, Aisha, just no, baby. We aren't going to stop until you are back home. Please support this family, especially during the holidays, by sharing Aisha's photo

and following the Bring Aisha Jackson Home Facebook page. We're going to pause here for our last break and we'll be right back with our final case of missing at the holidays. Our last case today is the disappearance of Lauren Steele, a sex trafficking victim who went missing on August 5th, 2004. Lauren was born August 31st, 1988, and she's originally from New York, but was living in Carlyle, Pennsylvania.

She's a white female, 37 years old, five feet four inches tall, with green eyes and strawberry blonde hair. She has tattoos on her right shoulder, left forearm, left torso and left thigh, and when we share photos, we'll share photos where you can see the tattoos because they're pretty identifiable. Originally, she had rented a room where she was living in Virginia, and the people she rented it to turned out to be sex traffickers. Eventually, she was able to escape and she let her family know that she was safe, but she always kept moving, afraid that they would find her and hurt her

or her family. On August 5, 2004, she left home telling her family she was going to Las Vegas, to get treatment as a human trafficking survivor. She was booked on a flight, the flight turned out to be delayed due to weather, and she was put up in a hotel by the airline. That night, she called her mom and told her that there was a man outside the room who was going to help her get to the airport,

and that was the last time that she was heard from. Strangely, her phone arrived in Las Vegas, but there's no record of her having been on the flight. She is classified as missing and endangered in Pennsylvania, but since there's no proof that she actually arrived here in Las Vegas, Metro won't engage in any search activities because, as you're well aware, 300 people go missing here in Las Vegas each month. Her family believes she's still alive, but her brother especially thinks she might still be being sex trafficked. She is known to suffer from mental health issues and has had substance abuse issues as well. If you have any information on her whereabouts, please contact the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation at 570-589-5-4-227. This coming January 26, 2006, is the second annual Missing in Nevada Day.

We participated in the first annual Missing in Nevada Day about a year ago, and we set up our booth for our podcast at the event and met several family. who were looking for their missing loved ones. Currently, there are 300 unclaimed persons here in Nevada, and there are currently more than 25,000 people missing. This event helps identify people and help get their family the closure they need. Last year at the event, they filed 10 new missing person reports. They reunified multiple families with loved ones who were still alive, and they provided two death certifications for,

loved ones who are unclaimed. And the process is, if you have a missing loved one, you can come to the event with photos, forensic sketches, records, like medical records, dental records, and DNA samples can be donated, person's last known location and any photographs, and it can all be uploaded into a database. Melanie Rouse, the Clark County coroner, said, every family deserves answers, and every missing loved one deserves to be remembered. Missing in Nevada Day is about opening doors, providing support, and ensuring that no family has to navigate this journey alone. We are committed to doing everything we can to bring closure, healing, and hope. We're really looking forward to attending the event this year and connecting with more

families who are seeking answers. The event will be held on the 26th of January from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at UNLV's University Gateway Building near the northeast corner of Maryland Parkway and Dorothy Avenue. Participants who are unable to attend the event in person but want to provide information can email missing Nevada at clark county nv.gov. I just want to take a second and add that we are sending love to all the families we know who are grieving the loss of a loved one this year. We are so thankful for all the love and support we've received this year and we appreciate the connections we have made and we want to say thank you to our podcast colleagues

who are passionate about justice for families and keep these names out there and support these families in their darkest times. As we say, what happens here, happens everywhere. Thanks as always for listening, and we wish you all the best in 2026. co slash subscribe for exclusive bonus content and to listen ad free. Remember to like and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and threads at Sins and Survivors. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice. You can contact us at Questions at Sins and Survivors.com. If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence or need

support, please reach out to local resources or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources is available on our website, sins and survivors.com. Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research written and produced by your hosts, Sean and John. The information shared in this podcast

is accurate at the time of recording. If you have questions, concerns, or corrections, please email us. Links to source material for this episode can be found on our website, sins and survivors.com. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast creators,

hosts, and their guests. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not constitute legal advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with legal professionals for guidance.