​It was 9:15 a.m. when my phone rang. Janteyl Johnson's older sister, Janel, was on the other end. ​Sobbing and barely able to speak, Janel said, "Claudia, they found Puff!"

I jumped out of my seat. My heart started pounding, and I felt a lump in my throat. Fearing the worst, I asked Janel to repeat herself. In a louder tone, she said, "They found Puff!" 

"Puff" is Janteyl's nickname. Her mom, Kyma, told me they called her that because she had puffy cheeks when she was little.

​I was afraid to ask Janel the obvious follow-up question, but just as I was about to, she said, "She's alive! Some woman apparently found her in San Antonio, Texas!"

Janteyl was 15 years old and five months pregnant when she disappeared from Newark, Delaware, on February 3, 2010. She left her family's apartment without any personal belongings except her phone. The Johnsons believe someone Janteyl knew and trusted convinced her to leave.

The official version from the New Castle County Police was that Janteyl had run away, possibly with an older man. However, investigators in Delaware and Texas now fear that she may be in a trafficking situation.

After a few minutes, Janel composed herself and began telling me the story.

According to Janel, that morning, her parents alerted New Castle County Police after her brother received information from a person who claimed to work at a domestic violence shelter in Texas and had supposedly spoken to a young woman who said her name was Janteyl Johnson and that she was missing from Delaware.

Please note: I have also been in contact with the person in Texas and confirmed the details with the San Antonio PD. They referred to her as a good Samaritan. 

The good Samaritan said that on March 21, 2022, she and another advocate stopped at a QuikTrip gas station on West Military Drive and U.S. 90 in San Antonio. There, she physically bumped into an African American woman in the restroom who was carrying a backpack and was on the verge of tears. 

She said the young woman appeared anxious and malnourished, so she offered her a ride to get something to eat at McDonald's. Afterward, she drove her to Walgreens and then to Levi Strauss Park so they could talk. These locations are all within a mile from the gas station.

​While at the park, the good Samaritan said she noticed the young woman had what appeared to be cigarette burns and a bite mark on her shoulder. She also said the woman told her she had "escaped" from a La Quinta Hotel not far from the QT gas station. She supposedly identified herself as Janteyl Johnson of Newark, Delaware, and said she was 27 and had an 11-year-old daughter, but she was not allowed to see her. 

​The good Samaritan said the young woman broke down when she talked about her family in Delaware because she had not seen them in many years. 

The good Samaritan claimed she offered to take the woman to a domestic violence shelter but had to drive her co-worker somewhere else first. She claimed the young woman asked to wait at the QT gas station, so she dropped her off and gave her money to buy a bottle of water. When she returned, the young woman was gone. The good Samaritan said she drove up and down Military Drive looking for her but to no avail. She also claimed to have spoken to an employee at the gas station and asked to see their surveillance video but was told no.

​When I asked if she had contacted the police, the good Samaritan said she called 911 after returning to the QT gas station but was instructed to contact the non-emergency number. 

​However, when I filed a public records request with San Antonio Police and the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, they could not find a 911 call matching the information provided by the good Samaritan. They also told me that non-emergency calls are not recorded.

The good Samaritan said she searched Janteyl's name online and was shocked to find news articles and missing posters detailing her 2010 disappearance. She said she kept looking for the young woman along Military Drive but did not find her. A couple of days later, she contacted Janteyl's family.

Janel said her parents immediately went to the New Castle County PD. They found the tip credible and sent several investigators to San Antonio to team up with the San Antonio PD Special Victim's Unit to search for Janteyl. My calls to NCCPD at the time went unanswered.

My videographer and I flew to San Antonio to follow the story. It would be the first of several trips to the Lone Star State on our own and with Janteyl's parents.

After talking to Janel, I contacted the good Samaritan. Four days passed before she responded.

