Terasi Niholimbele Missing Person Case

Sep 20, 2017

Mar 25, 2024

Terasi

Niholimbele

31

23

66 inches

68 inches

125 lbs

135 lbs

Black / African American

Male

In the late afternoon of August 30, 2017, a 23-year-old man named Terasi Niholimbele told his wife he was heading out to run an errand in Phoenix, Arizona. A friend gave him a ride and dropped him off at a house in the area of the 5500 block of West Flower Street. He was expected to call his friend for a ride back, but that call was never made. Dressed in a white t-shirt and dark blue jogging pants and carrying a dark-colored backpack, Terasi vanished and has not been heard from since. His family, increasingly worried, officially reported him missing on the first of September. Terasi's life journey had already been one of significant challenges; born in a refugee camp in Tanzania after his family fled the genocide in Burundi, he moved to the United States at the age of four. As a young man, he was a husband and a father to a young daughter whom he adored. The circumstances surrounding Terasi's disappearance are deeply troubling and suggest the possibility of foul play. The house where he was last seen was known to have connections to a drug cartel. A few months after he went missing, a man was murdered at that same location in what police described as a drug-related homicide. While a definitive link to Terasi's case has not been established, authorities believe some of the individuals involved in that murder may also have information about his disappearance. His wife, Cheyenne Waters, has stated that while he used marijuana for which he had a medical card, he was not involved in illegal drugs. She fears he may have been murdered after getting mixed up with the wrong people. The Phoenix Police Department has received tips from witnesses claiming that Terasi was the victim of a homicide, but these statements have not yet been verified. Terasi's family has been left in a painful state of uncertainty. His life in the U.S. included struggles with mental health, having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder in his young adulthood, which at times led to hospitalizations or arrests when he was inconsistent with his medication. Despite these challenges, it was highly uncharacteristic of him to be out of touch with his family, with whom he shared a close bond. He held a green card but never became a U.S. citizen, and at one point faced deportation proceedings, which were ultimately halted due to his mental health, his status as a refugee, and the fact that his wife and child are American citizens. The investigation into his disappearance remains open, a cold case that leaves his loved ones without answers. His wife has expressed the profound grief of not knowing his fate, unable even to have a funeral to find some semblance of closure. The overview of this case is one of a young life, already marked by adversity and displacement, that seemingly ended under a cloud of suspicion and mystery, leaving a family to grapple with an unresolved loss.

Aug 30, 2017

Phoenix

Arizona

Maricopa County

34041

Phoenix Police Department

Phoenix

Arizona

Maricopa County

85004

Christopher Jansen

Detective

2120 North Central Avenue, Arizona

6022626151

Local

Law Enforcement

201700001537938

2017-09-01

Phoenix Police Department

10762

Black

Brown

Brown

08/08/2026