MASARAHA ROSS - 2.5 yo - Winter Haven FL

Winter Haven police said they are searching for a 2½-year-old girl who they described as “missing and endangered.’’



Police said Masaraha Ross was last known to be with her mother,
29-year-old Ronkeya Holmes, 29, who is also missing. Police would not
say why they consider the child to be endangered.The child and
Holmes, who is from Georgia, were last seen Oct. 18 at a Walmart store
in Haines City, said Winter Haven police Detective Amity McGee. Holmes
came to Polk to pick up her daughter who was visiting with relatives.
When family members did not hear from Holmes, they notified police,
McGee said.Police said there are conflicting stories as to the
last known location of the mother and daughter. However, witness
statements place them in either the Winter Haven or Haines City area.
Multiple law enforcement agencies are involved in this case, according to police.
Anyone with information about the missing pair can contact Detective Sgt.
Chris Ford at 863- 291-5733 or 863- 412-5973 and Detective Amity McGee
at 863-291-5312 or 863- 287-1961.

Winter Haven police sought the public's help Wednesday in finding a
2 1/2-year-old girl whom they described as 'missing and endangered.'
Police said Masaraha Ross was last known to be with her mother,
29-year-old Ronkeya Holmes, 29, who is also missing. Police would not
say why they consider the child to be endangered.The child and
Holmes, who is from Georgia, were last seen Oct. 18 at a Walmart store
in Haines City, said Detective Amity McGee. Holmes came to Polk
to pick up her daughter, who was visiting with relatives. When family
members did not hear from Holmes, they notified police, McGee said.Police
said there are conflicting stories as to the last known location of the
mother and daughter. However, witnesses place them in either the Winter
Haven or Haines City areas.Anyone with information about the
missing pair can contact Detective Sgt. Chris Ford at 863-291-5733 or
863-412-5973, and McGee can be reached at 863-291-5312 or 863- 287-1961.

Authorities from several law enforcement
agencies continue to investigate the disappearance of 2 1/2
year-old-Masaraha Ross, but they have not issued an Amber Alert.
Sgt. Brad Coleman, a spokesman for the Winter Haven Police
Department, said Friday morning that an Amber Alert has not been issued
because this case doesn’t quality. He said Masaraha is with her mother,
Ronkeya Holmes, 29, who has legal custody of the child.Mother and daughter were reported missing late Wednesday afternoon.According
to Coleman, Masaraha lives in Savannah, Ga. with her mother, but she
was visiting her father in Winter Haven. Holmes had come to pick up her
daughter after the visit.Coleman didn’t release the name of the father.“We had information that there was supposed to be a child exchange in Wal-Mart in Haines City,” Coleman said.Coleman said authorities reviewed surveillance tapes from Wal-Mart but didn’t glean any information from them.“The quality of the video didn’t allow us to see clearly if anyone involved was there,” Coleman said.Initial reports from Winter Haven police described the child as “missing and endangered,” although authorities didn’t say why.Masaraha
is black with black hair and black eyes, according to a missing persons
flyer released by the police department. She stands about 38 inches
tall and weighs about 30 pounds.There were conflicting stories
about the last known location of the missing girl and mother, but
witness statements placed them in either the Winter Haven or Haines
City areas, Coleman reported Wednesday.Coleman said he expects to release more information later Friday.

Winter Haven Police Detectives continue to
search for 3 1/2 year-old Masaraha Ross and her mother, Ronkeya Holmes,
29, and consider mother and daughter "endangered and missing."






