Lenoria Eleise Anne "Noria" Jones was a young girl who vanished in 1995.
Background[]
Noria Jones was born on January 3, 1992. She was addicted to cocaine and her father's identity is unknown. Noria’s mother gave her to relatives in Spokane, Washington after she was born and the two would never live together. By 1995 her mother had terminated her legal rights to Noria. At the time of her disappearance, Noria’s mother lived in Arkansas.
After spending the first two years of her life with the relatives her mother had gave her to, Noria was placed in the care of her great aunt, Berlean Williams. Berlean had legal custody of Noria and was in the process of adopting her. She also ran a day care centre. Berlean and Noria were living on the 1900 block of South Sheridan Avenue in the Hilltop neighbourhood when Noria vanished.
Two days before her disappearance, Noria’s mother had called hopping to speak to her but Berlean would not let her. Noria had also started taking Norphramin, which was prescribed due to her ADHD, a few days before her disappearance.
Case[]
Noria was last seen with Berlean in Tacoma, Washington on July 20, 1995. Berlean called her daughter at 8:47 a.m. that day and said that she did not know were Noria was. She then reported Noria missing at 9:42 a.m. She was not able to explain why she had waited an hour to report Noria missing to police.
Berlean’s first story as to why Noria was missing was that she had disappeared from the Target store on 23d Street in Tacoma earlier that day. Authorities believed this until they checked CCTV footage from the store and saw that Berlean had entered the store alone and that Noria was not there at all. After this, Berlean changed her story multiple times claiming that Noria had wandered away from the house, that she was abducted from the Target parking lot and that she was abducted from near their home. Berlean eventually told authorities that Noria was safe and living at an undisclosed location.
Authorities placed Berlean under house arrest for four months after Noria’s disappearance for failure to provide information. Her day care centre was also shut down by the state. Berlean has never been charged in Noria’s disappearance though and her lawyer claims that her stories differ due to ‘badgering’ by law enforcement.
Most other members of Noria’s family have been ruled out by investigators. Some investigators believe that Noria is alive at an unknown location while others believe that foul play is involved in her case.
Some investigators have theorized that Noria may have accidentally died of a Norphramin overdose and that Berlean panicked and hid her body. Norphramin is a tricycle antidepressant and was prescribed to Noria to treat her ADHD. It is not a drug that is usually given for children and is usually only used for ADHD when stimulant medications have failed to treat its symptoms. There are a number of side effect that can occur within the first few days of taking Norphramin including seizures and death. Despite this, there is no evidence to support this theory.
Noria’s case remains unsolved.
Characteristics[]
- Black, braided hair.
- Brown eyes.
- ADHD
- Born addicted to cocaine.
Clothing[]
- Blue or turquoise pants.
- Black T-shirt with Barney on it.
Sources[]
- Noria Jones at NamUs
- Noria Jones at NCMEC
- Noria Jones at the Charley Project
- Noria Jones at the Doe Network