A lot of the stories we cover in our episodes are ones that have been already covered in depth by the media. There are far more cases every year that do not receive a lot of attention. To remedy this every episode we include information on a cold case that deserves the sort of attention that can cause witnesses to come forward and keep victim's names in the news. In our last episode, we included a terrible case that is less cold than it is pressing.
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| Nicole Fitts with daughter Arianna People Magazine |
In 2016, the police in San Francisco came to the realization after finding a murder victim named Nicole Fitts, that they also had a missing child to find. That little girl's name was Arianna Fitts and she was the daughter of Nicole. While the SFPD and the FBI continue to search for Arianna, three years have gone by, and it's more important than ever to share their story in the hopes of bringing both a murderer and a kidnapper to justice.
On April 1, 2016, 32 year old Nicole Fitts went missing from San Francisco, CA. At the time, Nicole was living in the Mission Neighborhood and working at Best Buy on Harrison Street. Nicole had been through a lot, including at one point suffering homelessness but she worked very hard and was able, against all the odds, to create a home for her child.
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| Nicole Fitts, via SFPD |
On the day she went missing she worked her shift at Best Buy, then went to the mall with a friend, stopped at a 7-11 to take cash out of an ATM and picked up a pizza at Pizza Hut. After going home she settled in for a movie when she received a phone call around 9:00 pm. After the call she told her roommate that the person on the other end of the line was "the babysitter" who wanted to meet about getting her 2 year old daughter back. Nicole, who had moved into the Mission, had told the sitter that they wouldn't need to watch Arianna after April 2nd. Nicole left her home to meet the caller at a BJ's Restaurant. She was last seen wearing her blue Best Buy shirt when she boarded a San Francisco City bus, which locals call the Muni, and never returned.
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| Example of a Best Buy Shirt |
Two pieces of evidence in her disappearance have been shared with the public. The first is that at 1:13 am the night Nicole went missing a Facebook post coming from her account was posted. It read, "Spending time with my 3 year old need this brake." The work brake was spelled incorrectly. Nicole's family have serious doubts about Nicole writing this post because her daughter was 2 years old at the time, not 3; and because the word "brake" was misspelled. Nicole's family reports she was fastidious about spelling and grammar.
The second piece happened this same night. Nicole's roommate received a strange text message from her stating that she was going to Fresno with a friend named Sean. Neither her roommate or her family knew of a friend Nicole had that used the name Sean; nor did she have a car.
What happened next was also out of character for Nicole who was known as hard worker who often took extra shifts at Best Buy. On April 2nd and April 3rd she didn't show up for work. Nicole's family came to San Francisco and reported her missing to police. While investigating police also realized that Nicole's daughter, Arianna Fitts had not been seen by anyone in the family since February 2016.
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| Arianna Fitts, via SF Weekly |
Arianna had been staying with a person the newspaper describes as a "babysitter," while Nicole worked and found a place for them both to live. Nicole had entrusted her daughter with this person and for 6 weeks had been working to get her daughter back. During these weeks she was not allowed to see her daughter and her family posits that she would've done anything to get her back including meeting someone late at night. The names of the people who were watching the child, according to the SF Weekly and The Charley Project are Siolo Hearne, Helena Martin and Devin Martin. On the day Nicole went missing she had planned to move her daughter in with her in the Mission.
In light of this new information, police realized that both Nicole and her daughter were missing. Then on April 8, 2016, Nicole was found in McLaren Park in San Francisco, murdered. Her body had been put in a hole and covered with a piece of plywood. Police believe the plywood was not found in the park but brought by the murderer and hope that a unique painting on it will look familiar to someone. Arianna was not found with her mother and is considered still missing.
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| Plywood found over Nicole's body, vis CBS San Francisco |
The San Francisco Police Department are offering a $100,000 reward for information about Nicole Fitts' murder and for information about her missing daughter Arianna Fitts. There is also a $10,000 reward put for forth by Nicole's employer Best Buy.
When she went missing Arianna Fitts was 2 years old. According to the Charley Project she is african-american, was born on September 6, 2013. was 2 feet tall and 45 pounds. She had black hair and brown eyes. As of today she would be 6 years old and 7 in September. An aged progression photo of what she might look like now is below.
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| Arianna Fitts age progression, SFPD |
Nicole's family is desperately hoping to find Arianna and find answers in Nicole's death. If you have any information on Arianna or Nicole Fitts please contact the San Francisco Police Department at 415-553-0123 or the FBi at 415-553-7400.
More information:
The Charley Project, Arianna Fitts: http://charleyproject.org/case/arianna-fitts
San Francisco Police Department, Nicole and Arianna Fitts: https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/news/san-francisco-police-announce-100000-reward-homicide
Backer, K.C. (2020 Mar 30). "Calif. Toddler Went Missing and Mom was Found in Shallow Grave--as Police Offer $100,000 Reward." People Magazine, https://people.com/crime/arianna-fitts-missing-california-girl-mom-found-slain/
Bay City News. (2020 Mar 29). "Mother murdered, little girl missing: San Francisco police offer $100,000 reward." The Mercury News, https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/29/mother-murdered-little-girl-missing-san-francisco-police-offer-100000-reward/
Toren, Michael. (2020 Mar 27). "Police Offer $100K Reward for Info on Missing Girl." SF Weekly, https://www.sfweekly.com/news/police-offer-100k-reward-for-info-on-missing-girl/
Sawyer Bishari, Nuala. (2018 July 26). "Where is Arianna Fitts?" SF Weekly, https://www.sfweekly.com/topstories/where-is-arianna-fitts/
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