Diamond Bynum African American Female Missing From Gary Indiana Since July 2015

in

DIAMOND DAISY BOBBIE MONET BYNUM

IDENTIFIERS

  • Date of Birth February 18, 1994

  • Missing Age 21 years old

  • Current Age 25 years old

  • Height 4 ft 8

  • Weight 238 lbs

  • Brown hair that had blonde highlights at the time

  • Dark brown eyes

  • Female

  • African American

  • Medical Condition:

    • Prader-Willi Syndrome

    • Mental disablity

    • Short stature

    • Constant hunger

    • Requires medication

    • Behavioral problems without medication - may become a danger to herself

  • Bowed leg

  • Walks with pronounced limp

  • Tendency to walk with one arm bent

  • Notable dental - teeth are misaligned

CLOTHING/ACCESSORIES

  • White top

  • Blue jeans

CIRCUMSTANCES OF DISAPPEARANCE

At the time of her disappearance, Diamond Bynum lived with her father, Eugene Bynum and her stepmother, Susanne (aka Michelle) Bynum at 529 Matthews Street in Gary, Indiana. Diamond resided with her father and step-mother for several years. In February 2015, the family relocated from nearby Hammond, to the home on Matthews Street in Gary, Indiana.

Diamond Bynum’s older sister is the mother to two -year old King Walker. King Walker would frequently spend the weekends with his grandfather Eugene, aunt Diamond, and Eugene’s wife, Susanne.

According to police reports, a call was received by Gary Police Department on the morning of July 25th, 2015, just before 11:13 am. The caller was Susanne who was calling to report Diamond and King missing. According to the reports, Susanne, Diamond, and two-year old King Walker, laid down around 10:00 am that morning. When Susanne woke up at 11:10 am, both Diamond and two-year old King were nowhere to be found. The front door was stated to have been unlocked.

The last time Diamond and King were said to be seen was about 10:20 am on the morning of July 25, 2015.

Diamond Bynum has a diagnosis of Prader-Willi syndrome. This disease causes the individual to be overcome with extreme hunger. People with this diagnosis will often go to extreme lengths to find food - sometimes disregarding any danger.

In an attempt to cure the extreme hunger, Diamond had a history of wandering away home in search of food and many times had been found in grocery stores. While living in Hammond, and also while at her mother’s home, Diamond would wander away but always returned home safely. While many theories exist, one theory is that due to Diamond’s history of wandering in search of food, that she walked away from the residence to go to a local store and took King along with her. Being that the family was new to the Gary area, Diamond may not have been familiar with the neighborhoods, and potentially got lost.

While this theory seems plausible due to Diamond’s history and diagnosis, according to the span of time in the police reports, Diamond and King would not be able to get too far together on foot. If they were last seen at 10:20 am and reported missing at 11:13 am, that would mean they were gone for under one hour. Diamond has some physical limitations that would make it difficult to carry or control a two-year old child for any length of time. On her own, she could potentially go a few miles, but with a two-year-old child she would likely not make it too far. The other theory presented is that perhaps they were accosted by someone while out walking.

Many online reports describe Diamond has having the mentality of a seven-year old child. While Diamond may have some cognitive and maturity delays -her father , who agrees with those delays, describes her a little differently. Diamond was good at running a household. She was learning to cook, she could make a shopping list and also do laundry and clean a home. She would never let someone in the home that she did not know. In fact, her father states that even if someone came to the door that she knew, she would never answer unless given permission.

Diamond’s father does not believe this to be an occurance of Diamond wandering off in search of food. The family had just been grocery shopping and a chocolate cake was left untouched on the counter. If Diamond would have been food-seeking, she would have to go no further than her own kitchen.

Diamond and King’s disappearance was certainly alarming. Even though Diamond was capable of handling many household tasks, and had a basic understanding of authority figures and strangers, there was still a developmentally delayed person and a two-year-old child unaccounted for. A lot of scrutiny was placed on local Law Enforcement as many believe the intial response from Law Enforcement was not aggressive enough. In fact, it took a month and a half to even issue a Silver Alert for Diamond, and because there was no vehicle description, King did not fit the criteria for an Amber Alert .

Searches were conducted on foot through several abandoned homes and buildings by family and community members. Task forces brought in K9 to see if they could find a scent that would lead them to Diamond and King, and while K9 was able to pick up scent within a few blocks of the home, the scents were picked up in random areas that did not lead to a straight path to Diamond and King. One scent was trailed near a local park but then stopped. Another trail led to a local gas station and the family had to fight to get surveillance video which ultimately resulted in no images of Diamond or King.

According to police reports, a few suspects were questioned - each suspect named as being involved and each with similar descriptive events, but no arrests were made.

The Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force investigated their disappearance in October of 2016. At that time, they submitted several items to the Police crime lab, conducted interviews, searched areas again with K9 and executed at least one search warrant. Still, there have been no answers as to where Diamond and King may be or what may have occurred. Currently, the case is under the authority of Gary Police Department and has not been turned over to the FBI for additional, ongoing investigation.

CONTACTS

  • Gary Police Department

    • Sgt Wolf 219-881-1260

  • Although Diamond isn’t listed individually on NCMEC, she is listed as disappeared with King Walker. If you do not want to contact GPD, or do not get a response from GPD, you can always submit a tip to:

    • National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678)

    • Online tip reports are available at www.missingkids.com

  • NamUs The Regional Program Specialist

    • Allen Neal

    • (682) 347-8829

    • Allen.Neal@unthsc.edu

    • NamUs ID #MP57949

LINKS

  • Case Files Chicago

    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCLb-RHXCio

  • NCMEC Video

    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wtMLWTJu2k

__________________________________________________________________________________

DIAMOND AND KING: UNCOVERING THE TRUTH PODCAST SERIES

  1. AUDIO PODCASTS

Listen to all of the “Drahguhn Pruhduxions” audio podcasts by clicking the links below :

2. VIDEO PODCAST PRODUCTIONS

You Can Find A Series of Podcasts on Diamond & King in both video production and audio only.

The video production podcasts can be found here on this site by visiting the menu or by clicking here:

Shareable Flyer Below

Please avoid sharing the flyer via screenshot as it blurs the text and makes the information difficult to read.

You can share the link to this entire entry on social media via copy/paste of the URL

OR share the flyer for Diamond via social media from our Facebook page by following the link below

SHARE FLYER FROM OUR SOCIAL MEDIA
ROOM ONE TWENTY ONE Diamond Bynum-pic.jpg

End of Diamond Bynum’s entry - any updates will be posted below this line

UPDATE July 2020

NCMEC has placed Diamond and King on several billboards throughout the Northwest Indiana and Chicago areas. Billboards are now located at the following areas:

  • I-65 near 81st (Merrillville, Indiana)

  • I-8094 N/S .4 Miles E/OClark F/E

  • I-80/94 S/S .4 Miles E/O Torrence F/W

  • TAFT S/S .4 Miles E/O Torrence F/W

  • S 30 S/S .4 Miles W/O Colorado F/E

  • Mississippi W/S .25 MI S/O S 30 F/S

If you should see one of these billboards, please let us know!!

Billboard located in Merrillville, Indiana