Out of Touch: Where is Sheena Gibbs?

Sheena Gibbs had endured a lot, but she was a survivor. A battle with cancer,  troubled relationships, and the stress of a sick family member were weighing on her mind in late 2021. But she remained grateful and dedicated to her family, and was living in Chicago, IL.

When she failed to make contact with her family, who lived in rural Iowa, her family wasn't immediately alarmed. It wasn't uncommon for Sheena to fall off the radar for a while only to resurface later to check in.

But then her birthday passed. Then Thanksgiving. It was then that Sheena's family started to fear something was terribly wrong. 

In today's episode, I analyze Sheena's last known movements-motel stays, phone pings, and spotty texts to friends. and work to put the pieces of this very complicated puzzle together.

Sheena Gibbs is an endangered missing person. If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Sheena Gibbs, please contact the Chicago Police Department at 312-744-8266.

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One Minute and Forty-Three Seconds is dedicated to my number one fan. Thank you, Dad. I love you, and I miss you. 

Transcript

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Hello, and welcome to episode sixty-five of 1 Minute and 43 Seconds, a True Unsolved Mysteries podcast. Today I want to talk to you about a case that is local to me. It's a missing person's case, and it's one that is in dire need of attention and further investigation. Sheena Louise Gibbs was 39 years old when she went missing from Chicago in November of 2021. It's been nearly five years since this woman, highly educated and by all accounts driven and ambitious, stopped contacting her family. This was highly uncharacteristic of her typical behavior. Sheena had a lot going for her. A great educational background, caring and dedicated to the causes she cared about. A beautiful smile and known by her friends to be the life of the party. However, Sheena Gibbs had her fair share of difficult moments and was no stranger to hardships. While the details in Sheena's case are frustratingly few, there are some clues, some pieces of the puzzle we can attempt to put together in hopes that someone somewhere has the missing links to complete it. So let's break down what we know about Sheena's life and her disappearance. Sheena was born on november sixteenth, nineteen eighty one. She grew up in rural Iowa, but moved to the great city of Chicago when she was twenty years old, which would be around two thousand and one. She went on to graduate school at the prestigious Northwestern University in the northern Chicago suburb of Evanston. She would eventually then attend Spoon River College. This is a public community college in Canton, Illinois, a smallish town with a population of just under fourteen thousand people. Canton is about two hundred miles southwest of Chicago. During her time at Spoon River College, she was the vice president of the Student Senate. Eventually, Sheena would graduate with honors. Sheena worked as a home health aide, and at some point she would take a job scheduling COVID tests at the University of Illinois Chicago, or UIC. This was actually her last known job prior to her disappearance. She was also very involved in social justice issues and was considered by those who knew her to be an activist. Now, as I mentioned previously, Sheena was not a stranger to hard times. When she was just 25 years old, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Globally, cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women, with roughly 660,000 new cases in 2022. Early diagnosis makes this particular cancer highly survivable. And Sheena did survive. She went through chemotherapy and radiation. At the time she was living in Chicago and with the family she did have back in Iowa, it was a process that she endured alone. Despite this, she was always in touch with her family back home. Sheena eventually became cancer free and ended up getting a hysterectomy. And for those who don't know, this is the removal of the uterus and cervix, often done after a cancer diagnosis. A friend of Sheena would share that Sheena remarked that she was, quote, changed forever after the procedure, that, quote, a part of her was damaged beyond repair, highlighting the emotional toll the operation had taken on her. True to her nature, although the cancer and subsequent hysterectomy would take its toll on Sheena, she used her experience to raise awareness so others could avoid the trauma that she had endured. On november seventh, twenty eighteen, Sheena posted the following message on her Facebook page. Quote, for my birthday this year, I'm asking for donations to fuck cancer. I've chosen this nonprofit because their mission means a lot to me, and I hope you'll consider contributing as a way to celebrate with me. Every little bit will help me reach my goal. I've included information about Fuck Cancer below. It would seem that Sheena's experience with cancer would drastically change her. Her friends stated that she started a pattern of dating men who were quote troubled. In fact, she would go on to begin dating a man in June of 2021 who was reportedly and allegedly abusive, with Sheena sharing with a friend that the man threw a coffee mug at her during an argument. Sheena went from positive and cheerful to withdrawn and increasingly distant. According to her aunt, it wasn't uncommon for Sheena to drop out of contact for periods of time, only to resurface later. Still, she maintained contact with her family, although spotty. It's unclear where Sheena was living or what exactly she was up to in mid 2021. In September of that year, Sheena's mom, who lived in Iowa, started experiencing some health problems that required care. Her family was unwilling to put her in a nursing home, and Sheena, being the caring person that she was, decided she was going to make a move from Chicago to Iowa to care for her mother. She had power of attorney of her mom's health care. At the time of her disappearance, Sheena hadn't yet moved, but was routinely traveling between Iowa and Chicago. Now I've seen some inconsistencies reported in this case, and thankfully I was able to clear them up. This was thanks to an interview I found with Leela