Irene Gawka vanished after allegedly meeting her boyfriend on Craigslist, and her family has been searching for answers.
According to The Independent, The Kenyan woman’s parents and brothers have been searching for her and even pleaded with the community where she lived– Gillette, Wyoming, to assist them. Her siblings organized many search parties, where her neighbors chanted, “Nate, where’s Irene?” outside her alleged boyfriend, Nate Hightman’s residence. Hightman, who Gakwa met on Craigslist, was reportedly listed as a person of interest in her disappearance.
“She was supposed to come home for Christmas this year. I was going to buy that ticket myself for her to come if she couldn’t afford it. Now I don’t know if I’ll ever see her again,” her father, Francis Kambo, told the news outlet. He added that he told her to drink “hot milk and relax” and, since then, he never heard from his daughter again.
The 32-year-old woman’s family last saw her during a video call in February, CNN reported. She moved from Kenya to the U.S. in 2019 to pursue a healthcare career and allegedly lived with Hightman in Wyoming.
Gillette police said Hightman withdrew over $3,000 from Gawka’s bank account after she went missing and maxed out another $3,230 on her credit card. He allegedly told authorities that she left on her own and that he took money out of her account to force her to come back.
Police also reportedly seized a shovel and pair of boots that Hightman allegedly bought with Gawka’s credit card and, as such, was charged with two felony counts of theft and unlawful use of a credit card.
The 32-year-old’s family said, on their website whereisIrene.com, that unusual texts were sent from her phone about moving to Texas in March. One of her brothers told CNN that the messages were not in her native language, prompting her siblings to access her phone records. The two reportedly found out that Gawka’s phone was last active in Gillette in March.
Her phone account was deleted before her family filed a missing person report that month. Univision reported that neighbors told Gillette police that they witnessed Hightman burning a 55-gallon drum he purchased the day of her last video call with her parents.
