SIX MONTHS MISSING – News Bulletin

CRESTVIEW — The Crestview Police Department has no new leads about missing Crestview resident Calandra Stallworth, but a spokesperson says her case is still an active investigation.

"At this time we have no new leads, tips or information to pursue. We have been working with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office on the case. We have also been working with out-of-state agencies because, for example, she is known to have traveled to Alabama shortly before her first disappearance," CPD Public Information Officer Brian Hughes said.

"We welcome substantive information from the public on Ms. Stallworth's whereabouts before her disappearance. Someone may have seen or heard something that could lead to further information," Hughes said.

Friends have said Stallworth had daily contact with family members, including her mother, Shelia Knight of Crestview. She has not heard from her daughter since March.

Stallworth's daughters, ages 9 and 10 now, live with Knight. The home they shared with their mother was emptied of her belongings when the landlord wanted the home cleared.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

When Knight first reported her daughter missing, that case was closed March 27 as Stallworth allegedly visited the police department and said she'd gone to Alabama with her boyfriend.

Knight filed another report March 29 after not hearing from her daughter.

The CPD announced searches April 3 for Stewart and another missing Crestview woman, 18-year-old Taleah Durm.

Stallworth’s car was spotted in Destin on April 2. Her boyfriend, Antwon Smith, was driving. Durm was also in the vehicle, but Stallworth wasn't with them.

Officers arrested Smith at the scene for cocaine possession, marijuana possession and driving with a suspended or revoked license, according to Okaloosa County Clerk of Courts records. They also canceled the police alert for Durm.

After Stallworth's disappearance and Smith's arrest, Laura Hudson — a Crestview resident and long-time friend of the Knights — has advocated on behalf of Stallworth, pressing the media and local police for the security camera footage of her appearance at the CPD.

“I asked the CPD to (show us) the video footage of her supposedly walking in the police station and saying that she’s not missing. Still no answer from them,” Hudson said in a Facebook conversation with the News Bulletin. “We really need your help and really need answers and quick. (Calandra’s) daughters are just lost.”

The News Bulletin submitted a Freedom of Information Act request July 26 for the security camera footage; a CPD spokesperson later said the footage had been destroyed in accordance with an automatic two-week schedule.

“There was no need to keep it because it was a missing person who has been found because she came in and said, ‘Here I am,’ so there is no need to keep any video,” Hughes said at that point.

Anyone with information on Stallworth's location may call 682-3544, the CPD's Criminal Investigations Division.

The Crestview News Bulletin has followed the Calandra Stallworth case since the beginning.

See these web pages for further reading:

Aug. 12 — Police: Calandra Stallworth surveillance video destroyed, http://bit.ly/2hFmXaF

July 28 — Calandra Stallworth’s parents: ‘We are so discouraged,’ http://bit.ly/2kLF0Rf

July 25 — Crestview Police: Security camera footage will not be released,http://bit.ly/2yI5uZX

June 6 — Crestview woman's disappearance baffles police, http://bit.ly/2gh2ufD

May 26 — LETTER: Clarifying Crestview Police’s investigation of Calandra Stallworth’s disappearance, http://bit.ly/2xDnuzI

May 19 — Family, friends gather on missing Crestview woman's birthday, http://bit.ly/2kK7KKd

April 21 — Crestview mother's disappearance remains a mystery, http://bit.ly/2zl7uo2

April 3 — UPDATE: One Crestview woman missing, another located, http://bit.ly/2ymhkbp

April 2 — 2 women missing from Crestview, http://bit.ly/2i9A08j

FURTHER READING