Masaraha is believed to have last been seen in the company on her
mother, according to Sgt. Brad Coleman, spokesman for the Winter Haven
Police Department."Our investigators consider both Ross and Holmes to be missing and endangered at this time," Coleman said.Coleman
said Friday morning that an Amber Alert has not been issued because
this case doesn't qualify. He said Masaraha is with her mother, who has
legal custody of the child.Mother and daughter - whose age was
corrected by police from 2 1/2 years old to 3 1/2 years old Friday
afternoon - were reported missing late Wednesday afternoon.According
to Coleman, Masaraha lives in Savannah, Ga., with her mother, but she
was visiting her father in Winter Haven. Holmes had come to pick up her
daughter after the visit."We had information that there was supposed to be a child exchange in Wal-Mart in Haines City," Coleman said Friday morning.Coleman said authorities reviewed surveillance tapes from Wal-Mart but didn't glean any information from them."The quality of the video didn't allow us to see clearly if anyone involved was there," Coleman said.Coleman
said authorities received conflicting stories about the last known
location of the missing girl and mother, but witness statements placed
them in either the Winter Haven or Haines City areas, Coleman reported
Wednesday.By Friday afternoon, authorities had compiled a
chronology of events from a report filed by Holmes several weeks ago
and another filed by Nafateria Fletcher of Alma, Georgia on Oct. 23.Coleman
provided the following timeline of events compiled from information
supplied to Winter Haven Winter Haven Police Department by Holmes on
Oct. 7:April 14, Holmes met with Lester Ross in St. Augustine.
Holmes and Ross have a child together, Masaraha. Holmes was leaving
Masaraha with Ross until she finished school.Sept. 18, Holmes finished school and began attempting to get her daughter back from Lester Ross.Oct.
2, Holmes made contact with Ross via text messaging and informed him
that she was traveling to Winter Haven to pick up her daughter.Oct.
3, Holmes arrived in Winter Haven and made contact with Ross, who told
her that Masaraha was out of town with an uncle and would be returning
on Oct. 4.Oct. 4, Ross did not deliver Masaraha to Holmes as promised.Holmes returned to Georgia and on Oct. 7, contacted Winter Haven Police to make a report."It
should be noted that on October 7, 2009, we had no reason to believe
that Masaraha was missing or endangered and child custody, from a legal
standpoint, had not been established," Coleman said in the written
statement.Fletcher, 31, of Alma, Ga., is Holmes' sister. Her
statement to police resulted in the following addition to the time line
of events:Oct. 14-15, Holmes was in Winter Haven attempting to
get her daughter back and was staying with her former step father,
Archie Forte.Oct. 16, Holmes stayed with her grandmother in Haines City.Oct. 17, Holmes was in Winter Haven, again staying with Forte.Oct. 18, Fletcher came to Winter Haven because she was worried about her sister.Oct.
18, at 10:52 p.m., Joseph Wilcox, 34 of Winter Haven, was stopped by
Lake Mary Police while driving a 1992 Ford Escort driven to Florida by
Holmes. Wilcox was arrested on unrelated charges and the vehicle was
impounded.Oct. 20, Fletcher had a phone conversation with
Holmes. Fletcher states that Holmes told her that her car had been
towed when Wilcox was stopped by police and arrested. Holmes would not
tell Fletcher where she was and that she had Masaraha with her. Holmes
also told Fletcher that she (Holmes) would "take care of everything."Oct. 23, Fletcher filed a report with the Winter Haven Police Department.Ross,
was interviewed by the police and he stated that he last saw Holmes and
his daughter on Oct. 18, when he turned Masaraha over to Holmes at the
Haines City Wal-Mart. He states that he has not seen or heard from
either of them since.The case is still being investigated by
several departments, including Winter Haven Police Department, Haines
City Police Department, Lake Mary Police Department, Florida Department
of Law Enforcement, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation."Although
we are considering Masaraha Ross and Ronkeya Holmes as missing and
endangered, we have not obtained any physical evidence that a crime has
been committed at this time," Coleman said in the written report.
"Information contained in the above time line has been provided to us
by involved parties. Our investigators are in the process of confirming
and fact checking all statements provided to date."Masaraha is
black with black hair and black eyes, according to a missing persons
flier released by the police department. She stands about 38 inches
tall and weighs about 30 pounds.The Winter Haven Police
Department is attempting to identify, locate, and interview anyone who
has had contact with Masaraha and Holmes in the past two weeks. Anyone
with information is asked to call Detective Amity McGee at 863-291-5312.Anyone
with information who wants to remain anonymous and be eligible for a
cash reward is asked to call Polk County Crime Stoppers at
1-800-226-TIPS.

Baby clothes and shoes, a child’s book and
toys were in the back seat of the 1992 baby-blue Ford Escort that was
brought back to Winter Haven on Monday.





