19-Year-Old Black Lives Matter Activist Oluwatoyin Salau, Found Dead, Days After She Was Reported Missing

A 19-year-old Nigerian Black Lives Matter activist, Oluwatoyin Salau from Florida has been found dead one week after she went missing.

Tallahassee police found the bodies of Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau, along with 75-year-old Victoria Sims, on Saturday. Their deaths are being investigated as homicides.

Police arrested a suspect, Aaron Glee, 49, the Tallahassee Police Department said.

Oluwatoyin Salau was last seen on June 6. Earlier that day, she’d tweeted that she was sexually assaulted. Her friend Chynna Carney confirmed the Twitter account belonged to Salau.

The tweets said that Toyin Salau had left some belongings at a church where she was seeking shelter and a man who’d offered her a ride to recollect the items later molested her while she tried to sleep.

Footage of Salau speaking at a protest in honor of Tony McDade, a trans man who was killed by Tallahassee police last month, has quickly traveled since her death. In the clip, she says he doesn’t want to divide people, but unite them against police brutality committed against black Americans.

Ms. Oluwatoyin Salau took part in demonstrations alongside the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, said Trish Brown, one of the founding members of the organization, which is dedicated to fighting systemic racism.

“She was a strong, young black female leader to me, and a powerful speaker,” Ms. Brown said.

Three days before Ms. Salau disappeared, Ms. Brown had sent a message to check in with Ms. Salau. “She said, ‘Love you.’ I said, ‘Love you, too,’” Ms. Brown recalled. About a week later, Ms. Brown saw a missing persons flier with Ms. Salau’s picture on it.