Lashawnda Coates Missing Person Case

Sep 17, 2015

Jul 26, 2018

Lashawnda

Coates

33

27 inches

20 lbs

Black / African American

Female

In the summer of 1991, a heart-wrenching story began to unfold in River Rouge, Michigan, involving a 10-month-old infant named Lashawnda Patrice Coates. Lashawnda was a baby girl with black hair and brown eyes who was last seen on August 1, 1991. Her life, in its very early stages, was marked by turmoil. Several months prior to her disappearance, in December 1990, Lashawnda suffered a broken arm and bruising. These injuries occurred when her father, Byron Ogletree, allegedly used her as a shield during a violent dispute with her mother, Samora Coates. This incident brought the family to the attention of the Michigan Department of Social Services, which determined that neither parent was fit to care for the child. Lashawnda was subsequently placed in the care of her maternal great-grandmother, then into foster care, and finally, in June 1991, she was placed with her paternal grandmother, Barbara Brown, in River Rouge. The circumstances leading to Lashawnda's disappearance are deeply troubling. On August 1, 1991, while her paternal grandmother was at work and a teenage aunt was babysitting, Lashawnda's father, Byron Ogletree, arrived at the home and took the child without permission. Later that day, he made a chilling phone call to Lashawnda's mother, Samora. During this call, Ogletree reportedly told Samora to listen, and she horrifyingly believed she heard him shaking and choking their daughter over the phone. Samora immediately contacted the police, sparking a search for both Ogletree and the infant. In the days and weeks that followed, Samora encountered Ogletree on multiple occasions, and each time he would promise to take her to Lashawnda, only to retract his offer, providing conflicting stories about whether the baby was alive or dead. The investigation into Lashawnda's disappearance led to the arrest of her father, Byron Ogletree, on September 7, 1991, for parental kidnapping. At the time of his arrest in Detroit, Lashawnda was not with him, and he refused to disclose her whereabouts. Following his arrest, Ogletree reportedly confessed to both Lashawnda's mother and his own mother that he had lost his temper and killed the baby. Despite these alleged confessions, the outcome of the parental kidnapping charges against him is not publicly known, and investigators believe he is responsible for her likely death. Lashawnda Patrice Coates has never been found, and her case remains a painful and unresolved mystery, leaving a void in the hearts of those who remember the little girl whose life was so tragically brief. The River Rouge Police Department continues to hold the case file, a somber reminder of a life that vanished without a trace.

Aug 01, 1991

River Rouge

Michigan

Wayne County

48218

24230

River Rouge Police Deparment

River Rouge

Michigan

,

2247-91

River Rouge Police Deparment

Black

Brown

Brown

07/06/2026