Kierra Coles: $250K reward offered in missing Chicago postal worker case
Kierra Coles case: $250K reward offered in search for missing pregnant Chicago postal worker
A $250,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the 2018 disappearance of Kierra Coles, who was three months pregnant when she vanished.
CHICAGO - The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is offering a reward of up to $250,000 for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the disappearance of Chicago postal worker Kierra Coles, who vanished while pregnant in 2018.
Kierra Coles disappearance
The backstory:
Coles was last seen on Oct. 2, 2018, in Chicago's South Side Chatham neighborhood. She was 26 years old and three months pregnant at the time.
Surveillance video from the morning she disappeared showed Coles wearing her postal worker uniform, even though she had called in sick to work that day.
Later that night, video showed her leaving home with a person of interest. The two stopped at a nearby ATM, where Coles made two cash withdrawals.
Coles was not seen again, but the person of interest was. Authorities said surveillance video showed him returning in a vehicle to Coles' home the next morning. He entered the building and later left with unknown items before driving away in his personal car, which had been parked on the block overnight.
Despite years of investigation by Chicago police and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, no suspects have been named and no arrests have been made.
What they're saying:
Coles' family has spent years searching for answers about what happened to her.
"They said they didn’t have a motive," her mother, Karen Phillips, previously said.
In 2019, Phillips recalled realizing something was wrong when she couldn't reach her daughter.
"When I woke up that morning and still hadn't gotten a call from her, I knew something was wrong," Phillips said.
Coles' family has described her as someone who loved makeup, taking pictures, dancing and her job with the Postal Service. She had also been looking forward to becoming a mother.
Six months after she disappeared, her due date came and went.
"As the years go on, it gets harder and harder," Phillips previously said.
Mack Julion of the National Association of Letter Carriers previously questioned the circumstances surrounding the day Coles disappeared.
"Calling out sick and leaving for work that day in uniform is quite out of the ordinary. Was she the one who made that phone call? We think there's more to the story," Julion said.
What you can do:
Anyone with information is asked to call the U.S. Postal Inspection Service at 877-876-2455 and say "Law Enforcement." Callers should reference Case No. 2693502-WPV.
The agency said information will be kept strictly confidential.
In 2018, Coles was described as a Black woman with a medium brown complexion, about 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing 125 pounds. She has a heart tattoo on her right hand and a "Lucky Libra" tattoo on her back.
Coles would turn 34 on Sept. 24, 2026.
The Source: The information in this story came from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and previous FOX Chicago reporting.