Kierra Coles

Kierra Coles, 26, a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier who was three months pregnant, disappeared from Chicago's Chatham neighborhood on October 2, 2018, after calling in sick to work. Surveillance footage that day showed her walking near her apartment in her postal uniform despite having called out; her car was later found parked on her block with her phone, purse, and lunch bag still inside. Chicago Police announced within two weeks that they suspected foul play. In 2022, police released additional surveillance video showing Coles withdrawing cash at a Walgreens ATM and driving off with a man identified as a person of interest shortly before her disappearance; that man was questioned but gave varying accounts and has never been arrested. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service raised its reward to $250,000 in 2026, the largest the agency offers. No arrest has ever been made and Coles has never been found.

Chicago, IL · Cook County

• 2018: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• Coles's identity, age, pregnancy, and the October 2, 2018 disappearance, per the Chicago Police Department and U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
• Surveillance video showed Coles in her postal uniform near her apartment the day she had called in sick; her car was later found parked nearby with her phone, purse, and a packed lunch bag inside.
• Chicago Police publicly stated in mid-October 2018, roughly two weeks after her disappearance, that they suspected foul play.
• In 2022, police released surveillance video from shortly before her disappearance showing Coles withdrawing cash at a Walgreens ATM and driving off with a man police have called a person of interest; that same man returned her car to her apartment block the next day.
• The person of interest was questioned by police and gave varying accounts of that night, but no arrest has been made.
• The U.S. Postal Inspection Service increased its reward to $250,000 in August 2026, a tenfold increase from the original $25,000 reward offered in 2018 and the largest reward the agency offers.

• The identity of the man seen with Coles on the Walgreens surveillance video shortly before her disappearance has not been publicly released.
• What specifically the varying accounts that man gave to police described, and why they were considered insufficient to support an arrest, has not been detailed publicly.
• Whether Coles's pregnancy or her relationship with the child's father played any role in her disappearance has not been established by investigators.

• CBS News Chicago — “$250,000 reward offered in 2018 disappearance of pregnant postal worker Kierra Coles”
• ABC News — “Foul play suspected in disappearance of pregnant postal worker Kierra Coles”
• Chicago Sun-Times — “$250,000 reward offered for information in 2018 disappearance of pregnant postal worker”
• NamUs — Missing Person Case #MP56098
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs