Up to date Sept. 15, 2026, 6:48 p.m. ET
Police in Washington, DC, are investigating the disappearance of a single mom and public affairs government at Eli Lilly who has been lacking for greater than every week, prompting an intensive search by members of the family, associates, and authorities.
The Metropolitan Police Division is asking for the general public’s assist in finding Antoinette Forbes, 53, who was final seen on Sept. 4 within the 3200 block of Nebraska Avenue NW. Police described Forbes as an Asian girl, 5 toes, 2 inches tall, weighing about 115 kilos, with black hair and brown eyes. Her clothes on the time of her disappearance is unknown.
Authorities have categorized Forbes’ case as a crucial lacking individuals case. Police launched a missing-person poster asking for the general public’s help within the investigation.
Police haven’t disclosed further details about the circumstances surrounding Forbes’ disappearance and haven’t launched any details about her son. The Metropolitan Police Division advised USA TODAY it didn’t have any new particulars to launch within the case.
“This investigation stays a precedence for our division, as all lacking individual circumstances are,” police mentioned in an announcement. “This case stays an lively and ongoing investigation with the Metropolitan Police Division.”
Members of the family and associates have pleaded for her protected return. In an announcement issued on Sept. 14, the Nationwide Presbyterian Church in DC mentioned Forbes, a member of its congregation, disappeared from her house below what it described as “mysterious circumstances.”
The church mentioned associates, coworkers, and neighborhood members gathered on Sept. 12 for a vigil and urged anybody with info, surveillance footage, or dashcam recordings from the realm close to Nebraska Avenue NW across the weekend of Sept. 4 to contact police.
“Our Nationwide Presbyterian Church neighborhood is urgently asking on your prayers and help … her household is desperately searching for any info that might assist deliver her house safely,” the church mentioned within the assertion.
‘There isn’t any approach that she would simply go away’
Forbes’ sister, Aileen Forbes, beforehand advised native tv stations WUSA9 and WJLA that her disappearance is uncommon and has left her family members deeply involved. She mentioned the sisters are in frequent contact and that nothing appeared out of the odd once they final spoke earlier than Antoinette Forbes vanished.
“We’re virtually twins. We’re finest associates. She might be crucial individual in my life,” Aileen Forbes advised WUSA9. “There isn’t any approach that she would simply go away.”
Earlier than her disappearance, Aileen Forbes mentioned the sisters had talked about Christmas trip with their household and deliberate to finalize flights the subsequent day, in line with WUSA9 and WJLA.
Courtroom paperwork obtained by USA TODAY present that Antoinette Forbes’ automotive, telephone, purse and canine had been all discovered at her house on Sept. 6. A buddy who checked on Antoinette Forbes after family members had been unable to succeed in her discovered a number of private belongings left behind at her house, WJLA reported.
Aileen Forbes mentioned her sister is a revered skilled who works in communications and is a single mom to a 10-year-old son, in line with WUSA9. A GoFundMe web page, launched to assist Antoinette Forbes’ household with search efforts, described her as a “form and gifted mom, sister, daughter, colleague and buddy to many all through DC and past.”
Antoinette Forbes works because the affiliate vp and head of public affairs at Eli Lilly, a significant U.S.-based pharmaceutical firm, in line with her LinkedIn web page. The corporate advised CNN that it was working with authorities and inspired anybody with info to contact police.
USA TODAY reached out to Eli Lilly for remark.
Father of Antoinette Forbes’ son arrested on probation warrant
Russell Ashford, the daddy of Antoinette Forbes’ son, was arrested in Pennsylvania on a warrant alleging a probation violation in Maryland, the Montgomery County State’s Legal professional’s Workplace confirmed to USA TODAY. A spokesperson for the state’s lawyer’s workplace declined to supply additional remark in regards to the alleged probation violation.
Ashford was arrested on Sept. 12 in Brighton Township in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, in line with a Pennsylvania State Police report. The report states that the arrest occurred throughout a site visitors cease and state police decided that Ashford was “needed by authorities within the state of Maryland.”
He’s being held within the Beaver County Jail pending extradition, in line with the state police report.
Courtroom paperwork state that Ashford had been convicted of assaulting Antoinette Forbes in 2021. He acquired a 15-year sentence with all however 9 months suspended and was positioned on 5 years of supervised probation.
In July, a choose agreed to Ashford’s request for a probation earlier than judgment regardless of objections from the state’s lawyer’s workplace, in line with court docket paperwork. Prosecutors allege that Ashford violated the phrases of that probation by trying to contact the couple’s son at a summer season camp in DC on July 16.
In keeping with a movement filed on Sept. 14, Ashford arrived unannounced on the camp and was advised he couldn’t see the kid as a result of he was not listed as an accepted grownup. Prosecutors allege he turned agitated and forceful with camp employees earlier than leaving.
Prosecutors argue the incident violated a probation situation requiring he have “no hostile contact” with Antoinette Forbes and the couple’s son. Courtroom paperwork present that Ashford has had in a single day custody of the couple’s son since Sept. 4, violating the custody order between him and Antoinette Forbes.
Investigators haven’t publicly linked Ashford’s arrest to Antoinette Forbes’ disappearance, and the Metropolitan Police Division has not recognized him as a suspect within the case. No prices have been filed towards Ashford in connection together with her disappearance.
