Shaquita Yolanda Bell
Missing since June 27, 1996 from Alexandria, Virginia
Classification: Involuntary

Vital Statistics

• Date Of Birth: October 13, 1972
• Age at Time of Disappearance: 23 years old
• Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5’ 6” – 5’ 7”; 150 - 170 lbs.
• Distinguishing Characteristics: Black female. Black hair; brown eyes; pierced ears. Unknown tattoo on her left breast.
• Clothing/ Jewelry: A black and white plaid tank top, black spandex pants, black high-heeled shoes and a diamond bracelet.
• DNA: Pending

Circumstances of Disappearance
Bell, a mother of three, was last seen about 1 p.m. June 27, 1996, leaving her grandmother's house on East Raymond Avenue in Alexandria with her estranged boyfriend, Michael Dickerson, the father of her youngest child. Relatives said they were perplexed by Bell's decision to leave with him.

A month earlier, Bell called police to report that the estranged boyfriend had beaten her during a squabble in the Laurel apartment that they shared. He was arrested, and Bell moved back in with her grandmother in Alexandria. Three weeks after that incident, police said, Bell called police to say that he had held a gun to her head during a fight. He was arrested in Washington and charged with possession of a machine gun the same day.

On the day of Bell's disappearance, the estranged boyfriend had driven Bell to take two of her three children to a doctor's appointment. She called at 2 p.m. and said she was on the way home, and that was the last time anybody heard of her. The boyfriend told the family that they had gone into Southeast Washington, where they got into an argument and she left him. Bell worked at a Giant Food bakery and did not have a criminal record. Two of her former boyfriends have been shot to death, and police classified one of those cases as drug-related. Her estranged live-in boyfriend, who police said was the last person known to have seen her alive, was convicted of a drug violation in 1989. He is serving a 15-year prison term after being convicted of beating Bell a month before she disappeared. Bell provided information in at least two investigations, one of them a homicide. According to her mother, Bell was afraid for her life. Foul play is suspected. Police believe she was killed in the District, and her body may have been dropped off in Maryland.

Alexandria Police are investigating the Missing Person report; D.C. Metropolitan Police is investigating the possible homicide.

2007- A search team with the Prince George's County (MD) Police Department returned to the site where it was alleged Shaquita was buried. On July 28, 2007, officers, cadaver dogs, helicopters, and even a forensic anthropologist with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. They spent three days at the site in Ft. Washington, but left with no new discoveries.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Alexandria Police Department
703-838-4444
Or
D. C. Metropolitan Police
Homicide Division
Detective James Trainum
202-727-9099
Email

NCIC Number: M-941151755
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
D. C. Metropolitan Police
Washington Post
Charley Project
officer.com