Foul Play Suspected in College Student's Disappearance

Oct. 20, 2005 — -- Police in Illinois are searching for a 21-year-old college student who vanished from her off campus apartment last week.

Olamide Adeyooye, a senior at Illinois State University, was last seen on Thursday. She was to graduate in December with a degree in criminal laboratory sciences and planned to return home to the Chicago area to work at a hospital lab.

Samantha Troha, Adeyooye's best friend, said her friend "isn't the type of person to run away" and not tell anybody.

"We spoke every day last week up until the day she disappeared," Troha said. "She would call somebody. She has too many people that love her, and she loves too many people."

Police initially considered the disappearance a missing persons case but now have declared it a criminal investigation after discovering personal items in a nearby lot.

"When you get this type of information it's time to shift focus and go down the criminal road here," said Lt. Mark Kotte, of the Normal, Ill., Police Department. The FBI and Illinois State Police have joined the investigation.

"We have persons of interest," he added. "We still have some more people to interview."

Kotte said that some of the people being interviewed by police were known to Adeyooye and some were not.

Police believe Adeyooye visited a video store before she disappeared. Police say her car, a green 1996 Toyota Corolla, is missing, as well as a comforter from her apartment. Her family says her cell phone was left on the couch and the lights were still on in her apartment. A video she apparently rented on Thursday was still in the VCR.

Last Saturday, her parents called police when they didn't hear from her.

"Let her come home. I know she misses me. She misses her brother and her family. All my family are praying for her to come back," said her mother, Oluwayianka Adeyooye.

Troha said the student's friends and her family are hoping that Adeyooye is still alive.

"If someone does have her, let her go," Troha said. "She's the most gentle and kind person you're ever going to meet."