Friends say they haven't heard from Toyin Salau since she tweeted about a sexual assault earlier this month.
Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau, a 19-year-old Black Lives Matter activist from Tallahassee, Florida, disappeared last week after posting a series of detailed tweets about a sexual assault. Now, family members say they are in the “grieving process” as police confirm she has been found dead and a suspect has been taken into custody.
Tallahassee Police Department confirmed Monday afternoon that Salau body was found, along with the body of 75-year-old Victoria Sims Saturday night. A suspect, 49-year-old Aaron Glee Jr., has been taken into custody in connection with their deaths.
Salau, who is originally from Nigeria, had been active in organizing protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death last month, reportedly leading her community in reciting the names of black people killed.
"Toyin was very passionate," her friend Danaya Hemphill, 22, told the Tallahassee Democrat. "She was very vocal she was very loving, very spiritual, very caring. She was like a light in a dark room. That was Toyin."
Earlier this month, Salau posted a series of tweets, in which she alleged she had suffered a sexual assault on her way to a church at which she may have been staying. "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 said she called the police after the assault. Salau hasn’t tweeted since.
She was last seen June 6 near Wahnish Way and Orange Avenue, according to the Tallahassee Police Department, and was classified a “missing adult.” Police also said a search effort was underway and community members including the Tallahassee Community Action Agency also conducted independent searches, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
The Tallahassee Police Department reported that “two deceased people were located” Saturday night during a “follow up investigation in a missing person case,” in a statement released Sunday. Many followers of the case took the statement to be confirmation of Salau’s death.
“All donations will now go to the family for expenses and assistance they need in the grieving process,” read a Monday morning update to the GoFundMe campaign led by Salau’s brother, Oluwaseyi “Seyi” Salau.
Salau’s brother later added the account was “created to assist my family in this tragic event.”
The GoFundMe page was disabled by the organizer Monday morning.
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