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19-year-old Black Lives Matter protestor confirmed dead after being reported missing for a week

The last time anyone had heard from Oluwatoyin "Toyin" Salau was a week before her body was found. She had posted to Twitter that a man had sexually assaulted her.

19-year-old Black Lives Matter protestor confirmed dead after being reported missing for a week
Image Source: shariauna_ / Twitter

Trigger Warning: Racism, Sexual Assault

Oluwatoyin "Toyin" Salau, 19, was found dead after she was missing for one week. At present, police officials are investigating the circumstances of her death. The 19-year-old was a prominent protestor at Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Florida. After taking to Twitter to post that she had been sexually assaulted, she went missing for a week. Her body was found along with 75-year-old Victoria Sims's body on Saturday, CNN reports. Both deaths are being investigated as homicides. The Tallahassee Police Department identified Aaron Glee, 49, as a suspect and arrested him. Upset Americans are now demanding justice for Salau.

 



 

 

The 19-year-old was last seen on June 6, after tweeting earlier that day about how a man had sexually assaulted her. "I was molested in Tallahassee, Florida, by a Black man this morning at 5:30 on Richview and Park Avenue," she wrote. "The man offered to give me a ride to find someplace to sleep and recollect my belongings from a church I refuged to a couple days back to escape unjust living conditions." According to Salau's tweets, she had left some belongings at a church she refuged at. While she tried to sleep, the man molested her. Her tweets read, "He started touching my back and rubbing my body using my body until he climaxed and then went to sleep. Before I realized what happened to me I looked over and his clothes were completely off."

 



 

As per her Twitter posts, she managed to escape the situation and make it to safety. However, she went missing soon after. The Tallahassee Police Department is yet to confirm whether Glee is the same man who molested her. The department is currently investigating Salau's account of sexual assault. While her family declined to comment on her death, her friend Chynna Carney confirmed the Twitter account belonged to Salau and shared details about how vocal she was about social justice. A longtime volunteer with the AARP, the victim had been friends with Carney since before high school.

 



 

She stated, "She had so many dreams and she never gave up... When she started protesting with us, that was the happiest I've ever seen her." She was, according to Carney, a vocal supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement. Since her death, footage of Salau speaking at a protest about Tony McDade, a trans man who was killed by Tallahassee police last month, has gone viral. In the clip, she talks about the importance of addressing police brutality and systemic racism. "At the end of the day, I cannot take my f*****g skin color off," she states in the clip. "Everywhere I f*****g go, I am profiled whether I like it or not... So guess what? I'm gonna die by it. I'm going to die by my f*****g skin. You cannot take my f*****g Blackness away from me."

 



 

Salau was also a model. Alina Amador, a photographer who frequently recruited her, affirmed, "Her beauty was so radiant, and modeling for her was so effortless. She was very calm and gentle." Thanks to Salau, Carney too has been inspired to be more vocal about the injustices she witnesses every single day. In particular, she has taken an active interest in fighting for the civil rights of Black women. "I will never stop protesting," she said. I will fight for her and for Black people and people of color 'til I'm dead."

 



 

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