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Missing teenage Black Lives Matter protester found dead in Florida after tweeting about sexual assault

Rhea Mahbubani   

Missing teenage Black Lives Matter protester found dead in Florida after tweeting about sexual assault
International3 min read
  • Police in Tallahassee, Florida, were investigating a missing persons case on Saturday night when they discovered two bodies.
  • The victims have been identified as Oluwatoyin Salau, 19, and Victoria Sims, 75.
  • Police have arrested a 49-year-old man in connection with the homicides.
  • Actively involved in Black Lives Matter protests, Salau was described by her friend as "a light in a dark room." Sims volunteered with the AARP and Second Harvest.

A 19-year-old Black Lives Matter protester went missing on June 6 — the same day she posted a series of tweets describing a sexual assault — and was found dead on Saturday, her family said.

Oluwatoyin Salau was actively involved in protests that have swept the nation since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.

At each demonstration, she read out the names of black people, like Floyd, whose lives have been lost.

"I don't want their names gone in vain," Salau said at a protest in front of the Tallahassee Police Department last month, the Democrat reported.

Salau's friend, Danaya Hemphill, described her as "very passionate," "very vocal," "very spiritual," and "very caring."

She added: "Toyin she was like a light in a dark room. That was Toyin."

Hemphill, 22, told the Democrat that she saw Salau on June 5, adding, "I had a feeling that we were not going to find Toyin alive."

Salau's friends and family sounded the alarm about her safety after she shared a lengthy thread on Twitter, describing being "molested" by someone "disguised as a man of god," who offered her a ride and a place to stay.

"I was laying on my stomach trying to calm myself down from severe ptsd," she wrote. "He started touching ... My back and rubbing my body using my body until he climaxed and then went to sleep."

The man reportedly removed his clothes and fell asleep, which is when Salau fled to "anywhere else."

Police said Tuesday that Salau reported the assault, but The New York Times reported that law enforcement didn't find a link between the sexual assault and her death.

Officers investigating a missing persons case found two bodies in the southeast part of Tallahassee on Saturday night, the Democrat reported.

Police on Monday identified the victims as Salau and the other as Victoria Sims, 75.

"During the course of the investigation, two deceased people were located in the area. As the investigation continued, investigators developed a suspect," Officer Rachelle Denmark, spokeswoman for the Tallahassee Police Department, said in a statement.

Investigators also honed in on a suspect: Aaron Glee Jr, 49. He is in custody, but police have not yet released additional information about him.

Police said that "the deaths are being investigated as homicides and have been turned over to TPD's Violent Crime Unit." An investigation is ongoing, per the statement.

Sims, who volunteered for the AARP and Second Harvest food bank, was reported missing around 9 p.m. on June 13 and was last seen driving a white 2017 Toyota Camry close to where police found the bodies, the Democrat said.

AARP officials told the Democrat on Sunday that Sims had been killed.

"Her life is an example of the great principle laid out by AARP's founder, Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus — 'to serve, not to be served,'" said Dave Bruns, a spokesperson for the nonprofit organization. "The AARP family of volunteers and staff has suffered a grievous loss."

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