DETROIT – It’s been 14 years since Randall Childs and Karen Young vanished without a trace after an argument in Childs’ Detroit apartment -- and the mystery surrounding their disappearance continues to haunt loved ones.
A jailhouse letter sent to Childs’ sister brings even more questions.
“I’m sick. My soul will not rest, ‘cause that’s a part of me,” said Sharon Murray, Randall’s sister. “I can’t stop looking for him because if it were me, I would want my family to look for me.”
On the night of June 7, 2011, Randall Childs, 50 at the time, and Karen Young, 52, were together at the Robert III Apartments on Grand River Avenue near Rosa Parks Boulevard. The two were there with Childs’ roommate and a few friends when they got into an argument.
“So, my brother went to the elevator to get her down the elevator to wait for her daughter to pick her up,” Murray said.
Neither Randall Childs nor Karen Young has been seen since.
Childs, a father of four, attended Northern High School in Detroit, where he was active in baseball and the choir. He loved to sing and write poetry. At the time of his disappearance, he worked as a cook at Pasquales in Royal Oak and was known in his neighborhood as a handyman.
Sharon Murray has spent the last 14 years searching, mourning, and looking for answers — visiting hospitals, abandoned buildings, and even morgues in multiple states.
“I looked at bodies and faces that had been eaten by rodents,” Murray said. “And it wasn’t Randall.”
In a chilling twist, Murray revealed that she received a letter from a man in prison —someone she had written to nearly a decade earlier because she believed he may have witnessed what happened the night Randall and Karen vanished.
The letter came two years ago and began:
“Peace and many blessings Ms. Sharon…
“I know I am the last person on earth! You thought you would be hearing from… but I felt it was only right for me to… give you the closure you sought from me years ago.”
The letter continues with references to the events of that night, a “theory” the writer had allegedly shared with Murray before and mentions of someone possibly having harmed Randall.
“I told the officers all that I knew at that hour and what took place that night,” the inmate wrote. “Now I can finally speak my peace and pray you really take into consideration and think about what I’m about to tell you with an open heart and mind…”
The letter is about six pages. Murray turned the letter over to Detroit Police. They tell Local 4 they are looking into it.
“Our family needs to be able to rest, and I don’t know what that will look like — even to rest,” Murray said.
Childs is described as a Black man, 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighing 140 pounds. He was 50 years old, wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans, when he disappeared.
Karen Young, 52 at the time, is described as a Black woman with a birthmark on her neck. She stands 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds. She was last seen wearing black pinstriped pants, a cream-colored shirt, a black necktie, and brown shoes. Little else is publicly known about her.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Detroit Police or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP or visit 1800speakup.org.
