Oluwatoyin Salau, a Nigerian-American vocal Black Lives Matter activist who vanished after a protest in U.S. Florida state capital Tallahassee has died.
Her death was ruled a homicide, according to police.
The Democrat reports 19-year-old Oluwatoyin Salau and 75-year-old Victoria “Vicki” Sims were found dead Saturday night off Monday Road in southeast Tallahassee.
Salau disappeared June 6 a couple miles from where her body was found. Hours before her disappearance, Salau tweeted she had just been sexually assaulted.
She claimed a man, who appeared to be in his mid-40s, offered her a ride to a church where she had sought refuge to “escape unjust living conditions.”
“He came disguised as a man of God and ended up picking me up from nearby Saxon Street,” Salau tweeted. “I trusted the holy spirit to keep me safe.”
She said she reported the incident to police.
Salau started trending on Twitter after several people replied, asking if she was okay, but she never responded. Her post was shared thousands of times.
According to The Democrat, Salau would appear at protests and recite the names of Black people killed, such as George Floyd and Tony McDade of Tallahassee.
“I don’t want their names gone in vain,” Salau said last month during a protest in front of the Tallahassee Police Department.
The second victim, Victoria Sims, was a retired state worker and grandmother well-known for her volunteerism and work in local Democratic politics, according to the Democrat.
Police identified the suspect as 49-year-old Aaron Glee Jr., who lived on the road where her body was found.
Court records show Glee was arrested May 30 on a charge of aggravated battery causing bodily harm or disability, and for a battery charge on June 9.
Further information was not immediately available.
Featured Image Credit: Oluwatoyin Salau, 19, speaks in front of the Tallahassee Police Department during a protest held Saturday, May 30, 2020. Salau went missing on June 6 and was found dead Saturday, June 13, 2020. (Photo: Tesia Lisbon/Special to the Democrat)
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