​She told me she was a crisis intervention specialist (San Antonio Police did not confirm that) and said the young woman from the gas station appeared anxious, spoke quietly, was very hungry, and did not have a phone. Although there are discrepancies between what she said to Janteyl's family and what she told me, investigators found her credible. 

I asked if she would meet me in person once I arrived in San Antonio, and she agreed. She provided her contact information and said that because of a personal situation, she was staying at a domestic violence shelter. I assured her I would not reveal her identity or exact location.

Once we arrived in San Antonio, our first stop was at the QT gas station. We spoke to the manager the good Samaritan had mentioned and showed him a missing poster of Janteyl Johnson. He immediately said he had seen someone resembling Janteyl at another one of their stores but had no way of knowing she was a missing person. We left the flier just in case he saw her again. We waited outside the store for a few hours, hoping the young woman would show up. She did not, so we called it a night.
​

​​The next day, I contacted the good Samaritan, and she agreed to meet us at Levi Strauss Park near the gas station. We waited for her, but she did not show up. I called her, but she did not answer. I texted her, and she finally replied, saying she was having problems at the shelter and would not be able to meet us. The same thing happened over the next three days. We made one last attempt before returning home, but she stood us up again. We tried Facetiming, but she did not answer. 

Although investigators found her credible, it is unclear why neither the good Samaritan nor her co-worker called 911 while the young woman was with them. Perhaps the good Samaritan had too much going on in her personal life and chose not to get involved in Janteyl's case any further. Anything is possible, I guess.

San Antonio Police said detectives went to bus stops, apartment complexes, hotels, and homeless shelters looking for any sign of Janteyl and her child. They also verified information at other locations mentioned by the good Samaritan. 

​Before leaving San Antonio, we stopped at the QT one last time. We did not hear from the good Samaritan again, and she also stopped communicating with Janteyl's family.

Since Janteyl Johnson vanished in 2010, New Castle County Police have received dozens, if not hundreds, of leads regarding her possible whereabouts — the March 2022 tip from the good Samaritan in Texas being the most promising.

I returned to the Lone Star State in October 2022 to interview Officer Nick Solis of the San Antonio PD and to learn more about human trafficking in San Antonio.

"The good Samaritan was credible enough to launch this investigation and get this case from cold to hot," Solis told me. "Our detectives knew it was a good lead because they teamed up with New Castle [County] Police Department to go ahead and launch a full operation in trying to find Janteyl."

Detectives focused on the intersection of West Military Drive and U.S. Highway 90, near the QT gas station where the good Samaritan allegedly met the woman who identified herself as Janteyl Johnson of Delaware.

"Officers from New Castle and our Special Victim's Unit saturated that area, made plenty of stops, field contacts, and even arrests to people who could be Janteyl or know Janteyl," said Solis.

Detectives also went to multiple businesses in the area.

"They talked to managers of La Quinta and managers of the gas station; they really did a full investigation, and they didn't come up with anything," said Solis, "that's not to say it wasn't her [Janteyl] that one day, but in a city which I think is the seventh largest city in the nation, you never know, people come and go."

​According to Solis, one of the challenges with this investigation is that Janteyl could be using different aliases — there is no record of someone named Janteyl Johnson giving birth in San Antonio or having a history with Child Protective Services.

"She told the good Samaritan she had a child and that it was taken away from her. When Janteyl went missing, she was pregnant, so who knows if it's that child or another born after that." 

However, if that was Janteyl, she gave the good Samaritan her real name and age and said she was missing from Delaware. She told the truth.

It is also imperative to remind the public that Janteyl was only 15 years old and five months pregnant when she vanished in 2010. Therefore, if that was Janteyl, maybe she was referring to the person responsible for her disappearance as the one who refuses to let her see her child.

​Furthermore, investigators believe that the young woman, whoever she was, could be a victim of human trafficking.

"She said something to the good Samaritan...she was being trafficked out of a local motel/hotel here in San Antonio," said Solis, "whenever there's a tip for that, it goes to the San Antonio PD, and an SVU detective has to look into it."

