The family of Felicia Marie Johnson, 24, is asking for help following her disappearance on April 15. Her bloody cell phone was recovered near a park in West Houston, raising suspicion that there may have been foul play.
Johnson traveled to Houston, Texas from California in the hopes of finding a job at the Cover Girls Night Club, according to Quanell X, the leader of the New Black Panther Nation in Houston. The 24-year-old called an Uber after leaving the club but when it took too long to arrive, a man at the club offered her a ride, X added.
“Felicia has not been seen since. No cell phone activity, no credit card activity, no social media activity. She has absolutely just vanished off the face of the earth,” Quanell X said during a press conference on April 20.
He also said his organization has been looking into Johnson’s disappearance alongside a private investigator hired by the family. The family’s P.I. is the one who found Johnson’s cell phone covered in blood and on the side of the road at Bear Creek Park in West Houston, according to Quanell X.
“I’m trying to hold myself together and stand strong for the family and for you,” Johnson’s father, Kevin Johnson, said at the press conference. “And I won’t rest for a day in my life until I have you back. It’s a tragedy that you’ve been caught up in this.”
The Houston Police Department (HPD) said Johnson’s disappearance is considered a missing person case but they haven’t said if they suspect foul play, according to CNN.
“We believe that she is the victim of foul play. We believe that she’s being held against her will,” Quanell X said, according to the outlet. “But we want whoever is holding her to know that we will not rest. We will not stop looking. We will continue looking for her. We will continue hunting you. No matter what takes place. We will continue hunting you and we will not forget Felicia.”
Quannell X told The Daily Beast that the FBI is now involved in the case. He also referred to Johnson’s disappearance as part of “an epidemic in Houston, with Black girls going missing and coming up murdered.” He said Johnson is the fifth Black woman to be missing and that the previous four were all found murdered in just the past five months. “It seems like when young Black females go missing in the city – it’s not a priority,” he said.
Johnson has long black hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion. She had a butterfly and a pair of roses tattooed on her right shoulder. Anyone with information concerning her disappearance can call the Houston Police Department at (713) 884-3131, the Houston Police Missing Persons Division at (832) 394-1840, or Texas EquuSearch at (281) 309-9500.