A family’s search for a missing Brooklyn, New York grandmother has taken a disturbing turn after relatives say her phone began sending unusual requests for money days after she vanished during a trip to Las Vegas.
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According to CBS News, 63-year-old Alisa Goods traveled from New York to Las Vegas to visit a friend and disappeared on August 8. The friend told Goods’ relatives that she left his apartment to take a bus to a nearby CVS but never returned. Goods was formally reported missing on August 10, and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has said the case remains active.Goods is a grandmother of five, according to CBS News. Her daughter, Kristen Goods, has since traveled to Las Vegas as the family continues searching for answers. Kristen described the emotional uncertainty surrounding her mother’s disappearance.
“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 CBS News.
Roger John, the friend Goods was staying with, said he had known her for nine years and that this was her second Las Vegas visit of the year. He said he last saw her leave his apartment around 12:45 p.m. on August 8 to catch a bus.
The family’s concerns intensified several days later. Relatives said messages began arriving from Goods’ phone on August 12, two days after she was reported missing. The messages allegedly asked for help, gas money, and bitcoin.
That immediately struck Goods’ niece, Alana Calloway, as unusual because her aunt does not drive.
“I said, ‘What do you need gas for? The car?’ My aunt does not drive. There is no car,” Calloway said.
Calloway tried to determine whether Goods was actually the person behind the messages. During the exchange, the person using the phone reportedly referenced someone named Kelly. Calloway said nobody in the family knows a person by that name, adding to her suspicion that somebody else may have had access to her aunt’s device. Goods’ son, Keven Newton, also received unusual messages seeking money.
Calloway has publicly raised the possibility that her aunt may have been kidnapped, although police have not announced evidence establishing that Goods was abducted or identifying who may have been sending the messages.
“If they have her phone, there’s a possibility that they have her,” Calloway said. “I want to know that she’s OK and that she is alive.”
The family has been searching beyond the police investigation. Relatives have contacted hospitals, local jails and the coroner’s office while trying to locate Goods, but as of August 18, those efforts had not produced a publicly reported breakthrough.
The unexplained messages remain one of the most troubling elements of the case, but there has been no public announcement of an arrest, suspect, or confirmed criminal act connected to her disappearance as of August 18. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department continues to ask anyone with information about Goods’ whereabouts to contact investigators.
For Kristen Goods, the focus remains on finding her mother alive and bringing her home.
“She is still out there, and we’re looking for her,” Kristen Goods said. “We want her home. We want her back.”