Joseph Wilcox


Lester Ross

On the front seat of the car belonging to Ronkeya “Keya” Holmes was a suitcase with women’s clothes in it.The
car belonging to the missing 29-year-old Georgia Woman and her
3½-year-old daughter, Masaraha Ross, was towed from Lake Mary so Winter
Haven police can examine it.The car was recovered Oct. 19 when police in Lake Mary stopped Joseph Wilcox, 34, of Winter Haven, who was driving it.Neither Holmes or her daughter were in the vehicle when Wilcox was stopped in the city east of Orlando.But their belongings were.Wilcox initially told detectives he didn’t know whose vehicle it was and that
his cousin, Lester Ross, who is Masaraha’s father, had asked him to
drive the Escort to Florida’s east coast, said Sgt. Brad Coleman.Wilcox would not talk to detectives further about what he was doing with the Escort, he said.Ross, 31, is not returning phone calls to detectives, Coleman said.Wilcox
was charged by Lake Mary police with driving with a suspended license.
He was moved from the Seminole County Jail to the Polk County Jail
where he is being held without bail on charges he violated probation
for driving on a suspended license.Holmes and her toddler have
been missing for two weeks and the events surrounding her disappearance
have perplexed investigators because there are inconsistencies in
statements from Holmes’ family and Masaraha’s father.Investigators consider Holmes and Masaraha endangered.Winter Haven police have the assistance of the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on the case.The
last time Holmes’ mother, Edith Fletcher, and her sister, Nafateria
Fletcher, heard from her was Oct. 20 when she said she had been stopped
by police in Sanford and needed paperwork on the Escort.The Fletchers learned Wilcox was the one stopped by police when they came to Florida from Savannah, Ga., looking for her.Investigators
are tracking Holmes’ cell phone records and they said the signal from
her phone on the day she talked to her sister was from a cell phone
tower in the Winter Haven area, Coleman said.Holmes came to Florida to pick her daughter from her ex-boyfriend, Ross. They had arrange to meet at Walmart in Haines City.Ross told investigators he last saw Holmes and his daughter Oct. 18 at the
Haines City Walmart where he turned the girl over to her mother, police
have said.Ross could not be reached for comment.Detectives
with the Haines City Police Department reviewed the security tapes from
Walmart on Friday but Holmes and her daughter were not spotted, Capt.
Brian Rall said.“The tapes were not of any value,” Rall said Monday.Anyone
with information about the missing pair, should contact Winter Haven
Detective Sgt. Chris Ford at 863-291-5733 or 863-412-5973 or Detective
Amity McGee at 863-291-5312 or 863-287-1961.Anyone in the Haines City area should contact Haines City police at 863-421-3636.

The FBI is investigating the disappearance of a Savannah woman and her young daughter. Ronkeya
Holmes is a student at Savannah Technical College. Police say her
daughter's father was keeping their 3-year-old in Winter Haven, Florida
so Holmes could focus on school. In mid-October, Holmes traveled to Florida to pick up the little girl and neither have been seen since. The child's father, Lester Ross, told police he met Holmes at a Walmart to hand over the little girl. "Other
than Mr. Ross' statement, we haven't been able to obtain any evidence
that the child exchange actually occurred," said Sgt. Brad Coleman with
the Winter Haven Police Department. That same day, the father's
cousin Joseph Wilcox, was found driving Holmes' car. Police say the men
are refusing to cooperate with detectives. Authorities consider the mother and daughter "endangered". Florida's Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI are now assisting in the investigation. If you know where Ronkeya Holmes and her 3-year-old daughter may be, call police or CrimeStoppers at 912.234.2020.

Endangered Missing

MASARAHA ROSS DOB: Mar 24, 2007 Missing: Oct 18, 2009 Age Now: 2 Sex: Female Race: Black Hair: Black Eyes: Brown Height: 3'2" (97 cm) Weight: 30 lbs (14 kg) Missing From: HAINES CITY FL United States

RONKEYA HOLMES Companion DOB: Sep 22, 1980 Sex: Female Race: Black Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown Height: 5'5" (165 cm) Weight: 145 lbs (66 kg)

The photo on the right and in the center are of Masaraha. She may be in the company of her mother, Ronkeya Holmes. Ronkeya may have dyed her hair.

ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST) Winter Haven Police Department (Florida) 1-863-291-5858

Edith Fletcher isn't
looking forward to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday - it just won't be
the same without her daughter, Ronkeya Holmes, and granddaughter,
Masaraha Ross, who have been missing for a month.






