Missing Black Lives Matter Activist Among 2 Women Found Dead: Police

A Florida man is in custody after the bodies of two missing women, including a 19-year-old Black Lives Matter protester, were found in a wooded Tallahassee neighborhood over the weekend, authorities said.

Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau and Victoria Sims, 75, who both vanished within five days of one another earlier this month, were found dead Saturday night by officers doing a follow-up investigation into a missing person case, police said Monday.

Their deaths, which led to the arrest of 49-year-old Aaron Glee Jr., are being investigated as homicides, police said.

A motive has not been reported by Tallahassee police, and it’s not clear if the women knew one another or Glee, who, like Salau, is Black. Police did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s requests for comment Monday.

Salau had been active in anti-racist demonstrations in Tallahassee just before her death, according to reports. On June 6, the last time police said she was seen alive, she posted on Twitter that she had been sexually molested by an unidentified Black man earlier that morning after he offered to give her a ride to “someplace to sleep.”

“He came disguised as a man of God,” she said of the suspect.

After the man had his way with her and fell asleep, Salau said, she fled his home “to anywhere else” and called the police. She was unable to locate his house again, however, due to her poor eyesight, which she had mentioned previously on Twitter. It’s not clear whether a police report was filed by Salau and if police investigated.

Salau described the man on Twitter as in his mid-40s and driving a white Chevrolet Silverado truck. The general location that she said the assault took place is roughly three miles north of where her body was recovered.

Late last month, another woman told police that Glee assaulted her after she turned down his proposition for sex while they were drinking, according to a May 29 police report obtained by the Tallahassee Democrat. Glee was reportedly charged with aggravated battery and released on bond June 3, three days before Salau said she was assaulted. Glee was reportedly arrested a second time on June 9 ― the day Salau was reported missing by police ― on a battery charge. Police reports in that incident were not immediately available, according to the Democrat.

Sims was a retired state worker and a grandmother who volunteered with Tallahassee’s local chapter of AARP, according to local news outlets.

She was last seen on June 11, roughly a mile from where her body was found. Her white 2017 Toyota Camry was also reported missing, according to a missing person’s report released by police on June 13.

“Vicki worked tirelessly to improve the lives of others ― as a dedicated advocate for older Americans; a committed volunteer for AARP, Second Harvest Food Bank of the Big Bend and other community causes; a devoted mother and grandmother; and a passionate, fully engaged citizen, helping our nation to achieve its highest ideals,” an AARP spokesperson told WCTV. “The AARP family of volunteers and staff has suffered a grievous loss.”