Missing Since: 2019-04-20 Location: Trenton, Nebraska
Sramek disappeared from Trenton, Nebraska on April 20, 2019. She left with a male acquaintance, Floyd Clifford “Cliff” Coates Jr., in a white 2004 Ford Explorer with the Iowa license plate number HGJ341 and a black rim on the back passenger side wheel, allegedly en route to Omaha, Nebraska, 300 miles away. They planned to pick up Coates’s niece there. Sramek called her mother from a borrowed phone at 12:45 p.m. and said she was in Holdrege, Nebraska. She didn’t indicate that anything was wrong. Her family never heard from her again. Coates has told multiple stories about Sramek’s disappearance. According to one of his accounts, they went to the Prairie Flower Casino in Carter Lake, Iowa between 9:00 p.m. and midnight, and he went inside the casino. Sramek couldn’t go with him because she was underage; the minimum age for casino gambling in Iowa is 21. He said when he returned to the vehicle, Sramek was gone. He stated he looked around in the area for her, but couldn’t find her, so he simply left without informing police or anyone else that she was missing. Later, Coates changed his story and said Sramek disappeared when they stopped at an unspecified Omaha gas station to refuel. He said he went inside to pay for the gas, and when he came back she was gone. As with his casino story, Coates said he left without informing anyone that Sramek was missing. A photo of Coates is posted with this case summary. It’s worth noting he has an extensive record with convictions in Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska, for drug- and weapons-related offenses, battery, false imprisonment, theft and other offenses. In May 2024, he and another man, Dennis Lawson, who has been in prison since 2021, were charged with evidence tampering and physically intimidating another person. Coates was also charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, possession of ammunition by a felon and a drug user and possession of a firearm by a felon and a drug user and an armed career criminal. The weapons charges stem from items found while police were executing search warrants on Coates’s home and vehicle in connection with Sramek’s disappearance: they found ammunition in Coates’s closet and a handgun and two loaded magazines inside a safe in one of Coates’s vehicles. Due to his criminal history he is prohibited from possessing guns or ammunition. The indictment states Coates and Lawson altered, destroyed, mutilated and concealed objects “to impair their integrity and availability” for use in an official proceeding, but the court documents do not say whether this evidence tampering and witness intimidation are related to Sramek’s disappearance. At the time of her disappearance, Sramek was living with her mother and working on getting her GED. She was separated from her husband, who is not believed to have been involved in her disappearance. Sramek has never been heard from again. The circumstances of her disappearance are unclear, but her family believes she met with foul play. Investigating Agency Hitchcock County Sheriff’s Office 308-334-5444 Federal Bureau of Investigation 402-493-8688 Source Information Nebraska State Patrol Federal Bureau of Investigation Facebook Page for Sunny Sramek KSNB 4 Heavy The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children NamUs The Sioux Journal Updated 2 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated June 14, 2024; middle name added, details of disappearance updated.