"Holidays don't even matter anymore. Holidays are for family,"
Fletcher said Tuesday during a phone interview from her home in
Savannah, Ga. "A holiday isn't a holiday without your babies."It's
difficult, she said, to wait for news of her daughter and
granddaughter. She is frustrated by not knowing what has happened to
them and information seems slow in getting to her. And she doesn't
understand why the man she believes is responsible for their
disappearance - Masaraha's father, Lester Ross - has not been listed by
law enforcement agencies as a suspect.But Detective Amity McGee
of the Winter Haven Police Department said investigators from several
agencies - WHPD, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) - are working together to
find Holmes, 29, and her 3 1/2-year-old daughter. Authorities are still
sifting through and analyzing information received through court orders."At this time nobody has been named a suspect," McGee said.Meanwhile,
Fletcher is on a leave of absence from her supervisory job at the
Bohemian Hotel Savannah Riverfront until Nov. 24, while she deals with
the emotional roller coaster she's been on since her daughter and
granddaughter were declared missing Oct. 28.She wonders about "her babies" - where they are, what they are doing, how they are dressed, whether or not they are eating."All these things you wonder every day," she said.Fletcher describes her daughter as "a good mom.""She loves her kids. She takes them to the mall and to the park," she said. "She has a sweet personality. Everyone loves her."In addition to Masaraha, Holmes has an 8-year old daughter, Remiah.Masaraha
lives in Savannah, Ga., with her mother, but had been staying with her
father in Winter Haven while Holmes went back to school. Holmes had
come to pick up her daughter to take her home. At the time, Sgt. Brad
Coleman, spokesman for the Winter Haven Police Department, said Holmes
was to retrieve Masaraha from Ross at the Wal-Mart in Haines City.But surveillance tapes from Wal-Mart didn't allow detectives to see whether or not the exchange actually took place.Law
enforcement agencies started piecing together the story, which began
April 14 ,when Holmes met with Lester Ross in St. Augustine. Holmes was
leaving Masaraha with Ross until she finished training to become a
certified nurses assistant and a childcare associate.When Holmes
finished school around Sept. 18, she began attempting to get her
daughter from Lester Ross. On Oct. 2, she made contact with Ross via
text messaging and informed him that she was traveling to Winter Haven
to pick up her daughter. The following day, Holmes arrived in Winter
Haven and contacted Ross, who told her that Masaraha was out of town
with an uncle and would be returning Oct. 4.On Oct. 4, Ross did
not deliver Masaraha to Holmes as promised. Holmes returned to Georgia
and on Oct. 7, contacted Winter Haven Police Department to make a
report.By Oct. 14-15, Holmes was in Winter Haven trying to get
her daughter back and was staying with her former stepfather, Archie
Forte. She then stayed with her grandmother in Haines City one day
before returning to Forte's home.On Oct. 18, Nafateria Fletcher came to Winter Haven because she was worried about her sister.Later
that night, Joseph Wilcox, 34 of Winter Haven, was stopped by Lake Mary
Police while driving the 1992 Ford Escort driven to Florida by Holmes.
Wilcox was arrested on unrelated charges and the vehicle was impounded.
Wilcox is Lester Ross' cousin. Items belonging to Holmes and her
daughter, such as clothes, toys and Holmes' identification badge were
found in the car.On Oct. 20, Nafateria Fletcher spoke with
Holmes on the phone. Fletcher said Holmes told her the car had been
towed when Wilcox was stopped by police and arrested. Holmes would not
tell Fletcher where she was located.Oct. 23, Fletcher filed a report with the Winter Haven Police Department.Ross
told police he last saw Holmes and his daughter on Oct. 18, when he
turned Masaraha over to Holmes at the Haines City Wal-Mart.Ross and Wilcox have stopped providing information in the case, Coleman indicated earlier this month.Edith
Fletcher and her family continue to pray and face each day as it comes.
Holmes' sisters, Tameka and Nafateria, who is called Angel, continue to
have dreams about their sister. And Fletcher will return to Winter
Haven on Thursday."We're doing the best we can. We are just depending on God. That's all we can do," Fletcher said."I really need my babies back because I miss them," Fletcher added.Anyone with information about Ronkeya Holmes and Masaraha Ross is asked to call McGee at 863-291-5312.