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19-Year-Old Black Lives Matter Activist Who Went Missing After Tweeting About Sexual Assault Is Found Dead
Tallahassee Police confirmed Oluwatoyin Salau's death Monday, also identifying a second victim as 75-year-old Victoria Sims.
A 19-year-old Black Lives Matter protester who disappeared after tweeting about an alleged sexual assault has been found dead more than a week later.
The family of Oluwatoyin Salau confirmed the young activist’s death Monday morning to The Tallahassee Democrat.
“I had a feeling that we were not going to find Toyin alive,” her friend Danaya Hemphill told the news outlet.
Tallahassee Police confirmed Salau’s death in a press release Monday morning, also announcing the identity of a second victim, 75-year-old Victoria Sims, who was found near Salau's body.
Authorities said they have a suspect, identified as 49-year-old Aaron Glee Jr., in custody.
It's not known what, if any, connection the two women had to one another.
Salau disappeared June 6 after last being seen near Wahnish Way and Orange Ave. in Tallahassee, according to a statement from the Tallahassee Police Department.
The same day she went missing, Salau tweeted about a man she alleged had molested her earlier that morning, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
Salau wrote that the man had offered to give her a ride back to a church where she had been seeking “refuge.”
“He came disguised as a man of God and ended up picking me up from nearby Saxon Street,” she tweeted. “I trusted the holy spirit to keep me safe.”
Salau, who said she had called police about the assault, did not post again.
Tallahassee Police have declined to release any further details in the case.
Over the weekend, police reported finding two people dead on Monday Road around 9:15 p.m. Saturday night. Although authorities did not name the victims, police said the bodies were discovered while following up on a “missing person case.”
Salau could often be seen at local protests reading the names of Black people killed by police, including George Floyd and Tony McDade.
“I don’t want their names gone in vain,” she said at one protest, according to the local paper.
Hemphill described her friend as “passionate” and “like a light in a dark room.”
“She was very vocal. She was loving, very spiritual, very caring,” she told the Tallahassee Democrat.
