‘Is Mom Coming?’ Weeks After Mich. Mom Vanished, Her 7-Year-Old Son ‘Doesn’t Understand’ Why She’s Not Home

PEOPLE
Samira Asma-Sadeque
January 27, 2025

While a Michigan family continues its relentless search for Ashley Elkins, who has been missing for weeks, her youngest son doesn’t understand why his mom hasn’t come home.

Elkins, 30, was last seen on Jan. 2 in her Warren, Mich., home, local police said in a statement.

Nearly a week after her disappearance, police in nearby Roseville arrested Elkins’ ex-boyfriend DeAndre Booker after a search of his home showed evidence of a “violent” encounter, Lieutenant John Gajewski of the Warren Police Department previously told PEOPLE. Booker was charged with lying to police, per Gajewski.

Elkins, who operated a hairstyling business in her home, is known for her dedication to her 7-year-old and 10-year-old sons. She vanished on Jan. 2 after leaving home to run errands — and when nobody had heard from her for hours, it was an immediate red flag, her sister Alexis Elkins tells PEOPLE.

“[Even] if she was planning to be gone for a long time, she would have called,” Alexis says. “She knows that her boys expect to hear from her.”

Now, nearly four weeks since her disappearance, Elkins’ younger son still doesn’t understand why she isn’t home.

“He’s still asking for her,” Elkins’ mother Monika Elkins tells PEOPLE. “[We] came back from the vigil, he [said] ‘Is mom coming out? Is she, is she gonna call?’

“He doesn’t understand at all,” Monika says.

“He still thinks mom’s coming home every, every day. He’s like, ‘Where’s mom? Where’s mom?'” Elkins’ uncle Maurice Morton tells PEOPLE.

Her older son, who is 10, is having difficulty processing her disappearance.

“He cries every day. He has nightmares,” Morton says. “It’s been very difficult for both of them in different ways.”

Meanwhile, police and Elkins’ family continue their search. On Jan. 13, law enforcement officials searched a landfill looking for Elkins’ body, Roseville police Chief Mitch Berlin told the media at the time, per The Detroit News and the Associated Press. No body was found.

As of publication time, Booker was not facing any charges in connection with Elkins’s disappearance.

He remains in jail on a $250,000 bond, according to Maycomb County jail records reviewed by PEOPLE. Plea and attorney information were not available in the records; he is scheduled to appear in court in February.

The investigation is ongoing.

Photo credit: Black and Missing Foundation