Shemika Keyanta Cosey

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Berkeley Police Department (MO)

Missing From:

Berkeley, Missouri

Summary:

Shemika Keyanta Cosey was 16 years old when she vanished from a relative's home in Berkeley in late December 2008. She disappeared between 1:30 and 8:30 a.m. on December 29, 2008, from her aunt's home and when her family woke up in the morning, she was gone. In 2026, Berkeley Police reopened the case and are reviewing it with updated investigative resources, though bones found during excavation in 2026 were determined to belong to an animal, and the case remains open.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

On December 28, 2008, a few days after Christmas, 16-year-old Shemika Keyanta Cosey spent the day shopping with her mother and grandmother. Later that evening, she asked her mom Paula if one of her cousins could come over to the house and hang out. When Paula called her sister, Shemika's aunt, she was told that the cousins were about to watch a movie and would Shemika like to come over and join them. Before long, Shemika had packed her overnight bag and was hopping into her cousin's car. Shemika disappeared from Berkeley, Missouri between 1:30 and 8:30 a.m. on December 29, 2008. She was last seen at her aunt's home in the 6000 block of Napier. That night she left the house and came back inside several times. When her family woke up in the morning, she was gone. Shemika's clothes, overnight bag and most of her other belongings were inside the residence; she took only her purse and jacket. She didn't have a cellular phone. The front door was unlocked, and there were no indications of foul play.

Additional Details:

Prior to her disappearance, her mother had caught her with a false identification card which she used to get into local nightclubs. Her mother had feared she was smoking marijuana, and she once seen her getting into a dark-colored vehicle with a much older man. Years after Shemika's disappearance, her mother found a notebook which included written messages her daughter had passed to a school friend. A few months before she went missing, she had written about a boyfriend and that she might be pregnant. The police interviewed the boyfriend, but he didn't provide any helpful information. Hill has not given the notebooks to investigators. Her family has long said they were told at the time that the teenager was considered a runaway. In 2026, after First Alert 4 reached out to Berkeley Police to get an update on Shemika Cosey's case, Berkeley Police Major Steve Runge let them know the case has been reopened and is being reviewed with updated investigative resources. Runge said a fresh set of eyes is good on an old file and that they have things that they can do now that they couldn't do in 2008, phone numbers that they can research. In 2026, when Berkeley detectives reopened the file they found something important: a tip from years earlier that suggested there might be human remains buried at a property just blocks away from the house where Shemika disappeared. On March 31st, crews descended on Jefferson Avenue in Berkeley, searching the yards of six homes before settling on one in particular where cadaver dogs hit on a spot in the backyard. Digging first by hand and then with heavy machinery, investigators recovered a bone and several bone fragments that were immediately sent to the lab for analysis. Ultimately, the bones were determined to belong to an animal, not a human. Her family has spent nearly two decades working to keep her name in the public eye while seeking answers regarding her disappearance. Keia Henderson, Cosey's cousin, expressed frustration over the length of time it took for investigators to follow the lead at the Jefferson Avenue property, saying it's been almost 18 years and she was like right in their backyard. She has been known to frequent East St. Louis, Illinois. Her mother fears she became a victim of sex trafficking, but little evidence is available as to her fate.

Case Last Updated:

Aug 18, 2026