Chicago police detectives want to speak to a man to learn what he knows about a woman and a teenage girl who went missing on the West Side and were later found dead, police sources said Wednesday.
Police have issued an “investigative alert” for the man, who traveled out of state after he knew he was being sought for questioning.
The investigation is focusing on the deaths of Shantieya Smith, 26, and Sadaria Davis, 15. The man, who has a felony drug conviction, was seen with both of them before they died, the sources said.
Smith was last seen alive on May 25 in the 1600 block of South Central Park. Davis was last seen on April 27 in the 4200 block of West Adams.
Their disappearances — and deaths — have captured the attention of residents of the West Side. Robin Hood, a local pastor, has called the cases “terrifying.” Some residents have suggested the deaths might have been the work of a serial killer. Police say they don’t have any evidence of that.
At a vigil Wednesday evening, Hood said that he didn’t believe police were taking the cases seriously. He also brushed aside any potential link to prostitution.
“Instead of looking at this as four people, four girls, two of them found dead, there are women missing in the city of Chicago and the only evidence you could come up with is that they got high? Or they were prostituting?” Hood said. “That’s disrespectful to our community.”
At least three other girls, ages 15 to 17, have also been reported missing on the West Side since March. They’ve all been found, police said.
Neither Smith nor Davis appeared to suffer from trauma to their bodies, police sources said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office is continuing to investigate how they died. The office is awaiting the results of toxicology tests that could determine if drugs were a factor.
Davis was found dead on May 11 in an abandoned house in the 200 block of South Hamlin in West Garfield Park.
At a news conference Wednesday on the West Side, Smith’s mother, Latonya Moore, discussed the horror of learning her daughter’s body was discovered on June 7 in the 1800 block of South Central Park in Lawndale.
“Somebody had told me there was a body down in the garage,” Moore said. “I went down the street, and that’s how I ended up finding out.”
Moore was also critical of the police investigation into her daughter’s disappearance.
“I feel like they haven’t really been doing anything. I’m doing more than they doing. I’ve been looking in abandoned buildings for my daughter. I’ve been passing out fliers . . . Why haven’t you called back and said anything to me, period? I need answers, and I’m going to get answers for Shantieya Smith.”
Contributing: Rachel Hinton
