Girl missing 45 weeks rejoins her family
Published: January 30, 2006
When Latoya Byrd wanted to figure out what to do with her life, she turned to a friend whom she’d met on a phone line for help.
The 15-year-old skipped town last year and moved to Newark, N.J., where her phone friend, Angelina, lived, said her cousin Kim Fuller Green.
There she began rooming with Angelina and her mother, without bothering to tell her family here in Philadelphia where she had gone.
It was 45 weeks ago yesterday that Latoya disappeared. During that time, Latoya’s father, Ricardo Byrd, said he had tried to interest the police and the media in the case.
Media attention on LaToyia Figuerora, a pregnant woman who was found slain, generated publicity about other missing minority persons such as Latoya Byrd.
Yesterday, at the Greater Bible Way Temple, 52nd Street near Media, Latoya reappeared - at a news conference organized by her family.
She had not been seen since last Easter Sunday, March 27, when she said she was going across town to Germantown.
Latoya is “my only child, and I never gave up on her,” said Ricardo Byrd, holding his daughter’s hand.
Throughout the press conference, Latoya stared at the floor, seemingly overwhelmed by the attention. She was dressed in jeans and a brown long-sleeve crew with silver designs.
“It’s been a really hard 10 months for me,” Ricardo Byrd said.
He remembered the call he received about 6 p.m. Saturday and heard the caller’s say: “Dad, it’s me, Toya.”
She told her father she wanted to return to her West Philly home.
“When I first heard her, I was shocked ’cause it’s been so long since I heard from her,” said Byrd, 42. “I really didn’t know who it was at the time.
“She left home because she was trying to get her life together,” Kim Green said.
Shortly after arriving in Newark, Latoya landed a job at a gas station, Green said. Everyone, including Angelina, knew her by a fictitious name, which Latoya still won’t reveal, her cousin said.
Latoya told Angelina and all the new friends she made in Newark that she was 20 years old, Green said.
When asked how Latoya could get paid without a Social Security number, Green replied, “I just don’t know.”
Latoya quit her job in the gas station when the weather turned cold, Green said. Since she was unable to pay rent, Angelina’s mother asked her to leave.
She then turned to another friend and asked if she could live with her and her family for three months until she returned home, Green said.
The friend’s mother became “suspicious” of Latoya because she was bonding with the younger children in the household, Green said, leading the woman to believe she wasn’t as old as she pretended to be.
The woman began to search missing-children databanks, state by state, and finally discovered Latoya’s picture, Green said.
The woman was “stunned,” according to Green.
She gave Latoya an ultimatum: Call your parents or I will call the missing-children’s hot line or the police, Green said.
That led to Latoya’s Saturday- night call to her father.
Ricardo Byrd, Green and Green’s daughter drove to Newark and picked up Latoya at Penn Station about 1 a.m. Saturday.
“We hugged her, hugged her, hugged her,” Green said last night. “We got her in the car and she went to sleep.”
Latoya has changed, Green said during yesterday’s press conference. “She’s a lot quieter. She’s gained some weight. Her face has gotten a lot thicker. She’s not doing a lot of talking.”
Investigators from Southwest Detectives were notified yesterday of Latoya’s reappearance, and visited the Byrd residence. They took Ricardo Byrd and Latoya to division headquarters, at 55th and Pine streets, for interviews.
Latoya was removed sometime yesterday from the missing-persons databank, Green said in a phone interview last night.
“We’ve been loving up on her all night,” she said.
Ricardo Byrd and church bishop Benjamin Peterson thanked the media for their assistance in reporting on Latoya’s disappearance.
“This here is a miracle,” Peterson said.
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