On a December night in 1996, in Willingboro, New Jersey, twelve-year-old Celina Mays vanished from her home. At the time of her disappearance, she was nine months pregnant and just weeks away from her due date. The evening she went missing, Celina had attended church with her family, enjoyed ice cream, and went to bed around 11:00 p.m. The next morning, her father, C.J. Mays, went to her room and discovered she was gone.
Pillows had been arranged under the blankets to make it appear as though she were still in bed. Celina had left behind her purse, prenatal vitamins, and other personal belongings. There were no signs of a struggle or forced entry into the home.
Celina's life was deeply intertwined with the Gospel of Christ Ministries Inc., a church in nearby Mount Holly where her aunt, Cerita Smith, was the pastor and her father worked as an accountant. She was homeschooled and raised within the strict religious environment of the church. The circumstances of her pregnancy added a layer of complexity to her life; the identity of the baby's father was a secret she kept closely guarded. Celina had told her obstetrician that the father was a 16-year-old boyfriend who was not a member of the church, but she never revealed his name. Her father had reportedly threatened to have a paternity test performed after the baby was born to identify the father. This has led to speculation that she may have planned her disappearance to protect the father's identity or to escape her circumstances.
The investigation into Celina's disappearance was challenging from the start. Law enforcement officials reported that Celina's father was uncooperative in the investigation and that they lost contact with him in the years following her disappearance. The church, which has since become defunct, also became a focus of the investigation, with some former members alleging that the organization used brainwashing techniques on its congregation. Police efforts to obtain a search warrant for the church were initially blocked by a judge, hindering their ability to gather potential evidence. Over the years, numerous leads have been investigated, and age-progression photos have been released to show what Celina might look like today. Despite the passage of time and the death of key figures involved in the case, including her aunt and father, law enforcement continues to hope that Celina and her child may be alive. The case remains an open and active investigation, a haunting mystery of a young, pregnant girl who vanished into the night.Last Seen: Dec 16, 1996