Tarver, which is Sheena's aunt, and she was speaking to our Quad Cities. I'll certainly provide a link to that in the description so you can watch for yourself. But one of these inconsistencies is transportation. There are sources that state Sheena was planning to drive to Iowa to be with her mother, but her aunt confirmed she did not have a car, and her usual mode of transportation between Chicago and Iowa was via bus. So let's get into the timeline of Sheena's disappearance. According to a friend of Sheena's, she had become friends with an Uber driver around the time she went missing. This is someone she had met and would call for rides every so often. Apparently, they also occasionally went out to eat together. And if I'm interpreting this information correctly, the Uber driver was one of the last people, if not the last person, to see Sheena. He indicated the last time he saw her, he took her to the Edgebrook Motel. This is located at Tui and Caldwell Avenue. This is just barely still in the city of Chicago, just bordering the village of Niles. But she didn't stay there. It's unclear how long Sheena was at the Edgebrook Motel or why, but the Uber driver reported that he then dropped her off at the Greenleaf House. This is located at Greenleaf Avenue and Sheridan Road in the Rogers Park neighborhood in Chicago. And this is basically a straight shot east, about six point five miles from the Edgebrook. It was confirmed that Sheena stayed at the Greenleaf House from November first to the fifth, twenty twenty one. The next contact was with Sheena's cousin on November third. She told her cousin that she had planned to return to Iowa the next day, the fourth, but she never traveled to Iowa, and records showed that Sheena checked out of the hotel on november fifth. The next and final text from Sheena's phone came through on november eighth. This was a text to a friend, and in it she stated she was planning to return to Iowa. It's unclear at this point when Sheena planned to travel to Iowa, and we know she never did travel there. There wasn't a record of a bus ticket being purchased. Furthermore, it's not even confirmed that this text even came from Sheena herself. When Sheena didn't show up in Iowa as she said she would, her family was not immediately alarmed. They stated that although Sheena was in regular contact with them, it wasn't abnormal, as I stated earlier, for her to drop off the radar once in a while, only to resurface later completely okay. But then her birthday rolled around, november sixteenth. This was her fortieth birthday, and there was still no word from her. Relatives and friends alike tried calling her, but all their calls went straight to voicemail. In December 2021, police were informed of the hostel stay and the Uber driver. Based on investigations carried out by Sheena's friends, the hotel did have surveillance, but annoyingly, police didn't rush there to get the footage. I think you know where this is going. By the time the police paid the hotel a visit, the surveillance footage no longer existed. Now you might be wondering, did anyone speak to Sheena's boyfriend at the time, the one who was allegedly abusive? And yes. He stated that the two of them got into an argument and he ended up kicking Sheena out of the apartment. While it's completely understandable to be skeptical of this man who has not been named publicly, this could explain why Sheena was staying at the Greenleaf Hotel, if what her boyfriend was saying is true. The next step came after persistent insistence from Sheena's family that police looked into Sheena's phone records. Finally, police relented and obtained a copy. And what the phone records would show would further deepen the mystery. After she left the Greenleaf hostel on november fifth, her phone traveled to Evanston, Illinois. Evanston is a northern suburb of Chicago and about four point five miles from Greenleaf House, and there's a bus route that travels to Evanston from there. It's unclear why Sheena would have been in Evanston. Sources say she had no known connections. However, if you recall from earlier, I mentioned that Sheena graduated from Northwestern University, which is located in Evanston. Still, it's unclear if that had anything to do with the fact she was there on november fifth. Upon further digging, another phone ping was discovered. This was on november tenth, five days later, in a place called Winthrop Harbor. Winthrop Harbor is a village in Lake County, Illinois. It's just south of the Wisconsin border and about sixty miles north of downtown Chicago. As of twenty twenty, Winthrop Harbor had a population of a bit under 7,000. A quick look on Google Maps shows a cozy town nestled in the corner of Illinois, right along Lake Michigan. A line of forest preserves and greenery separate the town from the lake and marinas. Again, it was stated that Sheena had no known connection to this area, so what on earth was she doing there? And with that final phone ping on november tenth, twenty twenty one, there has been no other sign of Sheena. So what's going on here? It's been just under five years since Sheena Gibbs was heard from, and there are so many questions. Why did Sheena not travel to Iowa on November fourth to visit as she told her family she had planned to? And another thing that I found interesting is that Sheena's aunt Leela, who I mentioned earlier, told our Quad Cities she had remarked in the days before her disappearance she had a job interview in the Chicago area. Leela thought it was a bit odd because Sheena was considering moving back, or she had decided she was going to move back to Iowa to care for her mother. So she thought it was a bit odd that she would be interviewing for a job in Chicago. But she didn't press the issue. Other questions Why was Sheena staying at the Greenleaf house in early November? Was this where she went after her boyfriend allegedly kicked her out? And some sources have actually said that she was seen with, quote, a guest. Why did Sheena stop at the Edgebrook Motel prior to going to the Greenleaf? Why did she travel to Evanston? And why did her phone ping in Winthrop Harbor? And was it even Sheena who sent that final text on november eighth, twenty twenty one? There are a lot of unknowns in this case, so let's get into the