Toni Sharpless

Toni Sharpless

Toni Sharpless was 29 years old when she disappeared from Philadelphia, PA on August 23, 2009.

Toni was working as a registered nurse and raising her 12-year-old daughter with the assistance of her mother. She had been hospitalized for bipolar disorder a few times, but I am not clear on when her last hospitalization was: either six months or several years. By all accounts, until the evening of her disappearance, her mental illness was well maintained.

On the night of her disappearance, Toni went out to a club in Philadelphia with her friend Crystal Johns.  Her friend knew the owner of the club, who was the brother of former Philadelphia 76er player Willie Green, and they were in the VIP lounge. Crystal claims neither was drinking heavily at the club as they were mostly dancing. At the time the club closed (at 2:30 AM) Crystal and Toni were invited to Willie Green’s house in Gladwyne, PA. While they were there, Toni flew into a rage and started throwing furniture around and yelling. Crystal claims she had never seen Toni act like that before and realized she was intoxicated. Willie Green asked her to leave and Toni grabbed her keys and insisted on driving.  Green did ask Crystal if she was sure she wanted to get in the car with her, and Crystal admits she was not overly concerned about her driving.

Once the women were in the car, and still in Gladwyne, Toni became irate with Crystal and began to scream at her for laughing at her back at the party. She told Crystal to get out of her car. Crystal complied, believing that Toni would come back and get her, since she had no other way to get home. However, Toni sped off into the darkness and did not return. Crystal began calling her a few minutes later, but Toni never answered her phone.  Crystal eventually was able to get a ride home, but was very concerned and continued to call Toni, to no avail.

When Crystal got home at around 5:30 AM, she called Toni’s mother’s landline to make sure that Toni got home. She had not. Toni’s family wanted to wait to file a police report, but Crystal knew she was drunk driving, didn't have enough gas to get home without refueling, and could well be in trouble. She filed the missing persons report and the police began investigating and put her information into the database.

Toni’s last phone usage was on the drive to Gladwyne at around 3AM, when she texted her daughter. (Her daughter was unable to get to sleep) It is unknown if the phone was turned off or the battery ran out, but the phone did not ping and it was not used after that text.

About a week later, police in Camden, NJ (just across the river from Philadelphia) reported that they got a hit on her license plate on August 26. However, the car passed by an unmanned police car, so they had no way to track the car after that hit. Camden is a very crime-ridden city in New Jersey, and it is possible that Toni went there to get drugs. It is also possible that someone else was driving her car through the city. The Pontiac Grand Am was not seen after the sighting in Camden.

In January of 2013, police received an anonymous letter stating that Toni was killed after a fight with a Camden police officer, and the writer was paid $5,000 to drive the car to Boston. After he delivered the car to Boston, he claims he removed the license plate and recorded the VIN.  He did have the correct VIN, which adds some credibility to his account. What doesn’t make sense is why a police officer in Camden would be involved, as she would have been driving in Pennsylvania. If she had gotten pulled over for a DUI, that also would have likely occurred in Pennsylvania. Both Willie Green and Crystal Johns have fully cooperated with police and are not considered suspects.

Toni Lee Sharpless was born December 27, 1979 and was 5,5” and 135 pounds at the time of her disappearance. She has naturally brown hair and blue eyes. Her hair was dyed red. She takes medication for bipolar disorder, but it is now suspected she was not taking it, or she had a bad interaction from the medication and alcohol, which produced a manic episode.