Aliayah Lunsford was a 3-year-old girl from Weston, West Virginia who was last seen in her family’s home on the morning of September 24, 2011. She had been ill the previous evening with flu-like symptoms. Her mother, Lena Lunsford, said she checked on Aliayah early that morning and then again about 9:00 a.m., at which point the child was missing; the mother did not report the disappearance until about 11:30 a.m., saying she had spent the intervening time searching herself. Extensive searches of the surrounding area, including nearby rivers, produced no trace of Aliayah.

Investigators quickly focused on Lena Lunsford. In 2016 she was arrested in Florida and charged in connection with her daughter’s death. At the 2018 trial two older sisters testified that Lena struck Aliayah in the head with a wooden bed slat the night before she vanished, that the child became unresponsive and that Lena hid and later disposed of the body in a rural area. Lena was convicted of child abuse resulting in death, concealment of a body and other charges and is serving a life sentence without parole. Aliayah’s remains have not been found.

Does anyone have information about searches or leads in the Weston area from 2011 that could help locate her remains?