theories. The first of these is foul play, and this has its own little mini theories. Foul play is certainly a possibility. First, you have the boyfriend who was allegedly abusive. Did he have something to do with Sheena's disappearance beyond kicking her out of the apartment? I wonder if police ever checked on his movements in those early November days. Did Sheena and him reconnect only to have another argument that escalated? I want to be clear, there's no evidence that I know of that indicates this unnamed man was responsible for Sheena's disappearance. But the circumstances are worth looking into. Then you have Sheena's Uber driver friend. As I mentioned earlier, he was likely one of the last, if not the last, to see Sheena, when he gave her a ride to the two different motels on november first. Did the Uber driver, who likes Sheena's ex boyfriend, not been identified publicly, to my knowledge, have nefarious intentions with her? Did he want something beyond a friendship and Sheena rejected him? Without knowing this person's background, the people they were involved with, or really anything about him, there's not a lot to go on. Still, I have to hope that the police looked into this person, their history, and their movements in early November. Finally, another disturbing possibility has emerged in this case, and it comes from an article put out by Arquad Cities. This is the same publication I've mentioned previously that interviewed Sheena's aunt. The following excerpt caught my eye. Quote One of Sheena's friends who asked to remain anonymous told Arquad Cities that Sheena may be caught up in a group of people involved in human trafficking. This is yet another nugget of information that lacks any context, but it had to come from somewhere. The following is from Chicago.gov. Human trafficking exists when someone is compelled by force, fraud, andor coercion for the purposes of commercial sex and or forced labor. Domestic workers often face labor conditions that are indicators of a severe form of exploitation, human trafficking. If you have experienced these forms of abuse and or exploitation at the hands of your employer, you're entitled to help regardless of your age, race, or immigration status. Threats of abuse or violence, threats to harm family, physical or sexual abuse, restricted movement, constant supervision, change of promise job duties, lack of pay or severely underpaid, threats of deportation, withholding identification documents, and abusive labor conditions. According to Refugeforwomen.org, there is an estimated range of sixteen thousand to twenty five thousand women and girls that are trafficked annually in the Chicagoland area. A third of those are trafficked by age fifteen, and sixty two percent are trafficked by age eighteen. Furthermore, the top sex trafficking venues in Chicagoland are commercial or residential brothels, hotels and motels, escort services, online or illicit massage and spa businesses. What did this particular friend know about Sheena and those she associated with that led her to the belief she may have been trafficked? Her stops at the Edgebrook Motel and the Greenleaf House could be nothing more than a place for Sheena to stay after she fought with her boyfriend. Or it could be something more sinister, especially based on this anonymous friend's comment. Why didn't Sheena contact her family in the days when she was supposed to be traveling to Iowa? Was she being supervised or threatened? Back to the Refuge for Women website. It states that interstates serve as traffic trafficking corridors. So let's take a look at the map again. I plugged in the Greenleaf House, Evanston, and Winthrop Harbor into Google Maps. A quick drive on Sheridan Road would take you from the Greenleaf to Evanston. And from Evanston to Winthrop Harbor, if you remember, this is where Sheena's phone last pinged on november tenth. You have Interstate ninety four and highway forty one connecting the two. While Sheena didn't necessarily fall into the most common age range for trafficking victims, it's possible that she may have sought out an opportunity to make money out of desperation. The job interview that she allegedly mentioned to her aunt comes to mind. But until investigators determine who she was in touch with and what specifically led that anonymous friend to make her comment, this is another theory with a big question mark attached. Sheena had been through a lot, a battle with cancer, an allegedly abusive partner, and a mother whose health issues were taking their toll. Stress has been known to drive people into certain behaviors. Was this the case for Sheena? Did she feel like everything was becoming too much and she needed to get away? To start a new life? According to her loved ones, Sheena was a caring person, so it's hard to fathom that she'd abandon her family, especially in a time of need. Still, it's a theory worth mentioning. It has been four and a half years since anyone has seen or heard from Sheena Gibbs. A help find Sheena Gibbs Instagram page was last updated in November of 2023, nearly three years ago. This, combined with a lack of media attention or public awareness, paints a sad picture for a family that is still without answers. In 2022, a mural created by artist Damon Lamar Reed was unveiled at the Glenwood Bar in the Rogers Park neighborhood. The mural depicts Sheena's bright smile, a slight glimmer of hope that someone somewhere will recognize her and help to bring her home. Sheena Gibbs was about to turn forty years old at the time of her disappearance in 2021. If alive today, she would be forty four years old. Sheena is a black female with black hair, brown eyes, and pierced ears. At the time of her disappearance, she was five feet nine inches tall and approximately one hundred and eighty pounds. We'll be sharing Sheena's image on our social media, along with the proper department to contact if you have any information on her disappearance. I would ask for you to share her image. If Sheena is out there and enough people get their eyes on her picture, we just might be able to reach the right person. Thank you for taking time to listen to Sheena's story. This has been episode sixty five of one minute and forty three seconds, a true unsolved mysteries podcast. We'll see you in the next one.