A New York family says it has received text messages from their loved one’s phone requesting payment in bitcoin, after she disappeared in Las Vegas.
Alisa Goods, 63, was last seen on Aug. 8 leaving her friend’s apartment to pick up iron pills at CVS, according to 8 News Now.
“This is not like her to just go missing,” her niece, Alana Calloway, said. “She has a family that loves her, cares about her. We want her home and want her home safe and alive.”
The family, back in New York and New Jersey, said Goods was staying with her friend Roger John, whom she usually stays with when she visits Las Vegas.
John told 8 News Now this was Goods’ second visit to Sin City this year, adding that he’s known her for nine years.
“It’s just sad because she’s the nicest person you would meet,” he said.
John explained that he last spoke to Goods when she left his apartment around 12:45 p.m. on Aug. 8. He said she was going to catch a bus.
“Last I saw her, she was going down the stairs. And I said, ‘OK, see you later,’ And that’s the last time I saw her. I went out after her, about 15 minutes after her. And I came back home about two, three hours later, and then she wasn’t home,” he said.
“And I was like, ‘she should have been home already.’ I didn’t think much of it, because sometimes she’d go out and she’d shop; she stays out. And I kept texting and calling and texting and calling.”
Once he notified her family, John filed a missing persons report with Metro Police on Aug. 10.
But two days later the family began receiving text messages from Goods’ phone, 8 News Now reports. They said they’re suspicious about who is sending them.
“I said, ‘Hey, could you call me back? Something happened to mommy. It’s an emergency.’ And I kind of went on and on trying to get the person to actually call me. But they kept putting it off and saying, ‘now my card’s not working,’” Calloway said.
She explained that the person on the other end of the line claimed they were having issues with their credit cards and were at a gas station.
Calloway became suspicious because her aunt was not driving while she was in Las Vegas. Calloway pressed the person on the phone for more information.
“I said, ‘Well, OK, I can send you money for gas. How much do you want me to send?” she told 8 News Now. “Then they wanted the bitcoin. And then I said, ‘Well, hold on. Let me get Kelly to help.’ We have nobody in our family named Kelly.”
Calloway explained that if she was really texting Goods, she would’ve asked who Kelly was.
“That was alarming,” she said. “Every time the person texts back, it just felt like my heart was in my stomach because I knew it wasn’t my aunt.”
After speaking with Metro Police, Calloway said she felt there was no sense of urgency to find her, saying the officer told her “she did not meet the qualifications of a priority, meaning she didn’t have any sort of disability.”
It’s now been over a week since the family has heard from Goods.
Keven Newton, Goods’ son, also reportedly started receiving texts about sending cash.
“Just give my mother back. I don’t know what y’all got going on, but this ain’t it,” Newton said.
Calloway told 8 News Now she’s reached out to local hospitals, the coroner’s office, and even correctional facilities to see if Goods was there.
The family is now traveling to Las Vegas to continue their search.
“She’s like a superstar. People gravitate towards her. She lights up any room she walks in. They love her,” Calloway said. “She has such a welcoming and warm personality and is just filled with so much love.”
Atlanta Black Star reached out to the family and police but hasn’t heard back.
