LANHAM, Md. — The mother of a missing Brooklyn college student is leading her own searches in New York and the Washington, D.C. area after more than a month of not seeing her daughter.
Toquanna Baker said her 23-year-old daughter, TiJae Baker, took a bus to D.C. after being hired to design posters by a woman her daughter had met online.
"She's very humble -- she's the sweetest person," Toquanna said during an interview with WUSA's CBS partner station in New York.
The mother and daughter duo share a Brooklyn apartment, and Toquanna Baker says they talk every day. But the communication between the two ceased once TiJae Baker arrived in D.C.
A month after the young woman left their home, her mother says she received a call from her daughter asking for help. TiJae Baker was calling from a nail shop in Lanham, Maryland, but when Toquanna Baker arrived, her daughter was nowhere to be found.
"My baby is out there," Toquanna Baker said. "I'm going through abandoned buildings; walking through alleyways."
During her own search, Toquanna obtained surveillance video from inside the salon located in the 9900 block of Greenbelt Road. WUSA9 spoke to an employee inside the business who confirmed the footage, adding that TiJae Baker had not returned and that he hoped she would be found.
Flyers have been posted along the strip mall with TiJae's photo and her information. She is described as a 5-foot-7 Black woman, weighing 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. She is thought to be in good physical and mental health, and has no previous history of going missing.
NYPD did not comment on the active investigation but D.C. Police said that they are working with their partners in the effort to find the young woman.
Anyone with information about TiJae Baker's whereabouts is asked to contact NYPD Detective Steven VanManen at (718) 827-3548 or Detective Borough Brooklyn North at (718) 963-5333.