Joniah Walker, 19, was safely discovered on May 25, the Milwaukee Police Department said Tuesday

The missing Wisconsin teen was found safe after mysteriously vanishing from home four years ago as her family had believed she was “lured away”

Joniah Walker, then 15, had disappeared from her Milwaukee home on June 23, 2022

Joniah Walker, [seen at 15], a teen from Milwaukee, Wisconsin teen who disappeared in 2022, has been found safe – in May 2026

A missing Wisconsin teen has been found safe after mysteriously vanishing from home four years ago. Joniah Walker’s family believed she was “lured away.”
Joniah Walker, now 19, was safely discovered on May 25, the Milwaukee Police Department said Tuesday. The circumstances of the discovery has not been made public.
Walker, then 15, had disappeared from her Milwaukee home on June 23, 2022. The teen was last seen on a Neighbors’ Ring Camera leaving her home in Milwaukee around 2.30pm on June 23, 2022. Video footage showed the teen carrying a large green backpack.
Walker’s distraught mother, Tanesha Howard, said she last saw her daughter lying in bed when she left for work the morning of her disappearance, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Tanisha Howard said “Joniah was lying in bed because she had just finished school. I went in to give her a hug before leaving for work,” This happened fours ago and that was the last time she saw her daughter

The Milwaukee teen was 15 when she vanished from home on June 23, 2022

“Joniah was lying in bed because she had just finished school. I went in to give her a hug before leaving for work,” Howard told the organization.
She added that she spoke with her daughter on the phone several times throughout the day before Joniah “suddenly stopped responding.”
The high schooler was supposed to meet her father to apply for a summer work permit but failed to arrive at the designated time.
“He called me and said that Joniah wasn’t picking up her phone,” Howard said.
“That is when I immediately knew something was wrong. I left work right away.”

Walker was last seen on a Neighbors’ Ring Camera leaving her home in Milwaukee around 2.30pm on June 23, 2022. Video footage showed the teen carrying a large green backpack

This age progressed image of Joniah walker was circulated by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children as the organization continued the search for the teen who walked away from home

The nearby ring camera captured Walker leaving the apartment complex at around 2:30 p.m. in the Brewer’s Hill neighborhood, a mile-and-a-half north of Downtown Milwaukee, carrying a large backpack.
It was the last known sighting of Walker until she was reportedly found last month.
Howard believed her daughter had met someone online after she deleted her digital footprint and never returned.
“Somebody stole her…that was my first instinct,” Howard said.
“But when I saw that she left with a big backpack that I had never seen, that’s when I knew. I was like, someone lured her away.”
The protective mother issued multiple pleas for her daughter to come home, pleading that she should call loved ones.
“Joniyah, call me. Call your dad. Let us know you’re safe. Call Sean. Call Ashanti. Call someone, let us know you’re safe,” Howard said.
“She is my youngest daughter, so I always call her by ‘baby girl’ because that is exactly who she is, my baby girl,” she said.
“She is what I would describe as a perfect daughter. She is angelic, soft spoken and very intelligent.”