Anastasia Hamilton
A missing Ohio woman was found dead in an abandoned home several days after she disappeared, sparking new questions about what happened to her and how she ended up at the residence.
Anastasia Hamilton, 25, was covered in lacerations and bruises, though the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner in Ohio was still determining the cause of death, according to WEWS.
“I couldn’t even bear it, for real. I had to take a walk,” Devontae Williams, who lives next door to the Cleveland home where Hamilton was found on Wednesday, told the outlet. “I live really, really close and I didn’t even hear [a thing]. I don’t know what happened.”
Hamilton was last seen Saturday, May 21, at 10:15 p.m. in the Terminal Tower Parking Garage “under suspicious circumstances,” according to Crime Stoppers of Cuyahoga County.
The organization released a surveillance image in which she walked with a man. Officers reportedly said they identified the man in the picture, but he is not facing charges. At least two locals, however, recognized him and linked him to that dilapidated home in the 3660 block of East 54th Street in the Slavic Village neighborhood.
“I always see him at the house next door, always,” Williams told WOIO. “I seen him every time I walked past or even driving past. I always see him.”
“I’ve seen him, next door a couple of times and around the neighborhood, a couple of times but I never really talked to him,” said Raymond Whiteside, who lives down the street from the home.
Surveillance footage of man walking with Anastasia Hamilton.
Though police have described the residence as abandoned, locals said people have been going in and out of the home.
“I noticed there’s a lot of traffic going in and out of there,” Timothy Obojski told WEWS.
He and Williams both said they didn’t recognize Hamilton and didn’t see her before.
“We have a lot of questions,” Hamilton’s mother Melissa Romanello told WOIO. “Why would someone dump my beautiful daughter in that awful home?”
Hamilton worked at K&D Properties in Terminal Tower, her mother said. Romanello suggested Hamilton parked her car that May 21 for free parking as an employee. Mother and daughter texted each other that night.
“Anastasia is an employee of Terminal Tower who works as a leasing agent in the office,” the company said in a statement released during the missing persons search. “Saturday night around 10:15 p.m. Anastasia entered the Terminal Tower parking garage, parking her car and proceeded to get out of her car with a companion. The two then walked up the garage ramp and onto Superior Ave. where they got into an Uber.”
There were more messages from Hamilton’s phone early Sunday morning, her mother said.
“She had sent her friends around 1 a.m., ‘I don’t feel well, my head is pounding, I’m really hungry, and I just want to go home,’” Romanello said. “Then no one heard from her again.”
She said she realized later on Sunday that something was wrong when her daughter did not respond to her. Romanello filed a missing person report.
Hamilton was reportedly found on a couch at the home.
“Where’s her purse?” Romanello reportedly said. “Where her phone? Where’s the shirt that she walked in on with? There are just so many questions. Why would someone dump my beautiful daughter in this horrible home? I don’t know. Nothing makes sense.”
A GoFundMe campaign to pay for Hamilton’s funeral raised $20,718 of a $15,000 goal as of Sunday morning.
[Images via Crime Stoppers of Cuyahoga County]
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