Ind. Couple Vanishes After Anniversary Celebration

Jan. 15, 2009— -- Police says they have no leads on the fate of an Indiana couple who disappeared without a trace nearly a week ago after celebrating their 14th anniversary.

The families of Arthur "Shonteau" Joshua, 39, and his wife Latavia, 35, are frantic, saying the East Chicago, Ind., couple would never have abandoned their jobs and teenage children.

"This is a nightmare," said Charlene McFerson, Shonteau Joshua's mother. "Things like this don't happen in East Chicago."

East Chicago police are asking for the city of Gary, Ind., where the Joshuas were last seen, and local businesses to turn over surveillance tapes from the night of Jan. 9 and the early morning hours of Jan. 10, hoping to get clues as to what may have happened to them.

East Chicago Police Sgt. Juan Beltran told ABCNews.com that the Joshuas celebrated their anniversary at a Gary lounge called Beer Belly's, leaving between 12 a.m. and 1 a.m. before stopping at an ATM to take out money.

They were driving a hunter green 2001 Dodge Durango with an "In God We Trust" specialty Indiana license plate, number IZ542.

After leaving the lounge, Latavia Joshua then placed two phone calls -- one to 15-year-old daughter Paris, and another to a co-worker requesting a wake-up call to make sure she was at work by 6 a.m.

That's the last anyone heard from them. Family members reported them missing after Latavia Joshua failed to show up for work as a nurse assistant at Community Hospital in Munster, Ind. "That's very unusual for her according to her supervisor and her work record," Beltran said.

Police are looking into whether the Joshua's, who were high school sweathearts, may have had an accident or whether they met with foul play.

"We don't know for sure," he said

The couple may have been headed to El Norteno, a Mexican restaurant also in Gary.

"According to the family, they usually go to that spot after going out partying," Beltran said.

But in the week they've been gone, police have not been able to speak with the night manager who was on duty at El Norteno that day, nor have they been able to collect area surveillance videos.