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 It was Shola Henry’s sixteenth birthday.
As a birthday present, her sister, Stepha Henry, took her from their Brooklyn, N.Y. home to Florida to celebrate. But those plans were soon thwarted.
During the Memorial Day weekend, an acquaintance picked up Stepha Henry and took her to Peppers Café in Sunrise. Video footage shows Henry alone at the nightclub. She has not been seen or heard from since.
Miami-Dade police continue to investigate her disappearance. Homicide detectives have taken the lead in the case, police said.
Investigators say they are working hard on the case, but they had no new leads or updates as of press time. The reward for any information leading to Henry’s whereabouts has been increased to $5,000. The Henrys are contributing $4,000 of the reward money, and CrimeStoppers is putting in $1,000.
“We are still working every and all leads and we are hoping for more from the public. We need the public’s assistance” Miami-Dade Police spokesman Roy Rutland said.
The Henrys have also hired a high-profile search and rescue team, Texas EquuSearch, to help find Stepha. The nonprofit organization conducts searches by foot, water (diving and boats), air (using helicopters and planes), and dog teams (air scent and corpse.)
EquuSearch director Tim Miller said the group was involved in the recovery of pregnant murder victim Jessie Davis’ body in Ohio. The company also helped in the search for murder victim Kelsey Smith, and for Natalee Holloway, a partying teen who is still listed as missing in Aruba.
“The Henrys contacted us in Texas and we wanted to get involved with the search,” he said. “We've brought sonar equipment to search underwater.”
Neither Miller nor the Henrys would say where the company will be searching underwater.
The news media, initially slow to pick up the story, have turned it into national news. America’s Most Wanted recently featured a segment on the story, and posted it on their website.
Last weekend, on June 30, about 50 friends and supporters handed out fliers bearing two photos of the 22-year-old woman, who disappeared on May 29.
Led by Henry’s mother, Sylvia Henry, the group knocked on car windows and passed out the fliers to motorists at University Drive and Oakland Park Boulevard in Sunrise, near the night club where she was last seen on videotape.
The group was there to raise the public’s awareness of Henry's disappearance, and to ask anyone with information to contact the police.
“We're here to support the family and to let them know that our prayers are with them and to find Stepha and bring closure to the entire issue,” said Trinidad and Tobago's Consul General Gerard Greene.
Friends, family and well wishers also gathered outside Peppers Café at 3828 N. University Dr. to lend their support.
Lauderdale Lakes Commissioner Hazelle Rogers; Glenn Joseph, president of the Trinidad and Tobago U.S.A. Chamber of Commerce; Andy Ansola, president of the Broward Caribbean Carnival; and members of the Chaconia Women's Club of Trinidad handed out about 3,000 fliers.
“I came to tell the family just be strong and know that the entire community is here to support you and we want to offer our sympathy and our prayers at this time,” Rogers said.
Born in Trinidad on Sept. 22, 1984, Stepha Henry and her family migrated to the United States when she was six years old and settled in East Brooklyn. They, like many other immigrants, came to America seeking better socioeconomic conditions.
As a teenager, Henry was sociable and talkative. She was adamant about being heard and getting her point across. As she grew older, she blossomed into a beautiful and smart young lady, family members said.
She attended Metropolitan Corporate Academy, where she excelled in her studies. According to her aunt, Daffodil Samuel, Henry entered and won an essay contest from the New York Lottery in high school, earning her a $4,000 scholarship.
“One teacher told me that she was always ready with the answer whenever she asked a question,” said her mother, Sylvia Henry.
Stepha Henry continued to progress academically, and graduated last year with honors from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. She planned to become an attorney focusing on either criminal law or immigration law.
She wanted to help the innocent, especially black males who are constantly being arrested. She dreamed of starting a family after finishing her education.
“She has this drive. [She is] a go-getter. She has so much ambition and intention. She always wanted to strive above everything. She wanted to be an immigration lawyer to help people who want to migrate,” her aunt said.
Stepha and Shola Henry arrived on their summer vacation May 24. They went to the beach. Stepha Henry had visited Florida before and knew the area. The two sisters stayed at the house of their aunt, Carletha Clarke, in North Miami.
An avid reggae music fan, Henry loved to party and went to see a reggae show at Bicentennial Park in Miami on May 27.
“Stepha is intelligent, honest, kind, responsible, and she is independent. She likes to have fun. She like all types of music-reggae, hip hop,” her mom said.
The night before her disappearance, Henry told family members she was getting a ride to the night club from someone in a black Acura.
A videotape from Peppers shows her at the nightclub. It is unclear where she went afterward.
On the videotape, Henry is seen wearing a black sleeveless dress over a white top. Her petite frame stands at 5’2” and weighs 110 pounds. At the time, her hair had red extensions. According to her mother, she has a scar from a burn on one of her calves.
Henry’s mother has told the media that the young woman would not just go away without telling anyone where she was. She said she believes something bad may have happened to her, according to news reports.
Sylvia Henry said that even though she has achieved most of her own goals and had almost realized the American dream, she will regret coming to America if she does not find her daughter.
She took an indefinite leave of absence from her banking job and won’t return to New York until her daughter is found. She said the search for her daughter is frustrating because the police have no new leads. That’s why she wanted to come out on the streets to appeal to the public.
Stepha Henry’s father Steve, meanwhile, was in Brooklyn. He held a candlelight vigil there on June 30 for his daughter, while friends and family continued to pray.
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Pictured above is Stepha Henry.
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