EPISODE 476: Roberta Michels-Hopkins

In February of 1981, Roberta Michels-Hopkins, a 29-year-old mother of two, disappeared from Camden, New Jersey, without a trace. The story goes that she left her home, heading out to buy a pack of cigarettes, and never returned. Roberta's sister said she received a phone call from the man Roberta was in a relationship with, asking if she had seen or heard from Roberta. This phone call prompted her sister to try to report Roberta as missing. However, no official record of a missing persons report was filed until 41 years later. Roberta's sister was told that Roberta had the right to disappear if she wanted to. It was as if Roberta had vanished, slipping through the cracks of time, and her name became seemingly forgotten.

Roberta's son, who was an infant at the time of her disappearance, spent much of his childhood in foster care, lost in a world without answers. Years later, he had a daughter named Trinity, who would unknowingly step into a mystery much larger than she could have imagined. In 2019, just for fun, Trinity sent a DNA sample to one of those commercial databases, never expecting it to lead her to the unsettling truth that her grandmother had vanished and, shockingly, that no one had been searching for her.

What began as a simple curiosity soon became an obsession for Trinity. She dug deeper, uncovering a tangled web of unanswered questions and missing pieces. By 2022, she had ensured that Roberta's disappearance was finally acknowledged by law enforcement, officially reporting her grandmother as a missing person. But how did Roberta's story remain buried for so long? The mystery still lingers, and Trinity is determined to uncover the truth.

If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Roberta Michels-Hopkins, please contact Detective Geoffrey Chiumento of the Cinnaminson Township Police Department at 856-829-6667, ext. 2075, or the New Jersey State Police Missing Persons Unit at 609-882-2000, ext. 2554.

EPISODE 475: Tamala "Nikki" Wells

In early August 2012, 33-year-old Tamala “Nikki” Wells vanished from her Detroit, Michigan, home under mysterious circumstances, leaving her family in a state of confusion and despair. The last person to see Tamala, her boyfriend, claims she drove off from their home on the evening of August 6th in a white 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix, but after that, she disappeared without a trace.

The following morning, Tamala’s mother, Donna, received a chilling call from her young granddaughter. She revealed that Tamala had not come home, sparking immediate concern. Donna, who lived in Florida, rushed to Detroit to help search for her daughter. What followed was a series of unsettling discoveries. Tamala’s car, reportedly driven by her on the night she disappeared, was found abandoned in a different part of town, but Tamala herself was nowhere to be found.

As days turned into weeks, the case began to go cold. However, Tamala’s family believes that the investigation was mishandled from the start and that there is still hope of finding her. They are convinced that with a fresh look and renewed effort, this case could be solved.

If you have any information about the disappearance of Tamala "Nikki" Wells, please contact the Detroit Police Department at (313) 596-2200 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-Speak-Up.

EPISODE 474: Jeremy Lawrence

On August 20, 2023, 39-year-old Jeremy Lawrence visited his girlfriend and newborn daughter at St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth, Minnesota. After spending time with them, he left the hospital around 5:30 PM, planning to ride his ATV roughly 70 miles to his parents' home in Mountain Iron, Minnesota. About an hour later, around 6:30 PM, he was seen on surveillance footage. After 7 PM, his mother, Debbie, began to worry. She had expected him to return by that time. 

Debbie began calling Jeremy's phone, and just before 7:30 PM, Jeremy texted Debbie, asking, "What's up?" Minutes later, Jeremy was spotted on surveillance footage once again. At 7:34 PM, Jeremy replied to Debbie, "Not close. When do you think I left?" Then, at 7:49 PM, he texted again, "I'll call in a little while." However, the promised call never came, and Debbie's concern deepened as the hours passed without any word from her son. Starting around 9:00 PM, Debbie began repeatedly calling Jeremy, but there was no answer. She tried to reassure herself, thinking he might be unable to hear the calls over the noise of the ATV.

Around 10:00 PM, Jeremy finally picked up the phone. His brief and unsettling response, "Stop calling," was followed by the call abruptly ending. That was the last time Debbie would hear from her son. Jeremy's phone soon powered down or died. By the following morning, Jeremy had still not made it to his parents' home, prompting Debbie to report her son missing.

In the months that followed, questions about Jeremy's personal life and relationships emerged, leaving those closest to him searching for answers about what might have been happening in his life leading up to his disappearance. As of now, nearly 18 months later, his family and friends continue their search, holding onto hope that Jeremy will one day be found.

If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Jeremy Lawrence, please call the Duluth Police Department at 218-730-5400.

You can follow developments in Jeremy's case on the Find Jeremy Facebook page.