A New York grandmother disappeared during a trip to Las Vegas, and her family says the mystery took an unsettling turn days later when text messages from her phone began demanding Bitcoin.
Alisa Goods, 63, a grandmother of five, was reported missing on Aug. 10, two days after relatives say she was last seen leaving a friend’s apartment near Maryland Parkway and Tropicana Avenue, according to her family and a missing person report obtained by KLAS-TV.
Goods had been staying with longtime friend Roger John, who told the station she left his apartment at about 12:45 p.m. on Aug. 8 to ride a bus to a nearby CVS, where she planned to buy iron pills.
She did not return.
Goods’ family says text messages began coming from her phone days after she vanished. (Facebook)
“Last I saw her, she was going down the stairs. And I said, ‘OK, see you later,’ And that’s the last time I saw her,” John told the station.
Alisa Goods has been missing since Aug. 8, according to her family. (Facebook/Black and Missing, Inc.)
John said he was not immediately worried because Goods sometimes stayed out for hours while shopping. But after she failed to come back, he tried repeatedly to call and text her, then reached out to her family when he still could not get in contact.
Goods’ family says the text messages from her phone asked for gas money and Bitcoin. (Facebook)
“This is not like her to just go missing,” Goods’ niece, Alana Calloway, told the outlet. “She has a family that loves her, cares about her. We want her home and want her home safe and alive.”
On Aug. 12, Goods’ family says messages started coming from her phone.
The person asked for gas money and Bitcoin, requests the family found suspicious because Goods doesn’t drive and didn’t have a car in Las Vegas.
“I said, ‘What do you need gas for? The car?’ My aunt does not drive. There is no car,” Calloway told CBS News.
Goods is a resident of New York and was visiting a friend in Las Vegas at the time she disappeared. (Facebook)
The family says they still don’t know who is texting from Goods’ phone, raising the possibility that she had been kidnapped.
“If they have her phone, there’s a possibility that they have her,” Calloway told the outlet. “I want to know that she’s OK and that she is alive.”
The family has checked local hospitals, jails and the coroner’s office but has found no sign of Goods. Her daughter, Kristen, traveled to Las Vegas to help search for her.
“I am hoping to God for the best, but my heart can’t take what it could be, which is the worst,” Kristen Goods told the station.
Goods’ family raised the possibility of a kidnapping when speaking to news outlets. (Facebook)
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police (LVMPD) told CBS News that Goods’ missing person case remains active and asked anyone with information to contact investigators.
News Outlet has reached out to LVMPD but did not immediately hear back.
