EXCLUSIVE: A tip from a good Samaritan sends Delaware detectives to Texas to search for Janteyl Johnson

Janteyl Johnson age progressed from 15 years old (left) to 30 years old (right). Courtesy: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

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March 23, 2022

​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!"

"San Antonio, Texas?" I asked Janel. "When, how, and what about her child? Was it really Janteyl?" Many questions ran through my mind, but when Janel said Texas, I knew it had to be a solid lead. As I previously reported on this site, the alleged father of Janteyl's child lives in Texas. Coincidence, or is there more to the story?

An updated missing poster of Janteyl Johnson from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

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.

Due to the sensitive nature of the case and the efforts that were taking place behind the scenes, we were careful about releasing information. I will explain how everything unfolded. 

The good Samaritan

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 Police Department. They found the tip credible and sent several investigators to San Antonio. They teamed 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.

San Antonio, Texas Trip 1

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 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.
​

This is the QuikTrip gas station on West Military Drive in San Antonio, Texas, where a good Samaritan said she met Janteyl Johnson.

​​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 she 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.

San Antonio, Texas Trip 2

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.

Officer Nick Solis of the San Antonio Police Department sat down for an exclusive interview on their role in Janteyl Johnson's case.

"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."

The Texas Triangle

​​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. 

Signs like these are displayed inside bathroom stalls at San Antonio International Airport.

​"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."

Laster has trained law enforcement nationwide on how to identify victims of human trafficking and trafficking patterns. Although she is not working on this case, she said putting the burden on a victim sends the wrong message.

"This is a child no matter her age now. She is still stuck at the age when she was taken, and we expect her to do the heavy lifting?" said Laster. "Assuming this was her, and we don't know if it was her, but if it was, she has been cut off from everything that would've allowed her to save herself."

Dottie Laster is a nationally recognized expert in the field of human trafficking.

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.

Furthermore, Black women and girls are more vulnerable to sex trafficking than other races — with 40% of all victims and survivors of sex trafficking found to be Black, according to a two-year study by the U.S. Department of Justice.

​"It's our responsibility as a society to work with them [police departments] to leave no stone unturned to find whoever that was that asked for help and didn't get it," said Laster, "you must understand...her asking for help...hopefully, it was her [Janteyl], that was an expensive request and if it's not successful, the pain and suffering she's gonna feel, I can't put words to."

Dottie Laster is a nationally recognized expert in the field of human trafficking. She is based in San Antonio, Texas.

​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." ​

The Johnsons travel to San Antonio to search for their daughter: "We miss you and want you home."

Prennis and Kyma Johnson traveled to San Antonio, Texas to search for their daughter Janteyl Johnson missing from Delaware since 2010.

​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?   

We then made the three-hour drive to San Antonio.

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.

"My baby girl is down here lost and hurt, and I can't...bring her home," said Prennis, fighting back tears. "I'm actually hurt, I'm hurting. To me, it seems like no one is really interested; that's how I feel. They keep saying that they've exhausted all leads."

Prennis and Kyma Johnson hand out fliers of their missing daughter, Janteyl, in the area where she was spotted in San Antonio, Texas.

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'm quite sure this guy knows where she's [Janteyl] at," said Prennis. "But the police, they won't help us, and they won't talk to him. They won't do anything!"

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 he refused to talk.

​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. 

"If she had contacted the police, someone could've at least gotten there — if Janteyl would've stuck around for a little while, somebody would've got there to see her and take her into custody," said Prennis.

People often forget the heavy toll having a missing child takes on a family. While the rest of the world keeps moving, the Johnsons' lives stopped the day Janteyl disappeared and have not been the same ever since.

​"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."
​

Prennis Johnson Sr., speaks with a young woman as he searches for his missing daughter, Janteyl Johnson, in San Antonio, Texas.

The Johnsons spent the next two days pounding the pavement and handing out fliers at the locations mentioned by investigators — homeless shelters, bus stops, apartment complexes, the park, the QuikTrip gas station, and hotels.

They also spoke with some homeless folks in the area and even spotted a young woman who resembled Janteyl. We all thought it might be her, but it was not.

Before we left Texas, I asked the Johnsons what they would say to the person(s) that knows what happened to Janteyl.

"Just tell me where she's at. Just let me see my baby. Let us see her, " said Prennis. "She's got her brothers and sisters waiting to see her. And her grandfather and uncles want to see her. Everybody is waiting for her."

The Johnsons also have a message for their daughter:

​"We're waiting on you baby! We love you and we miss you. We're here, we're not angry, we're not upset with you. We miss you and we want you 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 ​