Key facts
- Name: Risha Aleena Lewis
- Born: August 9, 1979
- Age at disappearance: 26
- Last seen: January 21, 2006, ~1:30 a.m. (last heard from by phone)
- Location: Between Elkton, Maryland and New Castle, Delaware
- Height / build: 5’3″, 130–135 lbs; black hair, brown eyes; distinctive tattoos, pierced ears and right eyebrow
- Status: Still missing — New Castle County Police Department, endangered missing; case open
- Case numbers: New Castle County PD 32-06-009498
- Investigating agency: New Castle County Police Department
The 1:30 a.m. call
At approximately 1:30 on the morning of January 21, 2006, Risha Lewis called home. She was at a friend’s house in the 200 block of West Pulaski Highway in Elkton, Maryland, and she told her family she was on her way back to New Castle, Delaware.
The drive should have taken less than an hour. She never arrived.
Risha was 26, a mother of two young children, living in the 400 block of Moorehouse Drive in New Castle. She had gone to visit a friend in Elkton that evening — a trip she made often on weekends. Somewhere on the short road home, in the dark early-morning hours, she disappeared.
She has not been seen or heard from since. Her children have not heard from her since. Her cell phone — which remains activated to this day — has never been used again.
The car, nine months later
For nine months, there was nothing. Then, on October 17, 2006, Risha’s car was found abandoned in Newark, Delaware: a white four-door 1997 Ford Crown Victoria with Delaware plate 304653. No clues to her whereabouts were in it or around it.
The geography of the car deepened the mystery rather than solving it. Newark sits about eight miles northeast of Elkton, where Risha was last seen — and about fourteen miles west of her home in New Castle. It is not on the route she would have driven. Whether the car had been sitting there since the night she vanished or had been moved there later, no one could say.
Risha herself is unmistakable on paper: 5’3″, black hair, brown eyes, pierced ears and a piercing in her right eyebrow, a linear abdominal scar, and a map of tattoos — red flames with the name “Kev” on her upper arm, her own name “Risha” on her wrist, the name “Jamie” on her calf, a vine or barbed-wire design on the small of her back. She wore contact lenses, and that night she was wearing a gold rope necklace with a “Mommy and Me” pendant and a gold rope bracelet. If anyone had seen her after that call, they would have remembered her.
Nobody has reported seeing her.
The investigation
Delaware police have investigated Risha’s case for more than twenty years, and the file remains what it was at the start: a woman who said she was coming home, a road she never finished, a car found months later in the wrong place. Her case is classified as endangered missing.
The Unsolved of Delaware podcast devoted two episodes to Risha in 2022, noting how little is publicly known beyond the core facts — a case with a haunting outline and almost no interior. In August 2025, on the 19th anniversary of her disappearance, new coverage marked “19 years and still no answers,” with her family and community still seeking them.
The questions that have never been answered: Who was the friend in Elkton, and what happened in the hours before the 1:30 a.m. call? Why was her car found in Newark, off her route home? Was the car driven there that night, or moved months later? And why has a phone that stayed activated never once been used?
Theories: what might have happened
Foul play on the road home. The theory investigators have never ruled out, and the one the facts lean toward: a young woman driving alone at 1:30 a.m. who never arrived, whose car turned up nine months later miles off her route. The unused-but-active phone and the absence of any contact with her children — the two facts her family returns to — argue against a voluntary departure.
She left voluntarily. There is no evidence for this beyond the absence of a crime scene. Against it: two young children she never contacted again, a phone she never used, and a car abandoned in a place she had no reason to be.
An accident. Possible on a dark highway at 1:30 a.m. — but the car was eventually found intact and abandoned, not wrecked, and no accident matching her was ever reported.
Have information?
Contact the New Castle County Police Department at (302) 395-8171. In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- August 9, 1979 — Risha Aleena Lewis is born.
- January 20, 2006 (evening) — Risha leaves her Moorehouse Drive home in New Castle, DE to visit a friend in Elkton, MD.
- January 21, 2006, ~1:30 a.m. — Risha calls home from the 200 block of West Pulaski Highway, Elkton, saying she’s on her way back. Last contact.
- 2006 — Risha never arrives; she is not heard from again. Her cell phone stays activated but unused.
- October 17, 2006 — Her white 1997 Ford Crown Victoria (DE plate 304653) is found abandoned in Newark, DE — nine months later, off her route.
- 2022 — Unsolved of Delaware podcast covers Risha’s case in two episodes.
- August 2025 — 19th-anniversary coverage: “19 years and still no answers.”
- Today — Still missing. Case open with New Castle County Police.
FAQ
Is Risha Lewis still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Risha Lewis has been missing for more than 20 years. Her case remains open with the New Castle County Police Department as an endangered missing-person investigation.
Was Risha Lewis ever found?
No. Risha has never been seen or heard from since her 1:30 a.m. phone call on January 21, 2006. Her car was found nine months later, but it contained no clues to her whereabouts.
How old would Risha Lewis be today?
Risha was born August 9, 1979. She turned 47 in August 2026.
Where was Risha Lewis’s car found?
Her white 1997 Ford Crown Victoria (Delaware plate 304653) was found abandoned in Newark, Delaware, on October 17, 2006 — about eight miles northeast of Elkton (where she was last seen) and fourteen miles west of her New Castle home. It was not on the route she would have driven.
What are Risha Lewis’s distinguishing marks?
She has tattoos of red flames with the name “Kev” on her upper arm, her name “Risha” on her wrist, the name “Jamie” on her calf, and a vine or barbed-wire design on her lower back. She also has pierced ears, a piercing in her right eyebrow, and a linear abdominal scar.
How can I help?
Share this case file. If you have any information, contact the New Castle County Police Department at (302) 395-8171.
Sources
- Official / law enforcement: The Charley Project, “Risha Aleena Lewis” (investigating agency: New Castle County Police Department, 302-395-8171; case #32-06-009498); Black and Missing Foundation (BAMFI) missing-person poster.
- News: “The Disappearance of Risha Lewis: 19 Years and Still No Answers” (Aug 2025).
- Reference: Uncovered, “Missing: Risha Lewis | New Castle, DE”; 411GINA.org missing-person flyer; disappearedblog.com, “The Disappearance of Risha Lewis” (retrieved Oct 2026).
- Media: Unsolved of Delaware podcast, Season 1 Episodes 2–3: “The strange Disappearance of Risha Lewis” (Feb 2022); “Where is Risha Lewis? | Disappeared On Her Way Home in New Castle Delaware” (YouTube).
Corrections (October 2026 fact-check): MATERIAL — removed “NamUs MP12702” from this file’s case numbers and sources; the same number appeared in both this file and the Nefertiri Trader file, and it could not be verified as belonging to either case, so it was removed from both rather than reassigned. Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.