Celina Mays

Twelve-year-old Celina Mays was last seen on December 16, 1996 in Willingboro, New Jersey. At the time of her disappearance, she was nine months pregnant.

Background

At the time of her disappearance, Celina lived with her father, C.J. Mays, her stepmother and several other relatives. C.J. worked as an accountant and bookkeeper for the Gospel of Christ Ministries Inc. where his sister, Cerita Smith was the pastor. Celina was a member of the church, she was homeschooled and grew up with strict religious beliefs from the organization.

Celina's mother, Lynn Vitale died from a brain aneurysm in 1994. She and C.J. never married and their relationship had some incidents of domestic violence. After Lynn's death, several of Lynn's family members fought a bitter custody battle over Celina with C.J.; Celina had lived with some of Lynn's friends before she moved in with C.J.

Disappearance
Celina was last seen on the evening of December 16, 1996 at approximately 11:00 p.m. when she went to bed at her aunt's house. The next morning, C.J. went to check on Celina and discovered that she was missing. Pillows were placed underneath Celina's blankets to make it look like she was sleeping. She left her prenatal vitamins, her purse and other personal belongings behind.

C.J. believes that Celina planned her disappearance because he threatened to have paternity tests done to find out who was the father of Celina's unborn baby.

One of her relatives thinks that Celina was murdered by the baby's father to prevent his identity from being revealed or she possibly died from complications of an amateur abortion. It was rumored that one of Celina's cousins was the father of her child (which turned out to be untrue). Celina's aunt thinks that the father of Celina's baby was someone she met while rollerskating in Camden County, New Jersey.

Celina's obstetrician (who last saw Celina two days before she went missing) described Celina as an emotionally mature girl. Celina reportedly told the doctor that her boyfriend was 16 years old in 1996 and not a member of her church. 

As of 2024, Celina remains missing.