28 Year Old Nailah Franklin Missing Since September 18, 2007 in Chicago, IL (UPDATE: FOUND Deceased)
Nailah Franklin, a 28 year old pharmaceutical representative for Eli Lilly & Co has 
been missing since September 18, 2007. Several items are missing from her home including two computers. Why would someone take her computers unless they had some form of communication on-line?
Description:
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Franklin is African-American
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about 5 feet 2 inches tall
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weighing 110 pounds
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brown hair
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brown eyes
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She drives a company-owned gray 2005 Chevrolet sedan with Illinois license plate 1957855
Police are looking into a lead of a man who was supposedly threatening Nailah Franklin.
Police said they were interested in a man Franklin told friends was threatening her last week, Elgas reported. Franklin was so scared, her friends added, that she did not want to sleep in her home, and she also filed a police report. Police did not comment much on that man, but said they were interested in talking to him.
“I do believe that she is alive and we just have to find her,” said Lehia Franklin Cox, Nailah’s sister. “I do think she is in distress.”
Police visited Franklin’s University Village apartment in the 1500 block of South Sangamon Street. Thursday night, Elgas reported, and Franklin Cox said several personal items were missing.
“The two computers are missing,” she said. “Both her work-issued laptop and her personal laptop.”(NBC5)
Anyone with information is asked to call (312) 746-9259.
Discuss more in the Missing Persons forum: Nailah Franklin
UPDATE I: Seems there is a pic of Nailah Franklin on this MySpace account
Are all 3 pics below the same person?
Left and Right pics are of Nailah Franklin
Center photo is taken from from this picture and from HERE off the slide show on his MySpace account.
UPDATE II: Family Fears Missing Woman Was Harmed
(CBS) CHICAGO A massive effort is underway to find a missing woman who disappeared apparently without a trace. Nailah Franklin’s family and friends, along with police, are scrambling to get the word out.
As CBS 2′s Suzanne Le Mignot reports, the Little Gym in University Village served Friday as the gathering point for Franklin’s family and friends. There was a continuous flow of well wishers stopping by, picking up fliers that they’re passing out in the community. Both the police and Franklin’s family say they’re not giving up hope she’ll be found.
UPDATE III: Car of Missing Nailah Franklin Found in Hammond, Indiana
The car of missing 28 year old Nailah Franklin has been found across state lines in Hammond, Indiana.
Divers searched a pond at River Oaks Golf Course near the Bishop Ford Freeway and 159th Street in Calumet City Saturday morning as part of their efforts to find Nailah Franklin, a drug company pharmaceutical sales representative, after police located her car a short distance away in Hammond, Indiana, on Friday night.
Monique Bond, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Department, said some of Franklin’s personal items have been recovered from the vehicle.
Map: Car Found in Hammond, Indiana
Nailah Franklin lived in University Village apartment in the 1500 block of South Sangamon Street in Chicago, IL. Her car found Hammond, Indiana approximately 27 miles away.
UPDATE IV: Cops: Missing woman had complained of calls
Nailah Franklin spent last weekend visiting her boyfriend in Milwaukee and attending a wedding in Lake Geneva before returning to Chicago Sunday night.
Her boyfriend, Andre Wright, said she arrived back home at 8 p.m. and they spoke twice that night. On Monday evening, Wright said, Franklin, 28, was relaxing at home as they chatted on the telephone about their day.
UPDATE V:Benjamin has changed his photo on Myspace
UPDATE VI: Woman Found Near Riverbank Cause Of Death Known
Hopefully this is not Nailah Franklin
UPDATE VII: Reports Claim that Body of Nailah Franklin was Found Deceased
A body found Thursday near a suburban Chicago forest preserve is that of a 28-year-old pharmaceutical sales representative missing for more than a week, a family member and spokesman said.
Nailah Franklin’s uncle, Jon Merrill, and family friend and spokesman, Andrew Holmes, told WFLD-TV that authorities have confirmed the body is Franklin’s.
Family: Missing Lilly rep’s body found near Chicago
Her naked body was found before dawn Thursday in a densely wooded area partially buried behind a vacant building, within miles of where police found her car Saturday in nearby Hammond. A pair of earphones dangling in a tree led two police officers to her body.An autopsy performed Friday by the Cook County medical examiner’s office did not reveal a cause of death. Chicago police, who have not ruled the case a homicide, remain the lead investigators because authorities don’t know where she died.Her body, badly decomposed after being exposed to rain and heat, had to be identified through dental records Friday morning. But a law enforcement source said she was not shot or stabbed.Police said they are pursuing leads in Franklin’s death. They are testing forensic evidence from her body and vehicle and reviewing surveillance video taken from across the street where Franklin’s body was found. (Chicago Tribune)
Not sure if it is significant, but I went to her myspace page and noticed her last login was on 9-20-07.
Comment by Dana Eccles | September 22, 2007
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myspace says last login September 23
Comment by Concerned | September 23, 2007
Dana, I went to her myspace page just now (9/23) and it shows her last login was on 9/23/07. Wonder what that means? And who can log in to her account?