​​Human trafficking is defined as the unlawful act of transporting or coercing people in order to benefit from their work or service, typically in the form of forced labor or sexual exploitation. 

According to experts, Texas ranks second in the U.S. when it comes to human trafficking, with most cases happening in what is known as the "Texas Triangle," which connects the Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas-Forth Worth metro areas. 

The San Antonio PD has a unit assigned to investigate human trafficking. Texas law also requires certain businesses, like transportation hubs, hospitals, tattoo parlors, and massage establishments, to post signs with the National Human Trafficking Hotline number near the public entrance or in private areas available to clientele, such as restrooms. 

​"It [human trafficking] is a big issue; you see it a lot. That's why they take every lead seriously," said Solis, "even that small thing that Janteyl said to the good Samaritan, our detective still had to go to the motel/hotel and see for himself what was happening there."

Solis said investigators exhausted all leads and emphasized that because Janteyl is an adult, it is now up to her to contact authorities if she wants help. But that approach does not sit well with Dottie Laster, a nationally recognized expert in the field of human trafficking.

​"I understand police may be out of leads, but to expect her to rescue herself is unacceptable," Laster told me. "She did ask for help, and she didn't get it."

According to Polaris Project, a nonprofit organization that tracks human trafficking in North America and also operates the National Human Trafficking Hotline, anyone can be a victim, and contrary to popular belief, traffickers are not always strangers — they can be family members, including parents, and romantic partners, including spouses.

​New Castle County Police, the lead investigative agency on Janteyl's case, maintains that on the day she vanished, Feb. 3, 2010, Janteyl had been in contact by phone with several older men, including the alleged father of her unborn child. The last call she received was at 1:38 p.m., and it came from his number, according to investigators. 

​Public records show that he moved from Delaware to North Dakota in 2013 and relocated to Houston, Texas, in 2017. 

New Castle County Police told me everyone Janteyl communicated with the day she vanished remains a person of interest but stopped short of naming a suspect(s). ​

San Antonio Police are optimistic about finding Janteyl. They want her to know that  there are many resources available and they encourage her to come forward, said Solis. ​

"I hope the tip was right and the good Samaritan was right because if it was Janteyl, we're getting closer and closer to finding her." ​

​We returned to San Antonio for a third time in early December 2022 — nine months after the alleged sighting of Janteyl. This time, we traveled with her parents, Prennis and Kyma Johnson of Newark, Delaware. It was the first time the Johnsons had been to San Antonio since receiving the tip about their youngest daughter in March.

​"I've got faith that it's gonna work out. We're down here in Texas, she was spotted, and I'm gonna go off that. Y'all are looking, we're looking, and I'm just gonna hold on," said Prennis Johnson Sr.

We landed in Houston, rented a car, and spent a few hours distributing fliers at multiple truck stops and other locations. Houston is part of the Texas Triangle — San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas — where human trafficking is said to be highest in the state. Also, the last call Janteyl received the day she disappeared came from the alleged father of her unborn child who relocated to Houston nearly a decade ago.

​"To me, he's the prime suspect," said Prennis. However, New Castle County Police have not named any suspects. 

Given the information provided by the good Samaritan, who mentioned a potential trafficking element, we felt it necessary to drive through the infamous Bissonnet Street in southwest Houston, which is notorious for that type of activity. It was broad daylight, but the streets were full of young women. It was hard for the Johnsons to see this up close because it made them wonder: what if their daughter could be among them?   

The next day, we went with the Johnsons to the San Antonio Police Department, where they met privately with the detective who assisted NCCPD investigators with Janteyl's case. Their meeting lasted no more than 15 minutes. Afterward, the Johnsons told us the detective was stunned to see them in person, as he had not expected them to travel to San Antonio. They left the meeting feeling a mix of emotions.

Janteyl's mother, Kyma, expressed frustration at the lack of media coverage.

