Latoya Natasha Thomas (aka, “Toya”) was only two days shy of her twenty-fifth birthday when she attended a party in her honor thrown by her coworkers. Born on October 2, 1975, Natasha worked at Bosley Medical Center in San Francisco, California, and was the mother of a four-year-old little girl.

On Saturday, September 30, 2000 — the night of the birthday party — Latoya left The party between 8 and 9 PM and drove her gray 1986 Mazda 626, heading in the direction of her home in Hayward, California; twenty-seven miles East of San Francisco. On her way home, she was photographed at an ATM at the Provident Central Credit Union on Foothill Boulevard in downtown Hayward. A little while later, the manager of her apartment complex spotted her washing clothes in the laundry room of the Riverside Terrace apartment complex in the 1700 block of B Street, where she lived. Around 10:30 that same night, Latoya was seen driving away from her apartment complex with her boyfriend, Nathan Ellry Noel, following her. It might have been assumed by some that Latoya and Nathan were heading to Nathan’s mother’s home to pick up Latoya’s daughter but she wasn’t planning on picking her up until the following day. Saturday, September 30th, would be the last night anyone will have ever seen Latoya Natasha Thomas. She never made it to Nathan’s mother’s home to pick up her daughter.

That Tuesday, October 3rd, Nathan reported her missing. Nathan was cooperative as the police questioned but they still found the situation suspicious and planned to follow up with him though they did not fully suspect that he was involved in her disappearance. Five days after Latoya went missing, her abandoned car was found near her home on the 900 block of B Street in Hayward by a BART employee. (Bay Area Rapid Transit) Her car was found unlocked with her purse and driver’s license on the front seat and the keys missing. There was nothing to indicate a struggle or any sort of crime. There is very little information regarding what may have happened to Latoya.

2007

On May 18, 2007, police responded to a shooting at an apartment complex in the 1000 block of Mohr Lane in Concord, California. Police found Lea Aikins, the thirty-seven-year-old girlfriend of Nathan Noel, shot multiple times. Nathan was seen leaving her apartment complex wearing a blue and white-colored shirt in a 2004 Infinity G-35. Lea eventually succumbed to her wounds and died.

The following day, police tracked Nathan down at a Los Angeles restaurant where they confronted him. Nathan pulled and fired a .45-caliber revolver at them and they returned fire, killing him. None of the officers were injured. The .45-caliber was believed to be the same gun used to kill Lea.

I, and I’m sure many others, believe Nathan was involved in Latoya’s disappearance. As I mentioned earlier, there is very little information on this case and what Nathan told authorities when Latoya went missing. To this day she has never been located and her family, including her daughter, still have no answers. If someone has any information, they should contact the Hayward Police Department at 510–293–7034.

References:

The Charley Project: charleyproject.org/case/latoya-natasha-thomas

SFGate: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Missing-Woman-s-Automobile-Found-Hayward-3302991.php

The Mercury News: https://www.mercurynews.com/2007/05/19/concord-cops-searching-for-silver-cadillac-driven-by-armed-homicide-suspect/

East Bay Times: https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2007/05/26/shot-man-was-suspect-in-old-hayward-case/

Unsolved Mystery: What Happened to Latoya Natasha Thomas: https://youtu.be/aoWTk76pdhc

***Brenda Thornlow is an author from Brooklyn New York. More of her work can be found on Amazon.com***