Family urges action to find missing N.J. woman. ‘We just want Jamaka to come home.’

NJ.com
Rebecca Heath
March 12, 2026

More than a month after a 35-year-old Newark woman vanished, her family is pleading with authorities to step up their efforts to find her.

Jamaka Simms, 35, had been living in an apartment near 10th Street in Newark when, on Jan. 29, she sent her sister a photo of her face that appeared to show she’d been “beat up,” her mother, Jacqueline Taylor, said.

Simms’ family, who live in Topeka, Kansas, have not heard from her since.

“Jamaka’s the type of person that has her phone in her hand probably 23 hours of the day,” Taylor said. “She’s never done this in her whole life.”

Taylor reported Simms missing to the Topeka Police Department on March 3, a city spokesperson said.

She had first tried to file a missing‑person report with law enforcement in New Jersey but was advised to contact her local police instead. Taylor said Newark police told her that missing‑person reports must be filed in person — something she can’t do because she’s unable to travel to New Jersey.

When she filed the report in Topeka, police there entered Simms into a national database that alerts law enforcement agencies across the country to be on the lookout, the spokesperson said.

Still, the family is desperate for law enforcement in Newark to take action and for Topeka police to coordinate efforts with Newark police.

“There’s no movement here. It’s a game of hot potato,” said Chetney Stone, owner of advocacy organization Fail Forward Enterprise Holdings. “It’s become very convoluted and quite frustrating and disheartening, and we just want Jamaka to come home.”

“I’m just hurting,” Taylor said. “I’m hurting for my daughter. I just want to hear her voice. I want to make sure she’s okay. I don’t know what else to do.”

When asked to respond to the allegations of inaction, the Newark Police Division said in a statement that it has “not received a missing person report for Jamaka Simms. No further information is available.”

Simms, who has schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and epilepsy, is vulnerable and endangered. Taylor said the family worries she may have been sex trafficked.

According to Fail Forward, Simms filed a sexual assault report on Dec. 30, 2025. She also had two emergency hospitalizations at University Hospital in Newark on Dec. 25, 2025, and Jan. 22, 2026, where she was treated after being beaten and robbed.

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania – Cedar Avenue in Philadelphia told Taylor that Simms was discharged on March 8, but the family is concerned someone may have stolen her identity.

Taylor said she wants authorities to review security footage to confirm the patient was Simms and to identify anyone who may have been with her.

When Stone went to the apartment Simms was living in on Friday, she said neighbors told her she had gone to a rehab facility. However, Taylor said that seems unlikely considering she has never gone to rehab on her own before. The family believes she may be trying to head back home to Kansas.

Taylor described Simms, who is a mother of four children, as “the sweetest person you could ever meet.”

Natalie Wilson, co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation, a nonprofit organization that brings awareness to missing people of color, said she urges anyone with information on Simms’ whereabouts to come forward.

“We want the community to remain vigilant,” Wilson said.

Anyone with information may contact the Topeka Police Department at 785-368-9551 or the Black and Missing Foundation at 877-97-BAMFI.

Photo credit: Black and Missing Foundation