NEED TO KNOW
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A mom of four has been missing for more than 40 days after she was last seen heading to a gas station in Jacksonville, Fla.
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Her family tells PEOPLE that she’s never lost contact before, and hasn’t been heard from since
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“There’s children that’s asking questions and we don’t have the answers for them,” the missing woman’s mom says
A mom of four has been missing for six weeks, prompting her concerned family to speak out.
“She has never, ever disappeared before. She has never not tried to reach out to family,” Sharonda Muller tells PEOPLE of her 32-year-old daughter, Kamela Johnson, who was last seen in Jacksonville, Fla., on Wednesday, Oct. 8.
Her children are “asking questions” and “we don’t have the answers for them,” she adds.
More than 40 days have passed since Johnson was last seen by her husband, Darrell Johnson, on that Wednesday evening. She was most likely heading to Gate, a gas station at 5508 Moncrief Road. He told police that his wife normally spends time there, according to a Nov. 1 incident report from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office reviewed by PEOPLE.
Darrell reported Kamela missing just over a week later on Oct. 16, and family members later confirmed to officials that she struggled with substance abuse and would often hang around “notorious drug locations,” according to the report.
By Nov. 1, Kamela’s ex-boyfriend, Jeremy Womack, also reported her missing after he hadn’t heard from her since around Oct. 8. He became concerned when he received text messages from a strange number, alleging to be Kamela, on Oct. 16. He said he never heard back after asking for the person’s real identity, according to the report.
Womack then contacted Darrell and learned that he also hadn’t heard from her and had filed a missing persons report earlier, the sheriff’s office report said.
“The husband said she just walked out the house and said she’ll be back, and he’s never seen her again,” says Muller, who isn’t sure of the timeline of events on Oct. 8. “The longtime friend said … he dropped her off at a gas station in the neighborhood.”
According to the incident report, an officer spoke to customers at the gas station where Kamela is believed to have last been, and learned that one person saw her at Gate “about a week ago,” but couldn’t remember the day of the week.
Other patrons said they hadn’t seen Kamela in about two weeks, according to the report. The officer discovered no further information about Kamela’s whereabouts. Authorities traced the strange number, which was linked to two different people “who appear to have no connection to Kamela,” according to the report.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office confirms to PEOPLE that Kamela remains missing as of Tuesday, Nov. 18.
Kamela Johnson/Facebook
Kamela Johnson.
“As far as the local police, because she is an adult and she didn’t have any issues with mental illness, they’re basically just saying that she has free will,” says Muller, who is caring for Kamela’s children. The kids range in age from 6 to 11.
Though Kamela would sometimes be gone for a couple of days, she always checked in and wouldn’t go farther than her regular spots, her mom says. Muller adds that Darryl was Kamela’s “home base.”
Muller describes her daughter as “a very sweet person,” who dreamed of working with children and excelled in school. While drugs impacted her life, Kamela loves her kids, her mom says. The family is planning a search party for the missing woman on Saturday, Nov. 22.
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“I mean if she’s out there and someone has her, we want her back,” the concerned mom continues. “She has a family that loves her, that misses her.”
Anyone with information about Kamela’s disappearance is asked to call the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at 904-630-0500.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
Read the original article on People
