Det. Roberto Herrera heads the missing persons division for New Castle County Police in Delaware. I sat down with him for an exclusive interview about Janteyl Johnson's case.
​

We know Janteyl, then 15 and five months pregnant, was communicating with several older men, including the father of her unborn child, the day she vanished. Investigators believe she may have left with one of those men. 
​

Janteyl's family doesn't believe she left on her own. They feel she was lured from their apartment and are holding out hope that she and her child will be found alive.
​

The security footage from what used to be a PathMark grocery store in Newark, Delaware, shows Janteyl Johnson, 15, walking in to buy candy. It's the middle of winter, Feb. 3, 2010. She's wearing a puffer jacket, blue jeans, and sneakers. Her braids are tied back in a ponytail.
​

Janteyl, five months pregnant at the time, pays at a self-checkout register. When she exits the store at 12:31 p.m., she's talking on her cell phone and stops to scratch her leg, then continues walking home. The two-and-a-half-minute clip is the last confirmed sighting of the teen. An hour later, Janteyl vanished from her family's apartment and has not been seen or heard from ever since. 

​​The never before seen video of Janteyl buying a bag of candy is a reminder that she was a child, and no one has been held accountable for her disappearance. 
​

​Herrera, a 19-year-veteran of the New Castle County Police Department, made Janteyl's case a priority when he took over the missing persons division in 2018. 
​

​A missing pregnant child should've made headlines, but Janteyl didn't get wall-to-wall media coverage. She didn't become a household name. There was no social media frenzy over her disappearance. Janteyl was barely mentioned in the news. A few online outlets have recently written about Janteyl, and a few podcasts have featured her story. 
​

But what if from the start, when it mattered most, Janteyl's disappearance had generated the type of media coverage that Gabby Petito or Lacy Peterson received? Perhaps Janteyl would've been found, and whoever's responsible for her disappearance would've been brought to justice by now. 
​

I first covered Janteyl's disappearance in 2010 for the outlet I worked for at the time. I interviewed her mother, twice, but because Janteyl was classified as a runaway, there was no further interest in covering her case. Some local papers in Delaware did mention Janteyl, but as far as extensive media coverage goes, her case got lost over the years.

We know Janteyl was talking to several older men the day she vanished, including the alleged father of her unborn child. Her family says he was the last person who called Janteyl and that her cell phone later pinged near his relative's home. Det. Herrera didn't confirm that information and has not named any suspects. Instead, he focused on the department's efforts to generate leads in the case.

​​“At the end of 2019 we put up a billboard in Delaware with her picture, and we also put her picture and information on a deck of playing cards and distributed them in jails and prisons in Delaware," said Herrera, "and we actually got a good lead that I cannot go into detail at this point.”

​Herrera wants Janteyl's family to know that she hasn't been forgotten. He feels this case can be solved, and is turning to the public for help.

IF YOU KNOW WHERE JANTEYL IS, PLEASE CALL 911 OR THE NEW CASTLE COUNTY POLICE AT: 302-395-2784​

May 25 is National Missing Children's Day. Please take a moment to share the picture of a missing child in your area. It takes a few seconds and it can really make a difference. 
​

I had an interesting few weeks working on a couple stories in Texas. As luck would have it, we stumbled upon an interesting situation possibly involving Janteyl's case. It may be something or it may be nothing but certainly worth checking out. There's no harm in that.

I used to work with a friend who was a magnificent editor. I asked him one day how he could make a story look so good when he had very little video to work with? He said, "Claudia, in the middle of all the trash, there's always a little hidden treasure." Yes, indeed.

We have certainly stumbled upon many hidden treasures along the way.

More to come...in the meantime, if you'd like to check out the story (different case) we just finished in Victoria, Texas, please go to my website: claudiariverotv.com

​As you know, I've been writing about Janteyl Johnson's disappearance here since 2013, but I was the only reporter who covered her disappearance in 2010 when I worked at news station in Philadelphia. It's a sad and troubling story. Today, the New Castle County Police finally added Janteyl to their list of cold cases. This is a good step. But you may be wondering what exactly does this mean?

The NCCPD posted an update about Janteyl on their Facebook page. It seems that more resources and a fresh pair of eyes will be focused on this investigation. In fact, many eyes have been focused on Janteyl—outside of NCCPD—since last year. This is long overdue. 

​It's important to clarify that Janteyl was 15, not 16, when she vanished, as is mentioned on the NCCPD Facebook page. Meanwhile, the information below explains, in general terms, what criteria must be met before the NCCPD Cold Case Homicide Squad re-examines a case.  ​

​The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children also revealed a new age-progession image of what Janteyl might look like today at age 23. ​

​You can follow my coverage of the case here and on TheVanishedPOdcast.

In the meantime, I'll continue adding new entries to this website on a regular basis. I'm also following some interesting information and hope to have an update here very soon. 

If you have any information about Janteyl Johnson, please do the right thing and contact the NCCPD Cold-Case Homicide Squad. You can remain anonymous. 302-395-2781 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333. What if this was your daughter? Wouldn't you want someone to come forward?