​"He said the media didn't take it up because there was no evidence or proof of something happening to her now," said Kyma, "but you know what happened to her at 15 years old. How did she get down here being a child with no resources and being pregnant? How did she get to San Antonio? Someone had to have brought her here!"

​​They also find it frustrating that detectives have not put more pressure on the alleged father of Janteyl's child. Did she give birth? Where is her child? The good Samaritan claimed the young woman said she had a daughter but was not allowed to see her. 

I contacted two men who were in contact with Janteyl the day she disappeared. One told me that he spoke with detectives multiple times. The other person, believed to be the father of Janteyl's child, has been harder to reach. I tried to speak with him in Houston in 2018, but stated that he is not interested in talking about his case or anything else. 

​The Johnsons want the detectives to do more. "Bring him in, harass him, do anything, get him to talk," said Prennis.

After the meeting, Janteyl's parents broke down outside the police station. It was heartbreaking to witness. It seemed all their emotions surfaced at once — sadness, anger, frustration, and the overwhelming sense of a missed opportunity to bring their daughter home. Though they appreciate the good Samaritan contacting their son, they wish she had called 911 immediately. 

​"I turn and look at my wife, and I see her [Janteyl]. I turn and look at my sons, and I see her," a tearful Prennis said, "it drives me insane because me being a father and the man of the house, they're all looking at me to do something, and I'm failing, and it hurts. They want me to bring my baby home, and I can't bring her home."
​

If you have information on this case, call the New Castle County Police at 1-302-395-8171 or San Antonio Police at 1-210-207-7273 ​

Thirteen years ago today, Janteyl Johnson, affectionately known as "Puff," vanished from her Newark, Delaware apartment. Investigators now believe she may be in Texas. San Antonio, Texas to be exact. 

The Johnsons believe Janteyl, who was five months pregnant, was lured away by the alleged father of her child — who also lives in Texas. However, New Castle County Police have not identified any suspects in the case.

​The Johnsons are determined to find their daughter. Based on information they received, they believe Janteyl and her child are still alive and living in Texas, possibly in San Antonio, against their will.

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 by someone she knew and thought she could trust. They remain hopeful that Janteyl 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 alone. 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, who was five months pregnant, pays at a self-checkout register. She exits the store at 12:31 p.m. and is talking on her cell phone. At one point, she stops to scratch her leg and then continues walking home. The two-and-a-half-minute clip is the last confirmed sighting of the teen. Janteyl vanished an hour later and has not been seen or heard from 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. 

"I can tell you that it's not normal what happened to her," said Detective Roberto Herrera in an exclusive interview.

​Herrera, a 19-year-veteran of the New Castle County Police Department, prioritized Janteyl's case 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. 

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 covered Janteyl's disappearance in 2010 for the outlet I used to work for. I interviewed her mother twice, but because investigators classified Janteyl as a runaway, my editors showed little interest in continuing coverage of the case. ​While some local papers in Delaware briefly mentioned Janteyl, 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. 

Herrera said everyone Janteyl spoke to the day she vanished is a person of interest but stopped short of naming a suspect. 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 have information about Janteyl's case call, New Castle County PD 1-302-395-2784​ or 1-800-THE LOST

​Funny, feisty, and full of love for her family is how Janel Kirby-Brinson describes her little sister, Janteyl Johnson.

​"Janteyl is a beautiful soul. She's the type of person that if you meet her, you will remember her," Janel told me during a recent interview at her North Philadelphia home.

Janteyl, affectionally known as Puff because of her puffy cheeks when she was a baby, was a typical teenager who enjoyed singing, dancing, and playing pranks on her siblings. She also ran track, loved to do hair, and was a big fan of Betty Boop.

Soft-spoken and shy, Janel, a mother of four, hasn't seen Janteyl in 12 years. She says talking about her disappearance is like pouring salt on an open wound. 

Janel was 23 and had two kids when Janteyl, then 15 and five months pregnant, vanished on Feb. 3, 2010. Janteyl's sudden disappearance also took its toll on her niece and nephew.

