OH OH - Melissa, 17, & Jasmine Collins, 7 mos, Akron, 8 Aug 1991

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The Doe Network:
Case File 144DFOH

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/144dfoh.html

Melissa Ann Collins
Missing since August 8, 1991 from Akron, Summit County, Ohio.
Classification: Lost, Injured, Missing



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Vital Statistics
•Date Of Birth: November 25, 1973
•Age at Time of Disappearance: 17 years old
•Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'3; 120 pounds
•Distinguishing Characteristics: Black female. Brown hair; brown eyes.
•Marks, Scars: Collins has a scar on her upper left arm. Melissa's nose and ears were pierced at the time of her disappearance.
•Jewelry: Melissa was wearing a gold chain necklace at the time of her disappearance.
•Dentals: Available
•DNA: Available


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Circumstances of Disappearance
Collins and her daughter, Jasmine Collins, were last seen on August 8, 1991. They were en route to a nearby grocery store in their hometown of Akron, Ohio and have never been seen again. Collins was not carrying any extra clothing or personal items for either of them at the time they disappeared. She also had no plans to travel.
In mid-August of 1993, a homicide detective received information that Melissa and Jasmine were dead.
The only suspect in the case, an Akron man with a history of violence and instability, killed himself six months after Melissa and Jasmine vanished.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Investigators
If you have any information concerning the whereabouts of Collins or her daughter, please contact:
Akron Police Department
Missing Persons Unit
Sergeant Bruce Graham or Detective Diane Sulak
330-375-2530
All information may be submitted on an anonymous basis.

NCMEC #: NCMC758425

Case Number: 919305

NCIC Number: M-510996563
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

http://www.missingkids.com/missingk...NCMC&seqNum=2&caseLang=en_US&searchLang=en_US

NamUS:
https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/2313/1/
Dental: available NOT entered as of this date, DNA:submitted, testing complete.


________________________________________________

The Doe Network:
Case File 145DFOH

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/145dfoh.html

Jasmine Kirlissa Collins
Missing since August 8, 1991 from Akron, Summit County, Ohio
Classification: Lost, Injured, Missing



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Vital Statistics
•Date Of Birth: December 29, 1990
•Age at Time of Disappearance: 7 months old
•Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 1'6; 15 pounds
•Distinguishing Characteristics: Black female. Black hair; brown eyes.
•Medical Conditions: Collins has asthma and requires medication to regulate her condition.
•DNA: Available


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Circumstances of Disappearance
Collins and her mother, Melissa Collins, were last seen on August 8, 1991 in their hometown of Akron, Ohio. They were headed to a nearby grocery store and carried no extra clothing or personal supplies. Neither has been seen or heard from again. In mid-August of 1993, a homicide detective received information that Melissa and Jasmine were dead.
The last person to see Melissa and Jasmine, a convicted felon described by police as a mental patient and drug abuser, committed suicide on February 12, 1992.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Akron Police Department
Missing Persons Unit
Sergeant Bruce Graham or Detective Diane Sulak
330-375-2530
All information may be submitted on an anonymous basis.

Agency Case Number: 91-9305

NCMEC #: NCMC758425

NCIC Number: M-511002678
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

http://www.missingkids.com/missingk...NCMC&seqNum=1&caseLang=en_US&searchLang=en_US

NamUs profile:
https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/2312/0/
DNA: sample submitted, testing complete.


Melissa and Jasmine have been missing 19 years today. Original pictures of Melissa and Jasmine with age progressed as well. Come home soon.
 

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A teenage mother and her 8-month-old daughter who have been missing since Aug. 8, 1991. Melissa Collins and her daughter, Jasmine, haven’t been seen since they walked to a neighborhood store. All of their belongings were left behind, as if they never intended to leave. Police received tips in 1993 that the mother and daughter had been killed, but this was never confirmed.

https://www.ohio.com/akron/news/loc...-efforts-to-solve-older-missing-persons-cases

59db60b381239.jpg


Raymond Smith Jr., is a suspect in the disappearance of Melissa Collins and her daughter Jasmine on August 8, 1991. Detectives assigned to the Akron police missing persons unit conducted a search for Melissa and Jasmine that reached into all 50 states. The leads went nowhere. In 1993, a homicide detective received information that Melissa and Jasmine were dead. The only suspect in the case, a 37-year-old Akron man with a history of violence and instability, killed himself six months after Melissa and Jasmine vanished.

https://www.ohio.com/akron/news/loc...-efforts-to-solve-older-missing-persons-cases
 
  1. Who reported the possibility of death two years later? Is there any preserved evidence anywhere that they could DNA test to see if Melissa's blood was on Raymond's clothing?
  2. Have they preserved any of his personal effects from the Portage Path Community Mental Health Center?
  3. If Raymond was involved in Willie's death what would have been the motive? Willie was only 13, what could he possibly do to make Raymond kill him - sexual abuse and then drowning to cover evidence?