Comment by Sandy | September 23, 2007
I really think you should take Ben’s picture down. First .. this is borderline slander .. he has nothing to do with Nailah’s dissappearance. If he did .. do you think he would have time to change his MySpace picture? Oh yeah .. perhaps they have free WIFI in jail. Its called being FRIENDS with someone .. if you would have done more research, perhaps you woudl have discovered that they both went to U of I … maybe they knwo each other from college .. what a thought! They are friends and he is very upset about her dissappearance .., how do you think he feels about his picture being put ont he internet … insinuating that he had something to do with this? It’s really dissrespectful.
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M&E: Slander? This os not slander, it is a reference to a web page with communication to a missing person. This person had a pic of a missing girl on his “public” MySpace page. It is merely a link and pic. There was no connection that he was responsible on this site. How does he feel about his pic being put on the internet??? HE IS THE ONE WHO PUT HIS PICTURE ON THE INTERNET, NOT US.
How did we put his pic on the internet? It was public and came from his page.
This is a reference to a person who knew the missing person, nothing more. We do this all the time when a person has internet connections and/or a Myspace.
I think you are making more out of something than just what it is and what has been done in 100′s of other cases. It was never meant to insinuate anything.
Comment by akilah | September 24, 2007
They apparently found some of her things in River Oaks, like maybe her wallet or purse. There were people handing out flyers in downtown Chicago the other day. It does sound like the former boyfriend is the culprit. That also means she might very well be alive and being held by him. Prayers going out for her and her family.
Comment by LilPuma | September 26, 2007
My prayers are with the Franklin family. I am praying and posting as many places of her disapperance. I am praying.
April
Comment by April | September 26, 2007
Family id’d Nailah’s remains in Illinois, jump shot from where her car was found in Indiana.
My prayers are with the family. How terribly sad
Please stop killing our daughters.
Comment by Miss-Underestimated | September 27, 2007
From the Chicago Tribune: The body of a woman was found this morning in an area of Calumet City where police have been searching for Nailah Franklin, a Chicago woman missing for about a week.
Patrol officers found an unclothed body early this morning behind several vacant businesses at River Oaks Drive and Gold Coast Lane, near the Wentworth Woods Forest Preserve. Dozens of investigators with Calumet City police, Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office were on the scene this morning.
The identity of the woman was not being released, but several of Franklin’s relatives were on the scene awaiting word.
Dwayne Johnson, Franklin’s uncle, said the entire family was “in prayer right now.”
“We’re still on our knees,” Johnson said. “We’re hoping that body is not Nailah, but it’s somebody we need to pray for; this is somebody’s loved one.”
Johnson said many of Franklin’s family members, including her five sisters and brother, had gathered at a family home to comfort one another.
Andre Wright, Franklin’s boyfriend, said he was heading to Calumet City to wait for more information. “I’m just hoping it’s not her,” he said.
Also at the scene were dozens of people who say they feel a connection to the Franklin family and were concerned that the body would turn out to be her.
Authorities have been searching the Calumet City area over the last several days for Franklin, 28, who was reported missing Sept. 19 after failing to show up for a business meeting. Her car was found abandoned in Hammond on Saturday.
Franklin, a pharmaceuticals representative who lived in Chicago’s University Village near the University of Illinois at Chicago campus, had filed a police report about threatening phone calls she received from a man she dated briefly. Since her disappearance, family members have been papering the city with fliers. Her family also offered a $10,000 reward for information on her whereabouts and set up a Web site aimed at generating leads.
Franklin was last heard from Sept. 18, when she called her boyfriend in Milwaukee. Three vague text messages from her phone later that night indicated she was having dinner and would call her family and boss back. They didn’t hear from her again.
Franklin works for Eli Lilly & Co. She is a graduate of Homewood-Flossmoor High School and has a bachelor’s degree in advertising from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. jgorner@tribune.com
Comment by Denise | September 27, 2007
http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=7136229
Family identified body is Nailah
Comment by MisUnderestimated | September 27, 2007
Hope there is a safe return for her….one question though who has access to her myspace acct? last login date was 9/23…will keep her and family in my prayers…. god bless
Comment by Leigh | September 27, 2007
http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=355949
Family member said it is Nailah
Comment by Miss-Underestimated | September 27, 2007
There are reports that her uncle confirmed this morning her body was found. So sad.
Comment by Sam | September 27, 2007
looked at nailah myspace and her last log in was on 9/23/07
Comment by Tianya S. | September 27, 2007
While I realize u probably wont post this message, I just wanted to express my concern over the nailah franklin thread on your site. As I understand it, you’re site is set up to assist people who have missing loved ones. I was actually a close friend of nailah, and am saddened(as I’m sure she would be) at the situation you have placed Ben in. There very much is a person of interest, who has been questioned twice by the police, and that person honestly is not Ben. Yet, by posting Ben’s picture on your site, perpetuating unfounded theories, and allowing people to attempt to personally locate Ben, you have likely placed him in great danger. I recognize this thread has probably brought a great deal of publicity to your site, but I honestly wonder, who are you really trying to help? At some level, I would imagine there are consequences to slandering someone’s character like this. I dont know you personally, but I am sincerely asking that you make it abundantly clear that these are just your thoughts, and not based on any factual information, before this tragic situation causes any more pain than it already has. Please feel free to contact me by e-mail, if I can be of any assistance in working to eliminate any further negativity. Thank you
Comment by Courtney Thomas | September 27, 2007