The location where Phoenix Coldon's car was abandoned

This is the location where Phoenix Coldon's car was found abandoned.

It is situated near the corner of North 9th Street and St. Clair Avenue in East St. Louis, Illinois.

Coldon left her family home in Spanish Lake, Missouri, at about 3 p.m. on December 18th, 2011, and was never seen again. Her car was found at this section of North 9th Street roughly 2.5 hours later.

It is unclear where the 23-year-old was headed that day, as she didn't say anything to her parents before leaving. At the time, they presumed that she was going to a friend's house or a local convenience store.

It became clear that something was wrong after she broke her 1 a.m. curfew and failed to return home by the following morning.

When Coldon's parents, Goldia and Lawrence Coldon, called the Saint Louis County Police Department to report her missing, they were met with pushback due to her age.

The officer who took the call pointed out that she was an adult who could go wherever she liked. Although this was true, Coldon's parents believed that their daughter's failure to return home was extremely out of character.

In the days and weeks that followed, they checked local hospitals and distributed missing person fliers. They also reached out to news channels in the hope that they would publicize the case. However, none of them showed any interest.

Roughly two weeks later, a family friend found Coldon's 1998 Chevy Blazer at a tow lot in East St. Louis.

Later, it emerged that the vehicle had been impounded on the day of her disappearance.

A police officer in East St. Louis discovered Coldon's Chevy Blazer at the side of North 9th Street roughly two and a half hours after she left her home in Spanish Lake. Initially, there were reports that the car's engine was still running. However, these proved to be false.

Nothing of interest was found inside the vehicle. Furthermore, a forensic examination failed to find any foreign DNA. The only samples present belonged to either Coldon or her parents.

In 2018, it emerged that Coldon had been using a second phone that wasn't on her family plan. It also came to light that she had a boyfriend named Michael B., whom she was keeping secret from her religious parents.

Although she did call her boyfriend on the day of her disappearance, the police are adamant that he isn't a suspect.

St. Louis County Police Officer Benjamin Granda said that "Michael B." was one of the most upfront people that they spoke to during the investigation. He is also 100% confident that he had nothing to do with Coldon's disappearance.

During one interview, one of Coldon's friends revealed that the 23-year-old had recently started a new relationship with a second man called "Mike". She also theorized that this may have been the reason why she had a second phone.

One of Mike's ex-girlfriends claimed that he was so violent toward her that she took out a restraining order against him.

One popular theory is that Coldon may have run away from her strict parents. However, there has been no activity on her cell phone or social media accounts. Furthermore, her bank account was left untouched.

There has been very little movement in Phoenix Coldon's case over the past few years.

She remains missing to this day.

Photos

Photos of the street and other related images.

Phoenix Coldon's car

Phoenix Coldon's car was found abandoned close to this road patch on North 9th Street.

Please note that the image in the top-right corner appears to be a reconstruction image.

For several years, it was reported that the Chevrolet Blazer had been left running with the door open. However, this information turned out to be false.

St. Louise police officer Kendall Perry, who discovered the Blazer, said that the engine was off and the doors were closed. At the time, he saw no indications that a crime had taken place.

From his perspective, it was just an abandoned vehicle. Consequently, he assumed that its owner had run out of gas and ditched it on the side of the road.

It was Coldon's mother, Gloria, who reportedly conveyed the false information about the engine running and the door being ajar. However, she was unable to remember where she had heard those details (seven years had passed between the initial report and the new information coming to light).

North 9th Street

Image source: Google Maps

The Google Street View image above was captured in May 2013—roughly 18 months after Coldon went missing.

At the time, the small street was empty and surrounded by overgrown lots.

2023

Image source: Google Maps

The Google Street View image above was captured in May 2023. The street was completely redeveloped at some point after 2021.

Phoenix Coldon

At the time of her disappearance, Phoenix Coldon was a 23-year-old student at the University of Missouri.

She was 5'6" and roughly 125 lbs.

When she left her family home in North St. Louis, she was wearing a black hoodie and gray sweatpants. The sweatpants may have had "Lindenwood" or "UMSL" written on the leg.

Coldon seemed to be living a "complicated" life. Before she went missing, she recorded a private video in which she tearfully said that she wanted to "start over".

It is important to point out that she did not say anything about running away or starting a new life somewhere else.

"I feel so stupid because I let myself go a little bit. I probably would have been in a better situation if I had stuck with how it used to be."

Judging by the context of the video, it appears as though she may have been talking about a situation that she had gotten herself into.

It is tempting to assume that this "situation" had something to do with her disappearance. However, she did not mention anything specific about her circumstances.

Coldon's house

The Coldons lived at 12629 Countrybrook Drive in St. Louis, Missouri.

Goldia and Lawrence Coldon reportedly lost the house in 2012 after they poured all of their life savings into hiring private detectives.

A potential lead in Texas proved to be particularly damaging, as the person who submitted the tip later admitted that he had made it all up for attention.

This hoax reportedly drained the Coldons of their remaining savings.

Coordinates: 38.806556, -90.214095

Google Maps