Snipped:

The last person to see Melissa and Jasmine was Raymond “Sweet Pea” Smith Jr., 37, a convicted felon described by police as a drug abuser with mental illness.

Smith sometimes stayed with a woman who had sublet her Westwood apartment to Melissa.

Smith had told his girlfriend that Melissa had picked up Jasmine about 7:30 p.m. and walked to a store about four blocks away. They never returned.

According to a police report, Smith also went away that night, returning to the apartment on Westwood one or two days later. When he returned, his clothing was bloody, a police report said.

Snipped:

Detectives did not interview Smith before he killed himself Feb. 12, 1992.

No suicide note was found. His girlfriend told police she found a sheet of paper in her room where Smith had written five words: “To whom it may concern.”

Police say Smith was troubled. He reportedly was being hunted by crack dealers for robbing a drug house. He also had felony convictions for drugs, sexual imposition and aggravated assault, and was out on bond on a charge of receiving stolen property.

He also had been a patient at the Portage Path Community Mental Health Center, police said.

Betty Collins said her daughter told her she was afraid of Smith because he had made advances toward her.

Detectives said they also have information that Smith may have been involved in another death that occurred 10 years ago in Tuskegee, Ala.

In that case, the body of Willie J. Delbridge Jr., 13, -- who may have been related to Smith -- was found floating in a swimming pool June 11, 1983. Tuskegee police said the cause of death in that case is unknown.
 
If Melissa and her child Jasmine left at 7:30pm, then at exactly what time had the Suspect left? For him to then return back to the apartment, wearing bloody clothing, and take his own life just a year later after their disappearance, really shows he had something to do with it.

Bless her parents hearts ,i cant imagine what they are going through, i pray and hope Jasmine and her daughter are found safe.

Has it ever been thought to hire an private investigator?
 
A teenage mother and her 8-month-old daughter who have been missing since Aug. 8, 1991. Melissa Collins and her daughter, Jasmine, haven’t been seen since they walked to a neighborhood store. All of their belongings were left behind, as if they never intended to leave. Police received tips in 1993 that the mother and daughter had been killed, but this was never confirmed.

https://www.ohio.com/akron/news/loc...-efforts-to-solve-older-missing-persons-cases

59db60b381239.jpg


Raymond Smith Jr., is a suspect in the disappearance of Melissa Collins and her daughter Jasmine on August 8, 1991. Detectives assigned to the Akron police missing persons unit conducted a search for Melissa and Jasmine that reached into all 50 states. The leads went nowhere. In 1993, a homicide detective received information that Melissa and Jasmine were dead. The only suspect in the case, a 37-year-old Akron man with a history of violence and instability, killed himself six months after Melissa and Jasmine vanished.

https://www.ohio.com/akron/news/loc...-efforts-to-solve-older-missing-persons-cases
Wow Raymond Smith Jr is my grandfather. I never got to meet him. One day I inquired about him, I always heard my grandma call him Sweat Pea. I’ve heard rumors but there is no solid evidence he did it
 
A teenage mother and her 8-month-old daughter who have been missing since Aug. 8, 1991. Melissa Collins and her daughter, Jasmine, haven’t been seen since they walked to a neighborhood store. All of their belongings were left behind, as if they never intended to leave. Police received tips in 1993 that the mother and daughter had been killed, but this was never confirmed.

https://www.ohio.com/akron/news/loc...-efforts-to-solve-older-missing-persons-cases

59db60b381239.jpg


Raymond Smith Jr., is a suspect in the disappearance of Melissa Collins and her daughter Jasmine on August 8, 1991. Detectives assigned to the Akron police missing persons unit conducted a search for Melissa and Jasmine that reached into all 50 states. The leads went nowhere. In 1993, a homicide detective received information that Melissa and Jasmine were dead. The only suspect in the case, a 37-year-old Akron man with a history of violence and instability, killed himself six months after Melissa and Jasmine vanished.

https://www.ohio.com/akron/news/loc...-efforts-to-solve-older-missing-persons-cases
Wow Raymond Smith Jr is my grandfather. I never got to meet him. One day I inquired about him, I always heard my grandma call him Sweat Pea. I’ve heard rumors but there is no solid evidence he did it
  1. Who reported the possibility of death two years later? Is there any preserved evidence anywhere that they could DNA test to see if Melissa's blood was on Raymond's clothing?
  2. Have they preserved any of his personal effects from the Portage Path Community Mental Health Center?
  3. If Raymond was involved in Willie's death what would have been the motive? Willie was only 13, what could he possibly do to make Raymond kill him - sexual abuse and then drowning to cover evidence?
Snipped:

The last person to see Melissa and Jasmine was Raymond “Sweet Pea” Smith Jr., 37, a convicted felon described by police as a drug abuser with mental illness.

