The location where Phoenix Coldon's car was found

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 disappeared after leaving her family home in Spanish Lake, Missouri, at about 3 p.m. on December 18, 2011.

Her car was found at this section of North 9th Street roughly 2.5 hours later.

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

It only became apparent 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 felt their daughter's failure to return home was 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 they would publicize the case. However, they reportedly showed little interest.

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

They soon learned that the police had impounded the vehicle on the day of her disappearance.

Roughly 2.5 hours after Coldon left her home, a St. Louis police officer named Kendall Perry noticed her Chevy Blazer at the side of North 9th Street.

At the time, he saw no signs a crime had taken place. He presumed that the owner had run out of gas and abandoned the Blazer on the side of the road.

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.

Initially, there were reports that a door was open and the engine was still running.

However, years later, Officer Perry publicly confirmed the engine was off and the doors were shut.

It was Coldon's mother, Gloria, who reportedly conveyed the false information. She was unable to remember where she heard the details, as seven years had passed between the initial report and Perry's comments.

In 2018, it emerged Coldon had 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 he isn't a suspect.

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

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

One of Mike's ex-girlfriends claimed that she took out a restraining order against him due to his violent behavior.

One prevalent theory on social media 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 are indications she was living a complicated life. Before she went missing, she recorded a private video in which she tearfully said she wanted to "start over." However, she did not say anything about running away or starting a new life.

"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."

The video suggested she was talking about a situation that she had gotten herself into.

It is unclear whether the circumstances she spoke about in the video were related to her disappearance.

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

She remains missing to this day.