A 19-year-old Black Lives Matter protester named Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau has been found dead. According to reporting by the Tallahassee Democrat, Salau went missing on June 6 and was found dead in southeast Tallahassee, FL on Saturday night (June 13). Her family and the Tallahassee Police Department confirmed her death on Monday morning (June 15).
Police have identified a suspect in her death as a 49-year-old man named Aaron Glee Jr. Glee was arrested on May 30 and charged with aggravated battery causing bodily harm or disability, according to police records. He was arrested again on Tuesday (June 9) for battery.
Another victim has also been identified as Victoria “Vicki” Sims, a 75-year-old grandmother and retired state worker who was reportedly well-known for her volunteering efforts.
According to USA Today, in the hours before Salau went missing on June 6, she tweeted that she had been sexually assaulted by a man who offered to give her a ride back to a church where she had sought “refuge” due to “unjust living conditions.”
“He came disguised as a man of God and ended up picking me up from nearby Saxon Street,” she tweeted. ”I trusted the holy spirit to keep me safe.”
In her tweets, Salau also said she had called police after she had been assaulted. Many people replied to her tweet asking if she was ok, but she never responded.
At the Tallahassee Black Lives Matter protests, Salau had kept the names of police brutality victims alive by shouting them throughout the streets.
“I don’t want their names gone in vain,” she told Tallahassee Democrat during a march last month.
Salau’s friend Danaya Hemphill last saw her the day before she went missing.
“I had a feeling that we were not going to find Toyin alive,” Hemphill told the outlet. “Toyin was very passionate. She was very vocal she was very loving, very spiritual, very caring.”
“Toyin she was like a light in a dark room. That was Toyin,” she added.
“There is no justice that can be served that will replace my sister’s life,” Salau’s bother Oluwaseyi said.
Rest in peace, Oluwatoyin. See tributes to the young activist on social media below.