Unique RaQuel-Leona Harris was 24 years old when she vanished from Washington, D.C., on October 9, 2010. NamUs lists her as missing from Washington, District of Columbia, with her date of last contact recorded as October 9, 2010, and the Metropolitan Police Department’s public bulletin said she was last seen in the 2400 block of Hartford Street SE. At the time, Unique was described as a Black woman with brown eyes and brown hair, about 5 feet 7 inches tall and approximately 123 to 130 pounds. She had tattoos on her lower back and arm, and police said she was last seen wearing a white shirt and gray pants.
According to public case summaries, Unique had recently moved into her apartment and was living there with her two young sons. The Charley Project reports that a young relative was also visiting the night she disappeared.
Unique was reportedly at home with the children during the night; she spoke with someone by phone around 3:00 a.m., and when the children woke up later that morning, she was gone. The children were found safe, but Unique’s disappearance was immediately alarming because leaving them behind was considered deeply out of character.
Accounts of the apartment scene added to investigators’ concerns. FOX 5 reported that the children told police they had watched a movie with Unique, went to bed, and woke to find the apartment in disarray and Unique missing. Other summaries noted that her keys and cell phone were gone, while personal items she was believed to need were left behind. Police and advocates described the circumstances as suspicious, and public reporting later said investigators believed she had likely been taken from her home by someone she knew.
For years, Unique’s family continued searching and keeping her name before the public. Her mother, Valencia Harris, distributed flyers and appealed for help, holding onto hope while also pressing for answers. Reports described Unique as a mother of two whose disappearance left her family with the pain of not knowing where she was and without the ability to lay her to rest. Her body has never been recovered.
A major development came more than a decade later. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced that Isaac Moye, of Washington, D.C., was indicted in 2021 and later convicted in June 2023 of second-degree murder in connection with Unique’s disappearance. Prosecutors said evidence included GPS data placing Moye at or near Unique’s apartment during the relevant period, along with additional investigative evidence gathered after years of work by law enforcement.
In September 2023, Moye was sentenced to 35 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for killing Unique Harris. The sentencing did not bring Unique home, and it did not answer every question her loved ones had lived with since 2010, especially because her remains have never been found. Still, the conviction and sentence represented a measure of accountability after many years of advocacy by her family and investigation by authorities.Last Seen: Oct 9, 2010
