Black and Missing: Baltimore woman found, but her disappearance highlighted ongoing national crisis

AFRO
Ashleigh Fields
July 16, 2025

Local police found Alayia Berry, a 21-year-old Baltimore woman who went missing on July 10, after a massive search involving dozens of police officers and volunteers, a helicopter and even a drone. The official search ensued after the woman’s family had been searching on their own for days.

“I am relieved to announce that my niece, Alayia, has been found. Hallelujah!!!” said aunt Alison Perry in a social media post July 15. “To everyone, I extend my heartfelt appreciation for your prayers and well wishes. Thank you for maintaining hope.”

Authorities reported that they found the young woman at a local hospital July 15, though they would not offer any details about how she got there and her condition.

Her family previously told police Berry disappeared under mysterious circumstances around 10:45 on July 10. Based on security footage, she was last seen leaving her home near the 3600 block of Bowers Avenue, wearing gray spandex pants and a black tank top, with cornrows in her hair.

“She was in the bed and it appears that someone called her and she got up and went outside. We don’t know who that someone is,” her grandmother, Deneen Penny Rymes, told the AFRO.

“She went outside and went towards the dumpster–the ring camera showed that. But she never came back. The lights were left on in the house, the door was left open, and all her belongings were in the house,” she added.

Rymes said her granddaughter left her belongings, which shows Berry was not planning to go somewhere.

“The only thing she had was her telephone, which was found thrown in a wooded area on somebody’s lawn in Catonsville, which is way across town,” she told the AFRO, adding that Berry’s older brother went to the last location stamped on the phone.

Rymes and the rest of Berry’s family contacted and were working with the Black and Missing Foundation (BAMFI) to seek assistance with finding their loved one. The organization helps families take the best course of action after a loved one goes missing.

“When their family members go missing it can be a very taxing process. It’s important to alert the community; someone could have seen or known something they can share,” BAMFI co-founder Natalie Wilson said in an interview with the AFRO.

Sadly, Berry’s disappearance – though her story had a happy ending – is part of an epidemic of missing Black people, whose stories often get overlooked.

Wilson said 40 percent of missing individuals are persons of color and their disappearances are rarely reflected in local or national news.

For Black women and girls specifically, data shows they represented 36 percent of the 271,493 girls and women reported missing in 2022, despite the fact that Black women and girls comprised only 14 percent of the U.S. female population at the time, according to the National Crime Information Center.

Wilson offered some advice for families whose loved ones are missing.

“When it’s a child time is of the essence, same with someone with special needs,” Wilson said, noting oftentimes families are scammed or asked for ransom after posting a flyer with their contact information.

“Instead, we recommend families come straight to us,” Wilson said. “We take a holistic approach, help create and circulate flyers while actively making sure the work is being done to find your loved one.”

Photo credit: AFRO