MISSING Lateche Norris shared a cryptic post saying "it's okay to cry" before she vanished following an argument with her boyfriend.
The 20-year-old mysteriously disappeared on November 5, after she left home to meet up with her boyfriend Joseph “Joey” Smith who had left a rehab facility and was reportedly living on the street in San Diego.
Norris last spoke to her mom Cheryl Walker, from a stranger's phone saying that she'd been in a fight with her boyfriend and needed his number so she could call him.
She didn't explain why she did not use her phone or what the fight was about but promised to call back her mom later that day.
But after a day passed and the 20-year-old had not called back, Walker filed a missing person report with the San Diego Police Department.
Lateche's social media activity ceased on November 5 but just a day before her disappearance she shared a cryptic Facebook message that read: "It's okay to still cry over things u thought you moved past."
Earlier this year she moved from Indiana to Santa Cruz with Smith but returned home after two months.
She had flown back to see Smith just days before she vanished.
The pair were both aspiring tattoo artists.
Her worried mom who said her daughter sounded "frantic" on the phone admitted that the pair had fallen out before, claiming there have been domestic violence incidents in the past.
She told local media: “She definitely would have called me back" adding that typically her daughter wouldn't go more than a couple of days without speaking to her.
"If her phone was dead, she would’ve found a way to charge it. Or call me from someone’s phone like that day.
“Something is wrong,” she told NBC Dateline this week. "Now the days are just flying by with no word from her. And we’re terrified.”
San Diego PD Spokesperson Lieutenant Adam Sharki said that Lateche’s case is active and ongoing, but investigators do not believe she is “at risk” at this time.
However, the woman's family disagrees with Walker posting on social media her daughter is "just as important as Gabby Petito."
"How many times do we have to see a young girl go missing after fighting with her husband or boyfriend or significant other, and how often does it have to end in nothing positive, before we start taking this a little more serious?" she told NBC San Diego.
Walker added that she didn't want to unfairly implicate Smith, whom she claimed has a criminal record that includes arson and vandalism.
Meanwhile, she has set up a Facebook group aiming to find any information about her missing daughter's whereabouts.
According to a post on the group's wall, the woman's boyfriend "can no longer be reached" despite appearing to be active on social media.
His last Facebook post was on November 2 sharing that he is "in a relationship" with Letache.
Norris is described as 5 feet 8 inches tall and around 160 pounds with dark brown hair and eyes.
She has a tattoo of an arrow on her left forearm, a seven-inch blade on her right calf, a dreamcatcher on her left shoulder blade, and unknown words on her knuckles.
She's believed to have been wearing black leggings, a black sweatshirt, black with some white tennis shoes, and carrying a black and white checkered backpack on the day she disappeared.
Anyone with information on Norris’ whereabouts is encouraged to email [email protected], or call the San Diego Police Department at 619-531-2446 and reference case number 21-501043.
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