Kierra Coles

Case background and investigation

Kierra Coles was a 26-year-old U.S. Postal Service mail carrier who was about three months pregnant when she vanished from Chicago's South Side in October 2018. She lived in the Chatham neighborhood and, by all accounts, was looking forward to becoming a mother; in her last conversation with her own mother, she asked which kind of milk was best to drink during pregnancy and mentioned that her boyfriend planned to visit that evening. Her disappearance, and the fact that she was carrying an unborn child, drew widespread attention and sustained appeals from her family and postal-worker colleagues, who described her as reliable and happy about the pregnancy.

Coles was last confirmed alive on October 2, 2018. Surveillance video showed her earlier that day entering her apartment building after shopping for baby supplies. That evening, footage captured her leaving in a car accompanied by a man whom police would later describe as a person of interest. At about 10:43 p.m., cameras recorded her at an ATM at a business on the 8600 block of South Cottage Grove, withdrawing cash — behavior her mother said was unusual for her. Those were the last known images of Kierra Coles.

When Coles failed to report for her postal route and stopped answering her phone, coworkers and family grew alarmed and went to check on her; she was reported missing within a couple of days. Her car was found parked near her home, still containing her cell phone and a packed lunch — strong signs, investigators felt, that she had not left of her own accord. Chicago police classified the case as a high-risk missing-person investigation with the potential for foul play. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, because Coles was a federal employee, offered a reward of up to $25,000 for information, an amount that combined with other contributions grew substantially over time.

Attention quickly focused on Coles's boyfriend, whom her family has identified as Josh Simmons, the presumed father of her unborn child. According to relatives and police accounts, surveillance showed a man returning her car to the block and later entering her apartment and leaving with items; investigators said the boyfriend gave conflicting statements and eventually moved out of state. Police have never formally named him a suspect, and no one has been charged. The family and advocacy groups such as the Black and Missing Foundation have worked to keep her name in the public eye. Despite periodic releases of new video, billboards and repeated pleas from her mother, Karen Phillips, who has vowed never to stop searching, no trace of Coles or her child has been found. The investigation has gone cold and been effectively suspended, leaving one of Chicago's most closely watched missing-person cases unresolved more than seven years later.