TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A 19-year-old woman who recently sought justice over police killings has been found dead after going missing earlier this month, Tallahassee police said.
The bodies of Oluwatoyin Salau, and Victoria Sims, 75, were discovered on Saturday night in Tallahassee, police said in a news release sent Monday.
Police said they’ve taken a 49-year-old man into custody. The release didn’t provide any other details about the case or explain any relationship between the two victims and the man they’ve taken into custody.
I am deeply saddened to hear #Oluwatoyin "Toyin" Salau has been found dead. This hits so close to home — literally only minutes from where I live and work. She was only 19 years old, but already found her voice as a strong #BlackLivesMatter activist in our community. pic.twitter.com/pPoeA9apIM
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) June 15, 2020
The Tallahassee Democrat reported that Salau had been active in Black Lives Matter demonstrations, reciting the names of people who had been killed by police, including Tony McDade of Tallahassee and George Floyd of Minneapolis.
“I don’t want their names gone in vain,” Salau said during a protest in front of the Tallahassee Police Department in May.
Salau was reported missing June 6.
“Toyin was very passionate,” her friend Danaya Hemphill told the newspaper. “She was very vocal she was very loving, very spiritual, very caring. Toyin she was like a light in a dark room. That was Toyin.”
Sims was a retired state worker and was well-known for her volunteerism and work in local Democratic politics.
Officers discovered the bodies while following up on a missing person case, the newspaper reported.
