30-year-old Ebonee Spears was last seen by a neighbor outside her apartment in Wilmington, North Carolina on January 15, 2016. She vanished after saying she was going to walk to a nearby store.
Background
Ebonee Shanetta Spears was born on May 12, 1985. She is the youngest of four siblings, and has a daughter who was 13 years old at the time of her disappearance.
Ebonee was a resident of New Hanover County, North Carolina. She lived with her daughter at The Pointe at Taylor Estates, an apartment complex on the corner of North 4th and Nixon streets in Wilmington. She had briefly lived in Georgia.
In the summer of 2015, Spears was diagnosed with Lupus, an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue. She was taking medication as well as an antidepressant as her mental health had began deteriorating.
Disappearance
On January 14, 2016, Ebonee Spears met with her boyfriend and parents at the Wilmington Police Department headquarters on Bess Street, several blocks away from her apartment complex in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Paramedics were called, as Spears appeared erratic and distraught. They spoke on the phone with her psychiatrist, but Spears was not sent to a hospital for psychiatric treatment.
Spears appeared lucid again after an hour and spent the night with her daughter at her parents’ house on Prices Lane in Wilmington, North Carolina.
On January 15, 2016, Ebonee had breakfast with her parents before she was dropped off by her father at her apartment on Brooklyn Lane. She had plans to have dinner with her parents again that night but called at 7:00 pm to cancel.
Later that night, Spears went to the Community Boys & Girls Club on Nixon Street where she was acting paranoid, telling staff members that someone was following her. She was later seen at the Wilmington Police Department, a couple blocks away.
Spears asked to use the phone but was unable to complete a call. She appeared to be disoriented and paced back and forth for about ten minutes before she eventually left without accepting any assistance from the officers present.
Spears was then captured on surveillance camera walking toward her apartment complex at The Pointe at Taylor Estates on the corner of North 4th and Nixon streets in Wilmington.
Around 10:45 pm, Ebonee was last seen by a neighbor when she asked him for a cigarette. When the neighbor declined because he didn’t have any, Spears said she was going to walk to a nearby store to get some.
Ebonee Spears never returned home that night and hasn’t been heard from since. On January 16, 2016, her parents filed a missing person’s report with the Wilmington Police Department when they did not hear from her.
Investigation of case
Ebonee Spears left behind all of her belongings at home including her purse, but her cell phone was missing. Her vehicle was parked outside the residence.
Whereabouts of Ebonee Spears
Police found no evidence for foul play in Ebonee Spears’s disappearance. A $5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to Ebonee’s discovery.
The circumstances of Ebonee’s disappearance remain unclear and her case is currently classified as missing. Her case remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Ebonee Shanetta Spears please contact the Wilmington Police Department at (910) 343-3600. Agency Case Number: 2016-001807
