BALTIMORE, MD. — A Baltimore woman is on a desperate search to find her missing daughter.
Karen Hawkins worries her adult daughter might be in danger because she hasn't heard from her in more than a year.
Hawkins recalled how her 39-year-old daughter Marlena Craig was living with her and wanted to move out on her own.
In December 2020, Marlena packed her bags and headed to New York City.
Hawkins said her daughter called her after she arrived. It was the last time they ever spoke.
“She talked to me, and the only thing she said is, I love you, I love Eden. That’s her younger sister, and then after that I tried to call the number back, the number was disconnected. and I haven’t seen or heard from her since,” Hawkins said.
Not only did Marlena's cellphone go silent but Hawkins also said her daughter's social media presence faded away. Facebook posts of all her activities and travels could no longer be found online.
“She had documented everything, everything in California, her in the airport, her on the subway train in New York, and now there’s nothing, everything is erased,” Hawkins said.
Marlena vanished without a trace.
“She’s always had a cellphone where she could communicate. She’s always been on Facebook. This situation right here, I know in my heart, something is really really wrong. For her not to say anything to anybody, that’s not her,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins searched the internet to find her daughter.
Karen explained that on Marlena's 40th birthday, July 16, 2021, she logged onto a site called Instant CheckMate to perform a public records search for her daughter. The information she found led her to an address on North Payson Street in West Baltimore.
“When I saw that she was on Payson Street, that that was the last place that she was at, I thought that she was maybe still here. And then a family member months prior said they had saw her in Towson, way before I found out about Payson Street. So, when, I heard that, I thought OK, I thought OK, she’s OK. She’ll call me but no,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins continued her internet search of North Payson Street and took to Google Maps where she not only found a blurred out image of a person on Google Street view, dated November 2020, but she also believed she found Marlena.
“I know it’s her, I know it’s her, I know it’s my daughter,” Hawkins proclaimed.
Finding the image might have been a reassuring clue but its it's a mystery to her as to why the person she believes is her daughter in the photo, appeared to have an amputated leg.
“I don’t know if somebody did that to her, or she’s sick. I don’t know anything,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins said she went to the west Baltimore neighborhood in November 2021 looking for answers but only found more questions.
“I came home, I called the police. The police went down there and I told them if she is down there, and I said if she is in that house, I’m worried,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins filed a missing persons report with officers at the Baltimore Police Department's Northeastern District where her daughter's case remains unsolved.
“I love her, and I’m never going to stop looking for my daughter,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins said police believe there's a chance Marlena might not want to be found because she's an adult. If true, Hawkins would rather hear it from her daughter than police.
With a deep sigh, Hawkins said “I want Lena to know that I love her, and if she’s going through anything, she can call me and she can come home.”
Tips about Marlena’s disappearance can be reported to Baltimore Police Department Northeast District: 410-396-2444.
