Who Is Shanaya Coley? Blood Found Where New Jersey Woman Allegedly Abducted

Authorities said a New Jersey woman who was reported missing earlier this week may have been abducted inside her own car less than 50 yards from her own home. Shanaya Coley, 24, was last seen Dec. 5 in Paterson, New Jersey.

Coley, who has a 3-year-old son, left her home late Tuesday to go to work at a nursing home in Wyckoff. Her father, Willie Coley, described her as a good-hearted woman who would do anything she could to help another person.

Blood was found alongside Coley’s glasses at the scene from where she may have been taken, according to NJ.com. Authorities said it appeared she was stabbed before being abducted in her car. Her phone was inside the car at the time, police told her father.

“I was sitting here and she came down and kissed her son goodnight,” Willie Coley said Friday, detailing the last time he saw his daughter. “It was raining and she left to go to work. Next thing I know the police are here.”

Investigators said they were attempting to access information inside the phone that vanished along with Coley. It remained unclear whether Coley was taken by someone she knew or by a stranger. Police said, however, that Coley had taken out a restraining order against an unidentified person, according to NBC News.

“I was never aware that there was anything wrong,” Willie Coley said of the restraining order. “She did her stuff and never said anything to me about it.”

Friends and family desperate for answers gathered near Coley’s apartment Friday morning, NorthJersey.com reported. An unofficial search party handed out flyers and knocked on doors Thursday to see if anybody in the neighborhood had information about Coley’s whereabouts. Family members said her 3-year-old son had not yet been told of the situation, as they could not bear to tell him his mother was missing.

“I just want her back,” said Coley’s sister, Vernadette Fields, according to PIX 11. “I literally have been numb for two days.”

Prosecutors said Coley may have been abducted in her own car and urged the public to be on the lookout for a 2013 Nissan Altima with New Jersey license plates tagged R74-HRX. Anyone with information was asked to call the Paterson Police Department at 973-321-1120 or contact Det. Sgt. Marco Aliano directly at 862-849-6019.