"Puff and my son were very close. He adored her! When she went missing they would sleep with her picture on their pillow"

Both are now teenagers and still ask about their aunt Puff.

The sisters shared a close bond. It was Janel who Janteyl first confided in about her pregnancy and asked if she would take her to the doctor for a test. When they got the results, they broke the news, first to their mom, before telling the rest of the family. 

​​"Of course, there was some disappointment because she got pregnant young. That would be disappointing for any family if their child got pregnant young," Janel said, "but there was no argument in the family. Everyone came to accept it. What can you do at this point? There was no getting rid of it; therefore, it was, okay, let's move forward.”

The family turned their attention to the alleged father of Janteyl's unborn child and were stunned to learn that he was a 27-year-old man who reportedly lied to Janteyl about his age.

​“She told me that he said he was much younger, closer to her age, and I asked her, 'Does he know about the baby?' She said, 'Yes.' " Janel said. 

Janteyl reportedly met the alleged father of her child in Wilmington, Delaware, where she and her family lived before moving 15 miles south to Newark in 2010. According to Janel, when Janteyl told him about the pregnancy, he panicked.

In Delaware, it is illegal for an adult (someone 18 or older) to have sex with a minor (a person 15 or younger), even if the sex is consensual.

The last incoming call to Janteyl's phone was at 1:38 p.m. the day she disappeared, New Castle County police confirm. Janel believes the call was from the baby's father, but investigators have not publicly released that information or the man's identity. According to police, citing Janteyl's phone records, not long after the last incoming call, Janteyl stopped answering her phone. Hours later, according to Janel, Janteyl's phone pinged near the home of one of the man's relatives. The pregnant teenager was never seen or heard from again.

"I believe he called her and said he wanted to talk to her about the baby, and it was his way of getting her in the car, and his way of going on with his plan…whatever his plan was. But I do not think his plan was for her to return.”

​Janteyl's case is complex. Unbeknownst to her family, in addition to the alleged father of her child, Janteyl was also communicating by phone with two other much older men the day she vanished, according to New Castle County police. However, because no witnesses came forward to say they saw her talking to or arguing with anyone or getting in a car, no concrete evidence makes clear what happened to Janteyl when she left the apartment. 

According to New Castle County police, of the three men Janteyl was in contact with that day, only one agreed to speak with investigators. The other two, including the alleged father of her child, have not been cooperative with the investigation then or now.

​“I can’t call him a man because a man wouldn’t do those things," Janel said. "It gives you a sense of anger because how dare you take the joy and life and future and freedom of my sister, and you still get to live your life?”

She also expressed her disgust with the other men who were contacting Janteyl.

"Why were you even talking to a 15-year-old child? What could you possibly have in common with her? She was a child!" 

Investigators have not publicly identified any of the men Janteyl was talking to and have not named any suspects in connection to her disappearance. Janel brings up a good point: Why were these men talking with a child? 
​
More to come...

I spent an interesting few weeks working on a few stories in Texas. As luck would have it, we stumbled upon an interesting bit of information possibly related to Janteyl's case. It may be something, or it may be nothing, but certainly worth checking out. I still need to confirm the information.

I used to work with a magnificent editor years ago. I asked him one day how he could make a story look so good when he barely had any 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 indeed stumbled upon many hidden treasures as we try to piece together what happened to Janteyl. Hopefully, the pieces of this puzzle come together soon.

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

I've been writing about the disappearance of Janteyl Johnson on this website since 2013. I'm also the only reporter who covered her case in 2010 when I worked at a news station in Philadelphia. I only mention that because it's disturbing that Janteyl's disappearance didn't generate much media coverage. She was only 15 and pregnant! Two children disappeared, and the media showed no interest in her story. 

​Nevertheless, ​today, the New Castle County Police finally added Janteyl to their list of cold cases. It's a good step, but 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. 

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?