Missing Since: 1982-03-24 Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Toya departed from her family’s residence at the Lafayette Homes, a public housing project in the 200 block of south Spring Street in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 24, 1982. She came home from school and her mother gave her a snack and permission to play outside. Toya’s mother left the house at 6:15 p.m. While she was gone, Toya left to walk to a grocery store two blocks away at the corner of Gough Street and south Caroline Street. Near the store, she stopped to talk to her mother’s ex-boyfriend and one of his male friends. Toya apparently never arrived home from the store. She wasn’t allowed to walk there by herself and had told her sister she was going to do it anyway while her mother was out, and buy candy. She was described as a quiet, well-behaved child won trophies at school for regular attendance and participation in school activities; this was the first time she had ever disobeyed her mother. When Toya’s mother arrived home at 7:30 p.m., Toya was missing. She has been heard from again. Toya was in the third grade at City Springs Elementary School in 1982. She lived with her mother, her two brothers and her sister. She was supposed to be the flower girl at her mother’s wedding ceremony three days after she disappeared. Her mother, Annette Stanley, initially believed her ex-boyfriend had taken Toya in order to convince Stanley to start seeing him again. She repeatedly asked him about Toya, but he said he didn’t have her and didn’t know what had happened to her. Stanley said she went ahead with her wedding on schedule because she thought this would encourage her ex-boyfriend to give Toya back. After that marriage ended, she renewed her relationship with her ex-boyfriend and married him. She said she did this because she still believed he knew where Toya was. Stanley left the man again only a few months a few months into their marriage. He is now deceased. Stanley is still alive and still lives in the area, and hopes that her daughter may yet be found. Little information is available in Toya’s case, but foul play is suspected. Investigating Agency Baltimore Police Department 410-396-2334 443-984-7114 410-396-2284 Source Information The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Baltimore Police Department The Morning Call The Syracuse Herald-Journal The Baltimore Sun NamUs The Chillicothe Gazette Updated 7 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated June 19, 2017; middle name added, distinguishing characteristics, clothing/jewelry description and details of disappearance updated.