TiJae Baker, a 23-year-old Brooklynite, remains missing after disappearing a month-and-a-half ago while traveling to Washington, D.C. The soon-to-graduate art student went to the nation’s capital to meet with an online “client” who commissioned her to make posters.
On May 1, Baker left East New York at around 3:30 p.m. from the Linden Housing complex, where she stays with her mother Toquanna. Wearing a black sweater, white top and gray shorts, she traveled to Washington, D.C.’s Union Station. According to Baker’s mother, she got off. But she never checked in.
Exactly a month later, she resurfaced in Maryland, at a nail salon. There, Baker was seen calling her mother from the surveillance footage. In a terrified whisper, she asked her mom to come get her immediately. Toquanna Baker did just that, but by the time she reached Maryland, her daughter was gone.
The NYPD is continuing to investigate Baker’s disappearance with the help of Washington D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department.
On Monday, June 1, Toquanna Baker held a rally to drum up attention for her missing child. Joining her were city council members Charles Barron and Darlene Mealy.
“I just want my daughter to return,” said Toquanna Baker at the rally.
Those with information to bring TiJae home should contact the NYPD’s Crime Stopper’s Hotline at 1-800-577-8477 or 1-888-577-4782 for Spanish-speakers. She’s approximately 5-foot-7, 130 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. Tips can also be submitted via the Crime Stopper’s website https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift today by visiting: https://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w
NYC children need field trips to the library to learn HIW TO USE THE LIBRARY. They don’t know. 70 years ago, when I was in elementary school in Harlem, this was mandatory curriculum. However, it was before functional illiterates were given policy making positions in NYC’s Department of Miseducation