Angela Toler

Angela Faye Toler was born in Princeton, North Carolina in 1969.[4] Toler was close with her mother, Delois Sherrod.[8] Toler was 1 of 5 siblings.[3] Of the 5, 3 predeceased their mother; Sharon, the eldest sister, died of cancer, and Wilbert, the youngest brother, died of heart failure.[9] Both Sharon and Wilbert died approximately 8 years after Angela disappeared.[9] 2 siblings, Cora and Edward, were still living as of 2012.[3] Toler's father died before her move to Richmond.[9] Angela Toler graduated from Princeton High School.[9] After graduation, Toler worked at a fast food restaurant.[3] Sherrod has said that part of the reason for Toler moving to a bigger city may have been a goal to find work as a model.[9] Angela was 23 years old when she disappeared.[4]

In 1992, Toler stopped by Sherrod's workplace and said "Mother, I'm fixing to move to Virginia with a friend" by means of announcing her intention to move to Virginia with her boyfriend.[9] The name of Toler's boyfriend was never released to the public.[10] Toler's move to Virginia was not planned very far in advance, and she did not tell friends or family which city she planned to move to, only that it was in Virginia.[9] The last time friends and family of Toler saw or heard from her was shortly before her move to Richmond.[11] The plan was for Toler to call her mother to check in upon her arrival, however she did not contact anyone until the night of her disappearance about a month later.[3]

One night in November 1992[5] approximately a month after Toler's move to Richmond,[1] she called Sherrod at her workplace 3 separate times.[4] However, Sherrod's supervisor did not allow her to answer the phone.[3] The supervisor said that if Toler called a fourth time, he would allow Sherrod to go to the phone, but Toler did not call again.[9] Toler's friends and family never heard from her again.[4] Sherrod believes that if she had been allowed to answer the phone, Toler may have been alive today.[9] Shortly after Toler's disappearance, Toler's boyfriend returned to Princeton alone.[7] Following his return to Princeton, Sherrod attempted to call the boyfriend, but his mother told Sherrod that he wasn't in town.[9] After the boyfriend failed to produce a satisfactory explanation for Toler's whereabouts, Toler was officially reported missing.[10] However, without knowledge of which city Toler was in, the police were unable to investigate.[3] Following Toler's identification, Sherrod has stated that she believes that Toler wanted to move back home after things fell through with her boyfriend in Richmond.[4]

In November 1992,[7] after Toler's boyfriend had returned to Princeton,[12] a woman's body was found in Richmond near railroad tracks off Deepwater Terminal Road.[1] The woman was dressed in men's clothes, and all of her clothing was wet.[9] The cause of death was determined to be accidental death caused by hypothermia.[4] Witnesses reported having seen a woman matching the description near where she was found.[1] After identification, family members of Toler have stated that they don't believe she voluntarily laid down by the tracks.[4][6] However, there is not enough evidence to reopen the investigation.[6][5] No identification was found on the body, and the body became a Jane Doe.[12] At the time of discovery, DNA samples were taken from the body.[3] Following that the remains were cremated.[9] The cremains were then interred at a cemetery in Virginia.[9] Police were never investigating Toler's death, as they found nothing to indicate foul play.[1]

In 2011, Nona Best, a cousin of Toler,[5] was director of the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons (NCCMP).[7] The NCCMP is the state clearinghouse under the North Carolina State Highway Patrol for information pertaining to missing persons. North Carolina's NCCMP works with missing adults as well as children, which is not universal in American states.[7] In November 2011, Best was at a NamUs academy in Atlanta.[7] During a presentation by a coroner from Maryland, a picture was shown of the unidentified woman found in Richmond in 1992.[5] Best recognized the woman as Angela Toler, and after the presentation she asked to see the image again.[5] After returning home to Raleigh, North Carolina, Best contacted Toler's family as well as Lara Frame, who worked in the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Virginia.[7] DNA samples were collected via swabbing[9] from Sherrod and Angela's sister, Cora Prince,[13] and sent to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for comparison.[7] On 31 July 2012, Frame reported that the DNA matched.[7] The family was informed by Best and Princeton Police Chief Tyrone Sutton.[13] Several days later, the unidentified woman was publicly identified as Angela Faye Toler.[10]

2 weeks after her identification, a memorial service was held for Toler in Goldsboro, North Carolina.[4] Toler's cremains remained interred in Virginia, however family members are attempting to get Angela's cremains returned to Princeton for reburial next to her brother and sister.[9]

In 2019, a bill sponsored by North Carolina State Representative Allen McNeill was passed that would require all law enforcement agencies in North Carolina to add all missing persons cases to NamUs after 30 days unsolved.[6] However, there is no penalty to breaking this law.[5] McNeill has stated being directly inspired by the story of Best identifying Toler, among others.[6][5]

• Death of Jason Callahan, a formerly unidentified decedent who died in 1995 of an automobile accident and was identified in 2015
• Disappearance of Asha Degree, a 9 year old girl who disappeared in 2000 from Shelby, North Carolina
• List of solved missing person cases
• National Missing and Unidentified Persons System
• Tempe Girl, an unidentified teenager who died in 2002 of an accidental cocaine overdose