In the early morning hours of a cold January day in 2005, 35-year-old Sherrie Lynette Stout was last seen in the vicinity of the 200 block of South Street in Elizabeth, New Jersey. At the time of her disappearance, she was with her one-year-old daughter, Quranah Gilliam. The circumstances surrounding their disappearance were initially unclear, leaving family and investigators with a perplexing and heart-wrenching mystery.
Sherrie was described as a Black female, standing at 5'3' and weighing around 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. On the day she vanished, she was reportedly wearing jeans and a brown blouse. The sudden absence of both a mother and her young child sparked immediate concern, launching an investigation that would span many years and cross state lines.
A significant development in the case came four and a half years later, in June 2009, when young Quranah was found safe in the Bronx, New York. The story of her discovery was as unusual as the initial disappearance. It was revealed that her father, Laquan Gilliam, had left her in the care of a family, telling them her name was Corrona Brooks and promising to return in a few days. He never came back for his daughter and was subsequently arrested and incarcerated on drug charges. The family who had lovingly cared for the child for years were unaware of her true identity or that she was a missing person. After they sought to find her relatives, DNA testing eventually confirmed she was Quranah Gilliam. The little girl, who was just a baby when she was last seen with her mother, was then reunited with her extended family.
While the discovery of Quranah brought immense relief to her loved ones, it also deepened the mystery surrounding the fate of her mother, Sherrie. There was still no indication of Sherrie's whereabouts, and the investigation into her disappearance remained active. Over the years, law enforcement has pursued various leads. In 2018, investigators received information that led them to search a property in Virginia where Sherrie had once lived, but the search unfortunately yielded no clues. The case of Sherrie Lynette Stout is a complex and sorrowful one, marked by the miraculous return of a lost child but also the enduring pain of a mother still missing. The investigation into her disappearance continues, with many unanswered questions about what happened to her after she was last seen with her daughter.Last Seen: Jan 13, 2005
