Shortly before 5 a.m. on September 18, Ashaniti Billie drove her cream-colored Mini Cooper through Gate One at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Norfolk, Virginia.
She was heading to her job at a Blimpie sandwich shop on the base. She never showed up.
Now, authorities are investigating what happened to the 19-year old woman on that early Monday morning.
Her disappearance
Just 30 minutes after Billie drove through the gate, her car was detected on a surveillance camera leaving the base. The FBI says it doesn’t know whether it was her behind the wheel.
Besides missing work, the woman did not attend culinary classes at the Art Institute of Virginia Beach that afternoon.
The agency says nobody has seen or heard from her since.
The investigation
The FBI is working with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Virginia Beach police and the Norfolk Police Department.
Hours after her disappearance, her cell phone was recovered in a dumpster off the base in a residential area of Norfolk.
Five days later, on September 23, her car showed up in a quiet cul-de-sac.
“My mom instinct tells me she’s OK. She’s scared and she’s hurt, but she’s OK. I feel that she’s OK and she’s still with us. I feel that,” Brandy Billie, her mother, told CNN affiliate WAVY.
“We are doing investigative work in the areas around were some of the evidence was found,” said Christina Pullen, a public affairs specialist with the FBI in Norfolk.
Joining the search are her family and friends, “it’s just as parents, we have to do something. We can’t sit at the hotel all day. We can only send out so much on social media. We have to be out here, because that’s who we are,” says Brandy Billie.
The reward
The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the location of Ashanti Billie.
Blimpie announced it will match the FBI’s reward, increasing the total reward to $20,000.
“We are very concerned about the disappearance of Ashanti Billie and we are working with the authorities to help find her and bring her home safely,” said Jeff Wallace, vice president of operations for the company. “We are here to help support Ashanti’s family during this difficult time.”
Billie is originally from Prince George’s County, Maryland. The FBI said she’d been in the Norfolk area about a month.
“We are asking for the public’s assistance; we are trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together,” Pullen said. “Even if you don’t think what you know is relevant, it might be. So please call the FBI with your information.”