Smith sometimes stayed with a woman who had sublet her Westwood apartment to Melissa.

Smith had told his girlfriend that Melissa had picked up Jasmine about 7:30 p.m. and walked to a store about four blocks away. They never returned.

According to a police report, Smith also went away that night, returning to the apartment on Westwood one or two days later. When he returned, his clothing was bloody, a police report said.

Snipped:

Detectives did not interview Smith before he killed himself Feb. 12, 1992.

No suicide note was found. His girlfriend told police she found a sheet of paper in her room where Smith had written five words: “To whom it may concern.”

Police say Smith was troubled. He reportedly was being hunted by crack dealers for robbing a drug house. He also had felony convictions for drugs, sexual imposition and aggravated assault, and was out on bond on a charge of receiving stolen property.

He also had been a patient at the Portage Path Community Mental Health Center, police said.

Betty Collins said her daughter told her she was afraid of Smith because he had made advances toward her.

Detectives said they also have information that Smith may have been involved in another death that occurred 10 years ago in Tuskegee, Ala.

In that case, the body of Willie J. Delbridge Jr., 13, -- who may have been related to Smith -- was found floating in a swimming pool June 11, 1983. Tuskegee police said the cause of death in that case is unknown.
I don’t know how to feel reading this. He is my grandfather. I’ve heard plenty of stories of him from my grandma, mom and family. He was troubled and feared for sure.
 
Melissa Ann Collins – The Charley Project

Last updated May 29, 2021; clothing/jewelry description, distinguishing characteristics and details of disappearance updated.


  • Clothing/Jewelry DescriptionA gold chain necklace and a nose ring.
  • Distinguishing CharacteristicsBiracial (African-American/Caucasian) female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Melissa has a scar on her upper left arm. Her ears and nose are pierced, and she wears eyeglasses. Her nicknames are Lisa and Lisaboone.
Details of Disappearance
Melissa and her infant daughter, Jasmine, were last seen in Akron, Ohio on August 8, 1991. At 4:00 p.m., Melissa's mother dropped her daughter and granddaughter off at Melissa's apartment in the 100 block of Westwood Avenue. At around 7:30 p.m., Melissa and Jasmine left to walk to a grocery store four blocks from their residence. Neither of them has been seen again.

It's uncharacteristic of Melissa to be out of touch with her family; she usually spoke to her mother daily by phone. Even when she ran away for a month while she was pregnant with Jasmine, Melissa called her parents to let them know she was safe. Her mother described her as a very trusting teenager. She didn't have a driver's license in 1991 and relied on her mother for rides.

When her mother went to Melissa's apartment after the disappearance, she found no indications that Melissa had planned to leave with her baby. Her purse was in the bedroom, her clothes were freshly washed and folded, and there was a stock of diapers for Jasmine, as well as baby bottles already filled with formula and waiting in the fridge. Melissa's mother doesn't believe she would have left without taking her belongings and Jasmine's baby supplies. She also never cashed her last welfare check.

The last person to claim he saw Melissa and Jasmine is also the prime suspect in their cases. Raymond "Sweet Pea" Smith Jr. was staying with a woman who sublet her apartment to Melissa at the time. A photo of him is posted with this case summary. Smith said he saw Melissa and Jasmine leave the apartment that evening, and he himself left shortly after they did. When he returned to the apartment a day or two later, his clothes were stained. A witness thought the stains looked like blood, but this wasn't reported to the police until after it was no longer possible to locate the clothes for testing.

Smith had a history of violence, drug abuse and mental illness, with prior convictions for crimes ranging from drug offenses, sexual imposition and aggravated assault. Melissa had told her mother she was afraid of him and that he had made unwanted advances towards her. Shortly after Melissa and Jasmine disappeared, Smith and the woman whose apartment Melissa sublet moved to a new home on Raymond Street.

In February 1992, six months after Melissa and Jasmine disappeared, Smith died by suicide in the basement of his Raymond Street residence, at the age of 37. He left behind a note which said only "To whom it may concern" on it; the rest of the paper was blank. The motive for his suicide is unclear, but he was facing serious criminal charges and didn't want to return to prison. He was never charged in connection with the Collinses' disappearances; in fact, the police never even interviewed him about it.

The Collins cases are still unsolved, but foul play is suspected due to the circumstances involved.
 
I don't think the man named Raymond is guilty... I think he made an advance on him like on other occasions or maybe he did something to the baby and she ran away, escaping from this pervert, maybe she was run over or kidnapped with her baby.. but with the main suspect dead there is little that can be done...
rest in peace mom and daughter
 

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